La Herida de Paulina. (Paulina’s Wound)

Reviewed by Sarah Hoeffel, Selby Lib., Sarasota, FL -- Críticas, 4/1/2008

LaHeridadePaulina Poniatowska, Elena.
Mexico: Planeta. 2007. 160p. ISBN 978-970-37-0675-4. pap. $19.95. BIOGRAPHY

A 13-year-old from Mexicali, Paulina was raped by a heroin addict robbing her family one night in the summer of 1999. She became pregnant as a result, and though she was granted a state-sanctioned abortion, the procedure was denied when she arrived at the hospital. Not only did the medical profession turn its back on Paulina, but her privacy was also violated when hospital personnel allowed religious parties with political, moral, and social agendas to approach her while she waited interminably for a decision on her case to be made. Journalist/novelist Poniatowska, who has received both popular and critical acclaim since she began writing in 1954, set out to discover how internal communication and politics gravely failed this pregnant victim and her family. Though she clearly loves her adopted country (the French-born Poniatowska came to Mexico during World War II), she is unabashed in her political and social criticisms of it. She opens the book by noting, “I wrote Paulina’s Wound not only because Marta Llamas [a close feminist friend] and Isabel Vericat [attorney to the Group for Information on Selective Reproduction, GIRE in Spanish] asked me to, but also because it is shocking that in a state where legal abortion in case of rape is permitted, it has been denied to an adolescent of 13 years. Doctors and religious organizations sacrificed her for their own agenda.” Though the book reads easily, it is also emotionally draining. The text focuses less and less on Paulina’s story, becoming more of a chronicle of meetings among the author, attorneys, and various state and religious agencies. Throughout, Poniatowska touches upon life in a border town, the complexities of immigration, the lack of separation of church and state, and statistics of violence, particularly against women. Recommended for all libraries and bookstores.