The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child “unwound,” whereby all of the child’s organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn’t technically end.
Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.
The basic premise of the book is quite fantastical. Yes, the biggest paradox today is that policy makers care a lot about the unborn, because that helps them rouse the rabble, so to speak. But then, they have absolute disregard for the mothers’ health or the well-being of those children when they are born and need monetary support for medical care or education.
This book explores that concept and takes it to an extreme level which, while implausible, serves as a perfect mirror to the policy makers of today.
I am ambivalent about recommending this book. On the one hand, it makes a great point about the whole pro-life vs pro-choice, but that battle is a distant and unrelatable battle for me, personally. I live in a country with a population problem. It is unlikely that the pro-life mob will ever have a voice here.