YOU MUST STAND UP

A journalist chronicles the state of reproductive rights in the U.S. in the year following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

When Becker read the news that the Supreme Court was about to overturn Roe v. Wade, the seminal decision legalizing abortion, she knew she had to write a book about the devastating effects. “Recording this moment in our history is a form of bearing witness to that shared trauma,” she writes. In this urgent chronicle of the year after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—the case that overturned Roe—Becker shadows a collection of individuals fighting courageously for reproductive rights. In Maryland, she talked to the founders of a clinic that provides second and third trimester abortions. In Alabama, she interviewed the executive director of the West Alabama Women’s Center, who had to excuse herself from an interview on CNN when her lawyer texted her that the Dobbs decision meant that she had to stop abortion services at the center immediately. In Arizona, Becker had an eye-opening discussion with a family-planning doctor to try to understand why a state in which 64% of people believe “abortion should be legal in all or most cases” has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. Throughout, Becker provides fascinating historical context, ranging from an account of canvassing in ancient Rome to the origins of abortion regulations passed in the U.S. in the late 1800s. The author masterfully uses individual case studies to delve into specific aspects of the current state of reproductive rights, illustrate broader trends, and make poignant, trenchant connections between them. Her conversational tone and expertise on her subject matter render this an excellent primer on life after Dobbs.

A beautifully crafted, thoroughly researched account of the state of reproductive rights after the Dobbs decision.