I was in Newfoundland last week and brought a pile of editing with me. It was the final edit of Volume II before going to the designer. I got to May 14, and my guts twisted. It’s the story of a five-year-old girl giving birth, the youngest recorded in history.
I’m not sure why I chose to do that story over a year ago. Suddenly I didn’t want it in the book. But I asked my Facebook page, and there was strong support to keep it. Yes, there were also several people who said to punt it, but they were in the significant minority. I read all the comments and decided to redact more information and make some changes / updates to it, but that I would keep it.
Yesterday morning I finished all the edits and got to the task of implementing them. When I got to May 14 I settled in for the updates. After rewriting the piece, it still didn’t feel right, but I sent it to my copy editor. She raised concerns. I talked it over with one of my advisors and close friend Carrie.
During that conversation I decided yeah I had to punt the story. The reasons are that it felt exploitative and of little historical value. The book already has an updated story about Roe v. Wade as well as the story about the Women’s March for Our Lives, so the whole issue of access to abortion is well covered. I decided it wasn’t adding anything to the book.
But for now, paying subscribers can still read the rewritten version, if you’re curious about the changes I made. In another week I’m going to replace that story with this new one below.
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