Content:

Women & Children First Bookstore is excited to welcome Dr. Shelley Sella for an event to celebrate the release of "Beyond Limits: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care." For this event, Dr. Sella will be joined in conversation by Sarah Schulman. This event is co-sponsored by Midwest Access Coalition and Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights.

Please note: Registration is REQUIRED.

A compassionate perspective on late-term abortion that challenges preconceived notions of who gets abortions and why

Within both the anti-abortion and pro-choice movements, third-trimester abortion is often stigmatized and misunderstood. For 20 years, Dr. Shelley Sella saw patients whose diverse backgrounds and circumstances led them to the same difficult decision: to end their pregnancies.

Now, interweaving her own journey as a provider, Dr. Sella invites readers into a typical week at her clinic to demystify the experience. She shares the stories of people like

* Clarissa, a mother of 2 whose third suffered a massive stroke in utero with no chance of recovery

* Mary, a devoted Catholic whose fourth round of IVF offered a late-in-life chance at motherhood, only to be dashed by anomalous test results

* Laura, a mother to 4 already whose bruised arms tell a painful story, one she couldn’t bring herself to write a fifth child into

Beyond Limits is not just a testament to a standard of care grounded in competence, compassion, and sensitivity. It is also a call for a paradigm shift that moves beyond Dobbs, beyond Roe, beyond limits to provide care. And it is a tribute to the real people whose hearts, reasons, and stories are more complex than politicized conversations about abortion lead us to believe.

Dr. Shelley Sella is a board-certified OB-GYN and the first woman to openly practice third-trimester abortion care in the US, which she did for 20 years. She was prominently featured in the Emmy Award–winning documentary After Tiller. Dr. Sella served two terms on the board of the National Abortion Federation and in 2022 was awarded its highest honor, the Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award. She is retired from clinical practice and now focuses on advocacy.

Sarah Schulman is a novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter, and AIDS historian. Her most recent book is The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity, published by Thesis Books, an imprint of PenguinRandomHouse. Sarah holds an endowed chair in Creative Writing at Northwestern, and is on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Midwest Access Coalition is practical support abortion fund, supporting folks that are traveling to, from, and within the Midwest to access abortion care. MAC can support with any barriers pregnant people may face while traveling for care such as paying for and booking lodging, transportation, food, childcare and more. Midwest Access Coalition also distributes free contraception and sexual health and harm reduction supplies via our free vending machines throughout the Midwest and by mail to anyone in the US.

Following the bold example of Black women founders of the Reproductive Justice movement, Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights fights for justice beyond legality to achieve true equality. Our work honors elders' historical perspectives—many remember the dangerous reality of illegal abortions. By archiving pre-Roe stories, we preserve crucial history while challenging today's growing wave of reproductive misinformation.

Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email [email protected] by no later than 14 days before the event. For scholarship tickets or other access needs please email [email protected].