Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
An urgent investigation into the experience of seeking an abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade , and the life-threatening consequences of being denied reproductive freedom. * "An absolute must-read; tell your friends; buy it for your family; sit with it on your own. This is storytelling we need." -- Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad and All the Single Ladies
On June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the impact was immediate: by 2024, abortion was virtually unavailable or significantly restricted in 21 states. In Undue Burden , reporter Shefali Luthra traces the unforgettable stories of patients faced with one of the most personal decisions of their lives.
Outside of Houston, there's a 16-year-old girl who becomes pregnant well before she intends to. A 21-year-old mother barely making ends meet has to travel hundreds of miles in secret for medical treatment in another state. A 42-year-old woman with a life-threatening condition wants nothing more than to safely carry her pregnancy to term, but her home state's abortion ban fails to provide her with the options she needs to make an informed decision. And a 19-year-old trans man struggles to access care in Florida as abortion bans radiate across the American South.
Before Dobbs , it was a common misconception that abortion restrictions affected only people in certain states but left one's own life untouched. Since the fall of Roe , a domino effect has cascaded across the entire country. As the landscape of abortion rights continues to shift, the experiences of these patients--who crossed state lines to seek life-saving care, who risked everything in pursuit of their own bodily autonomy, and who were unable to plan their reproductive future in the way they deserved--illustrate how fragile the system is, and how devastating the consequences can be.
A revelatory portrait of inequality in America, Undue Burden examines abortion not as a footnote or a political pawn, but as a basic human right, something worthy of our collective attention and with immense power to transform our lives, families, and futures.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
Journalist Luthra debuts with an eye-opening and chilling look at the strain the U.S. reproductive healthcare system is undergoing in a "post-Roe" world. Tracking the circuitous, costly, and legally jeopardizing paths that patients seeking abortions who live in states that have imposed restrictions must take to access care across state lines, Luthra reveals that these cross-country journeys are having a "bottleneck" effect that is limiting healthcare access across America. The story of Angela, a 21-year-old San Antonio mother who can't afford another child and makes an expensive trip to New Mexico for a dose of the abortifacient mifepristone, is juxtaposed with the plight of Jasper, a trans man who struggles to access abortion care because his local clinic in Orlando, Fla., has been overwhelmed by out-of-state patients. The healthcare providers themselves paint a dire portrait of a system in crisis ("It's an unfolding national disaster," says one). Luthra depicts them triaging patients (the staff at a Jacksonville, Fla., clinic routinely stays until midnight to help out-of-staters, but still has to limit services for locals), strategizing new ways of providing care (which include illegal mail-order mifepristone networks), and dealing with patients in mortal terror of jail time (one San Diego clinician describes patients anxiously discussing how best to hide where they've been from people back home). Luthra's vivid and compassionate storytelling unveils an interconnected web of desperate individuals and heroic helpers who are only just barely within reach. It's an urgent wake-up call. (May)Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated that Jasper's local clinic is in Jacksonville, Fla. The review has also been updated with changes made prior to the book's publication.
Booklist Review
Luthra humanizes the costs of the Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe v. Wade in this clear and detailed account of the impact of abortion restrictions across the United States. A health reporter for The 19th, Luthra conducted dozens of interviews with people seeking abortions and those who support them, weaving their stories together to show a larger picture of life after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling. Even where abortion is protected, Luthra writes, that "doesn't mean there's access to it," and people are forced to navigate the confusing patchwork of legislation, court rulings, and ballot initiatives in their home state and elsewhere to determine where they can obtain care. She emphasizes the racial and economic disparities that often compound people's struggles to regain control of their reproductive freedoms and concludes that "gender is more than ever one of the fundamental dividing lines in how we can exist in society." Luthra's well-researched, compelling book will appeal to anyone who is interested in the human cost of reproductive rights in America.
Kirkus Book Review
The human consequences of the Dobbs decision. Health care reporter Luthra makes her book debut with an intense look at the lives of patients and providers after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She takes her title from the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Court held that states could limit access to abortion, as long as the limitation did not impose what the Court called "an undue burden," a phrase that they left undefined. As Luthra traveled throughout the country, she found frustration and anguish in states where women had no or limited access to abortion. In Texas, which enacted a six-week ban on abortions even before the Supreme Court's decision, 16-year-old Tiffany was trapped in a system that she felt powerless to negotiate, lacking resources to find help or leave Houston. Kaleigh, 29, drove 500 miles, with her boyfriend, from Dallas to a clinic in New Mexico, the nearest she could find, where she was given mifepristone and misoprostol; her abortion cost her $700. In Florida, which had a 15-week ban, the author met Jasper, a transgender man who did not realize he was pregnant until it was almost too late to get an abortion in his state. In Oklahoma, which had only four clinics in the entire state that provided abortions, and which, like Texas, soon copied a six-week ban, Luthra met providers overwhelmed with demand. Patients and providers revealed the fear, anger, and betrayal they felt as laws changed. One woman in Kansas had an abortion scheduled for just two days after a critical vote affirmed access. The author underscores the way the Dobbs decision has exacerbated inequality, victimizing Black and Latine women who cannot afford to travel to New Mexico, Illinois, California, and Colorado, where abortion is legal. Vivid portrayals of lives disrupted and freedom denied. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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