I don't know what the new "100-page preface" says, but if the rest of the book has not changed from 1993, the outdated and inaccurate views in it should be discounted.
The 1993 book was based partly on misinterpretation of the literature at the time, and certainly the literature and evidence that has accumulated since then has discredited the book. The author's opposition comes from a deep-rooted opposition to pharmaceuticals - which is a prejudicial bias that unfairly slants their views and conclusions. The authors strongly overstate the advantages of surgical suction abortion while whitewashing some of its inconveniences and problems, and they do the same but vice versa with mifepristone.
It should be noted that the views of Lynette Dumble and Janice Raymond were refuted by expert opinions from David Grimes and Paul Van Look back in 1993. MS Magazine also featured a written debate with rebuttals at the time. Earlier this year in New Zealand, material from this book was used in an advertising campaign against the opening of a Family Planning clinic’s early medical abortion service. The NZ pro-choice group ALRANZ brought a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and the complaint was upheld (although the advertiser is appealing the decision).
It is no accident that anti-choice activists are almost the only cheerleaders for this book. The pro-choice movement and most feminists do not support it, and certainly not the experts who are actually involved in reproductive healthcare. Many of the latter opposed the authors' views in conferences and in writing in the early 1990's. It seemed like these feminists authors then became inactive on the issue and things quietened down. But if the authors remain opposed to mifepristone in this reprint, which seems to be the case, their views should be disregarded because of how they twisted and distorted the research and science - in much the same way as the anti-choice movement has always done.
There are now three decades of research on medical abortion and WHO guidance (World Health Organization) that should be treated as the legitimate source of information on the very well-established safety, efficacy, and acceptability of mifepristone. The reprint of this book represents a serious disservice to women and their reproductive health.
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