McSweeney’s, publisher of Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writing from the Me Too Movement, announced today that writer and editor Shelly Oria will oversee a second feminist book for the press. Tentatively set for an early 2021 release date, Access: Our Fight for Reproductive Freedom (working title), will be a necessary follow up to 2019’s Indelible.
“I see this book as a response to a crisis,” said fiction writer Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0. “As I collect new writing for this book, I’m thinking not only of the danger of Roe v Wade being overturned, but also about the fact that in many states, the reality on the ground is that abortions are de-facto not available.”
The scope of the project is much larger than exclusively abortion. “I want to consider women’s agency over their bodies in the context of reproduction: fertility, contraception, living child-free lives, access to reproductive health, and all else,” Oria said. She envisions a book that sheds light on the ways such access is affected by race, sexual orientation and identity, socio-economic circumstances, and immigration status.
The Brigid Alliance is a nationwide service that arranges and funds confidential and personal travel support to those seeking abortion care. “We believe that the costs and logistics of traveling to an abortion provider, should not inhibit one’s choice to continue, or not continue a pregnancy. Although abortion is legal in all 50 states, there is an alarming gap between those who need care and their ability to access it. Our mission is to support an individual’s agency and make choice possible for all.” The Brigid Alliance will be a key partner with McSweeney’s in framing the lived experiences of the voices represented in this anthology.
The vision for the anthology is to frame this complex issue with the long view in mind, comprising work that reflects on the decades-long struggle by women to control their own bodies, the present legislative emergency, and our imagined collective future as this issue unfolds over time. The stories, essays, and poems therein will ask the questions: What cultural effect might result when a woman’s agency is left in others’ hands? What does it mean for all of us when women must define themselves as mothers and non-mothers? And who will make the decisions that shape the reality we will inherit?
ABOUT THE BRIGID ALLIANCE
The Brigid Alliance believes that the costs and logistics of traveling to an abortion provider should not inhibit choice. By alleviating the logistical barriers and financial constraints of access to care, they help ensure that everyone has the choice protected by Roe v. Wade. www.brigidalliance.org.