Essential Reading to Understand the Fight for Abortion Rights
Four years since the Dobbs Decision. Curated for you by Team FEMINIST.
This week marks four years since the Dobbs decision overturned the federal right to abortion in the United States, reshaping access to reproductive healthcare. While the consequences of Dobbs continue to unfold in the US, something we’ll unpack in detail this week, the struggle for reproductive rights extends far beyond any one country.
Access to abortion is healthcare. It is a fundamental component of reproductive care and a critical part of ensuring that people can make decisions about their own bodies, lives, and futures. Yet around the world, access remains deeply unequal, shaped by politics, stigma, geography, race, income, and systems of power.
This collection of books, podcasts, and films, recommended by the FEMINIST team and their friends, offers an opportunity to learn from the people, histories, and movements at the center of these conversations. Whether you’re new to the issue or looking to deepen your understanding, these stories illuminate what is at stake, how we got here, and why the fight for reproductive freedom continues.
FEMINIST has spent the last four years helping millions of people access trusted information, understand their rights, find resources, and take action.
Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion
By Gabrielle Stanley Blair
A necessary reframing of abortion politics that centers responsibility for pregnancy on men and challenges dominant narratives about choice and blame.
Bodies Under Siege
By Sian Norris
★ Recommended by Celia, Creative Producer at FEMINIST ★
An exposé of how far-right extremists across Europe use attacks on abortion to introduce broader fascist politics--and their connections to the American far-right.
We Deserve More
By Nikki Sappiro Vinicker
You might have seen Dr. Nikki on the FEMINIST feed. Did you know she had also written a book? Part storytelling, part survival guide, We Deserve More is about reclaiming our power and demanding better care
Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve
By Renee Bracey Sherman & Regina Mahone
★ Recommended by Sydney, Platforms Manager at FEMINIST ★
A collection of stories and histories that reclaim abortion as a shared, political, and liberatory experience centering people of color.
Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
By bell hooks
bell hooks’ foundational text arguing feminism as a movement for collective liberation, equality, and social transformation. Never a bad time to read bell hooks.
The Janes
ft Heather Booth
★ Recommended by Ky, FEMINIST Co-Founder ★
A documentary about the Jane Collective, an underground network of women who provided safe abortions in pre-Roe America.
Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win
By Jessica Valenti
A sharp political critique of misinformation and stigma shaping abortion debates, paired with strategies for resistance.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Directed by Céline Sciamma
★ Recommended by Synclaire Warren, Gender Equity Leader ★
A countermeasure to centuries of the male gaze in art, this period drama explores female desire, autonomy, and the act of seeing women outside patriarchal constraint.
A Necessary Kindness
By Juno Carey
Working in an abortion clinic is not easy, but it is a necessary kindness. This book gives you an insider look into abortion clinics with stories from the frontlines of abortion care.
The Devil Is Busy
HBO short film
★ Recommended by Autumn Breon, Visual Artist and Host of FEMINIST News ★
This award-winning short film chronicles a day on the frontlines in the battle for reproductive rights at a women’s healthcare clinic.
Deep Care
By Angela Hume
The history of the radical feminist networks who worked outside the law to defend abortion.
Incompatible with Life
Documentary by Eliza Capai
★ Recommended by Paula Avila Guilen, Leader of the Green Wave in the Americas, Executive Director of Women’s Equality Center ★
This powerful documentary uncovers the realities of mother’s in Brazil seeking abortion care. Through intimate storytelling from the director’s own experience, the viewers has an intimate look into how families navigate motherhood, grief and abortion in Brazil.
Belén
HBO short film
★ Recommended by Paula Avila Guilen, Leader of the Green Wave in the Americas, Executive Director of Women’s Equality Center ★
A woman hospitalized for pain discovers she's pregnant. After a medical emergency, she faces criminal charges. With support from her attorney and women's rights advocates, she fights for justice in a landmark case that could change lives.
Fly so Far
HBO short film
★ Recommended by Paula Avila Guilen, Leader of the Green Wave in the Americas, Executive Director of Women’s Equality Center ★
After serving ten years behind bars for her miscarriage, considered by her government to be an act of aggravated murder, Teodora Vásquez becomes a spokesperson for the other 16 Salvadoran women behind bars for the same "crime" in this story of sorority, resilience, and solidarity.
ACCESS: A Podcast about Abortion
A podcast amplifying real stories and expert insight into abortion access, stigma, and reproductive healthcare systems.
Abortion, with Love — Podcast
A storytelling podcast centering compassion, lived experience, and the emotional realities of abortion care.
Feminist Buzzkills: Abortion Access Front
A sharp, activist-led podcast breaking down abortion misinformation and frontline reproductive rights news.