游擊文化

There is Always Someone Listening：Taiwan’s First Anthology on Abortion
以為無人傾聽的她們：台灣首部人工流產文集

Category: Anthology

Publisher: Guerrilla Publishing
Date: 6/2025
Pages: 388
Length: 85,487 words

Author: Wu Xiaole, Hu Shuwen,  Hsu Pei-fen, Joanne Deng, Yi-Chien Chen, Wu Yan-Chiou, Chiu-hung Liang, Dr. Wuwu

ISBN: 9786269952267

◆ About the Book ◆

Abortion is an experience shared by millions of women worldwide. In Taiwan, conservative estimates suggest that tens of thousands of women undergo the procedure each year. Yet because of guilt, shame, and the stigma and taboos deeply rooted in traditional culture, their stories are rarely told.

“Silence does not mean absence.”

There Is Always Someone Listening is Taiwan’s first interdisciplinary anthology focusing on women’s experiences with abortion. Curated and edited by renowned writer Wu Xiaole, it brings together a collection of female voices from Taiwan’s contemporary literary and academic scenes.

Through fiction, poetry, plays, interviews and scholarly essays, covering literature, law, history, and medicine, this anthology delicately explores the emotional and intellectual journeys women go through when facing reproductive choices. This book gives voices to unspoken stories, inviting readers to reflect deeply on women’s reproductive autonomy.

The anthology is divided into two parts.

Part One features fiction, poetry, and plays that employ diverse literary forms, to either portray abortion experiences or to find common ground among different and often unrelated stories. Approaching abortion from multiple perspectives, these works imagine what comes before and after, reflect on the body, the self, and one’s relationships with others, and create evocative scenes that open up intergenerational dialogues and philosophical debates across three generations.

Part Two presents the true stories of thirteen interviewees from diverse social backgrounds who made choices under varying life circumstances. This part also explores the legal and historical dimensions of abortion in modern Taiwan. Topics include its criminalization; the rise in religious and cultural “spirit baby” rituals, which are practices aimed at appeasing the spirits of aborted fetuses; and the evolution and debates surrounding abortion laws in the Criminal Code and the Genetic Health Act through the lens of legislative development and gender politics, while considering possibilities for legal reforms. In addition, medical professionals provide insights on abortion procedures and answer questions that women may have when considering an abortion.

 “There are tree hollows in this world that listen to forbidden stories. Yet if we lose faith that our words have somewhere to land, we may fall completely silent. I hope this anthology can be a beginning—an invitation for more hearts willing to listen.”— Wu Xiaole (Editor / Interviewer)

◆ About the Authors ◆

吳曉樂Wu Xiaole

Taiwanese writer, author of novels and non-fiction which have been translated into several languages, and adapted into TV series and films.

A graduate of the prestigious College of Law at National Taiwan University, Wu Xiaole eschewed the prospects of a legal career to embark on a journey as a professional tutor and writer, giving her the freedom to drift in and out of different homes as a wandering mentor, educator, and observer.

Her first published book, On Children (你的孩子不是你的孩子, Net and Books), based on her tutoring experience, immediately sparked widespread interest and spirited debate after hitting bookshelves in 2014. On Children was subsequently adapted into a critically-acclaimed television miniseries directed by Chen Hui-ling, winner of the Golden Bell Awards, and premiered on the Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS) in 2018. An overnight success, On Children was picked up for distribution by Netflix, became Japan’s top-watched Netflix show for a period in 2018, and went on to win 5 Golden Bell Awards in 2019.

In 2019, Net and Books published But It’s Really Not for Me (可是我偏偏不喜歡), a collection of Wu’s essays and personal life stories confronting entrenched social norms and challenging the concept of an ideal life.

Wu is also the author of 4 novels: The Privileged (上流兒童, 2018, Mirror Fiction), No Secrets between Us (我們沒有秘密, 2020, Mirror Fiction), Login Danger (致命登入, 2021, Mirror Fiction), and Everything She Fails To Achieve (那些少女沒有抵達, 2023, Mirror Fiction). She writes frequently for public outlets, including UDN Opinion, OKAPI, Readmoo News and other publications.

胡淑雯Hu Shuwen

Hu Shuwen was a journalist, editor, and a committed feminist, graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages and literatures of National Taiwan University. She is now a full-time writer and the author of two short stories published in Taiwan.

張嘉真Chang Chia-Chen

Chang Chia-Chen, originally from Kaohsiung and born in 1999, is a writer, director, and screenwriter. She graduated from the Department of History at National Taiwan University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Film Production at Taipei National University of the Arts. Her creative work covers narrative film, screenwriting, and fiction. Chang’s short stories have received the TSMC Youth Literature Award and the Lin Rong San Literature Award, and have been selected for the Chiuko Annual Fiction Anthology. She is the author of the short story collection Glass Marbles Are Cat’s Eyes (玻璃彈珠都是貓的眼睛, 2019, Suncolor).

徐珮芬Hsu Pei-fen

Hsu Pei-fen received her master’s degree from the Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Tsing Hua University. She has won the Lin Rong San Literature Award, Chou Meng-tieh Poetry Award, and so forth. In 2019, Hsu went to Vermont Studio Center (VSC) in the USA as a resident artist. She has published the poetry: We Should Be Happier If There Is More Furniture in the Room (還是要有傢俱才能活得不悲傷, 2015, Chiming Publishing), I See My Own Eyes in the Black Hole (在黑洞中我看見自己的眼睛, 2016, Chiming Publishing), All I Fear Is Nothing but These Upcoming Rainy Days (我只擔心雨會不會一直下到明天早上, 2017, Chiming Publishing), Flying Through the Darknesss (夜行性動物, 2019, Chiming Publishing). She also translated T.S.Eilot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (貓就是這樣, 2019, Rye Field Publishing Co.).

鄧九雲Joanne Deng

Actress, director, and writer Joanne Deng earned degrees in Korean language and advertising from National Chengchi University, and an MFA from East 15 Acting School at the University of Essex. Debuting as a model at age eighteen, she began acting at age twenty, and by thirty she was writing and curating exhibitions and performances. Her previous published works include essays and short story collections. Second Lead (女二, 2023, Suncolor) is her first full-length novel.

陳宜倩Yi-Chien Chen

Yi-Chien Chen is a professor at the Graduate Institute for Gender Studies at Shih Hsin University and former chairperson of the Awakening Foundation. Her academic expertise includes gender law, public policy, and feminist studies of men and masculinity. Professor Chen teaches courses such as “Gender, Marriage, and Family Studies,” “Legal Issues for LGBTQ+ and Sexual Minorities,” and “Sex, Love, and Law.”

吳燕秋Wu Yan-Chiou

Wu Yan-Chiou is a pioneering scholar of abortion history in Taiwan. She holds a Ph.D. in History from National Tsing Hua University. Dr. Wu has worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the Health History Project at the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, as well as at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. She has also served as an adjunct assistant professor at Fu Jen Catholic University and National Defense Medical Center. Beyond her academic work, Dr. Wu has contributed to two of Taiwan’s leading feminist organizations, serving as a board member of the Taiwan Feminist Scholars Association and as both a board member and advisor to the Awakening Foundation.

梁秋虹Chiu-hung Liang

Chiu-hung Liang earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from National Taiwan University and currently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of History at National Cheng Kung University. Her previous roles include adjunct associate researcher at the NCKU Center for Gender & Women Studies and board member of the Taiwan Feminist Scholars Association. Specializing in Taiwanese gender history, Liang is also a wine buddy of Wu Yan-Chiou.

烏烏醫師Dr. Wuwu

Dr. Wuwu is a sporty obstetrician-gynecologist. She finds herself uplifted by the hearty cries of newborns and enjoys accompanying women on their journey to motherhood. Dr. Wuwu is passionate about fitness and inspiring others to exercise, aiming to continually share accurate knowledge and positive attitude. Dr. Wuwu is the author of Fit and Slim Pregnancy (孕動．孕瘦, 2020, Global Publishing Group), Unbounded Body (無框身體, 2021, Global Publishing Group), and Be Yourself for a Good Pregnancy (好孕，做自己, 2022, Global Publishing Group). Dr. Wuwu also hosts the podcast “Chatting with Dr. Wuwu” (烏烏陪你聊).

◆Contents ◆

〈墮胎者〉Abortion Recipient

〈最小公倍數〉Least Common Multiple

〈擱淺〉Aground

〈正常父母〉Normal Parents

〈關於她們的故事：十三位人工流產經驗者的採訪集〉Their Stories: Interviews with Thirteen Abortion Recipients

〈台灣還有墮胎罪，怎麼可能！〉Abortion Is Still a Crime in Taiwan—How is That Possible?!

〈無差別格鬥派的愛情：吳燕秋與台灣婦女墮胎百年史〉The Anything-Goes Martial Arts of Love: Wu Yan-Chiou and a Century of Abortion History in Taiwan

〈關於人工流產的Q&A〉Abortion Q&A