A review by stephbails
Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America by Shefali Luthra

5.0

This book is hands down one of the most powerful I’ve ever read, equal parts heartbreaking, anger-inducing, chilling, and also validating. It weaves together the history and politics of the anti-abortion movement with the personal stories of those who have been impacted by overturning Roe v Wade, and even as someone who considers herself deeply steeped and invested in the reproductive health fight, I learned a tremendous amount and found this to be eye-opening in so many ways.

There is a review on Goodreads that this book is redundant or “one note”. It is not redundant in the slightest, though let us all agree that there is only one note to outlawing or severely restricting abortion access: people will die. People are already dying, and it is disturbing and a deep betrayal to have politicians pretend that the United States is the greatest in the world while also making its women second-class citizens in policy and practice.

Let us be clear that we live in a post-Roe America now, where infant and maternal mortality is on the rise in states with abortion bans, because of every person who has empowered and continues to empower Trump and his criminal friends. These extremist politicians have been saying the silent part out loud, and it is time to take them at their word that they do not care about whether you live or die, and they will certainly not make sure you have a social safety net once you do have a child to support. Donald Trump and every single extremist running for public office is fucking despicable, and you can quote me on that.