"A compendium of creative strategies for building the world we want, this book . . . models the myriad ways that people can make a difference in the lives of their peers and simultaneously improve their communities."―The Progressive

A fierce and galvanizing reminder that resistance is everywhere in the fight for abortion and reproductive justice in the United States.

Fighting Mad is a book about what "reproductive justice" means and what it looks like to fight for it. Editors Krystale E. Littlejohn and Rickie Solinger bring together many of the strongest, most resistant voices in the country to describe the impacts of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision on abortion access and care.

The essayists and change agents gathered in Fighting Mad represent a remarkable breadth of expertise: activists and artists, academics and abortion storytellers, health care professionals and legislators, clinic directors and lawyers, and so many more. They discuss abortion restrictions and strategies to provide care, the impacts of criminalization, efforts to protect the targeted, shortcomings of the past, and visions for the next generation. Fighting Mad captures for the social and historical record the vigorous resistance happening in the early post-Roe moment to show that there are millions on the ground fighting to secure a better future.

About the Author

Krystale E. Littlejohn is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon and author of Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics. She is a series editor of the Reproductive Justice book series from University of California Press.

Rickie Solinger is a historian, curator, and author or editor of many books about reproductive politics, including, with Loretta Ross, Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. She is the senior editor of the Reproductive Justice book series from University of California Press.

Contents

Introduction
Rickie Solinger and Krystale E. Littlejohn

Part I · Roe Was Never Enough

Part II · Never-Ending Emergency and Never-Ending Fight

Part III · Strategic Action for Securing Access

Part IV · Fighting at the Frontiers of Criminalization

Part V · Protecting Abortion Access in the Face of Fascism

Part VI · Resisting Religious Tyranny

Part VII · Envisioning the Future

Notes
References
About the Editors
About the Contributors
Index

Reviews

"As a compendium of creative strategies for building the world we want, this book not only stokes optimism, but models the myriad ways that people can make a difference in the lives of their peers and simultaneously improve their communities."
— The Progressive

"The never-ending fight to protect the human right to abortion has not previously been covered by such a wide-ranging and inclusive perspective as in this outstanding anthology. Fighting Mad should be required reading for everyone who cares about the health of our democracy and reproductive justice."—Loretta Ross, 2022 MacArthur Fellow and coauthor of Reproductive Justice: An Introduction

"Fighting Mad compiles the voices of those who emphatically deny that the state legislators who rushed to criminalize abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision will have the last word on whether people will be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. In this way, the book is incredibly hopeful, assembling and displaying the work of people who are using their hands and hearts to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice."—Khiara M. Bridges, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley

"Fighting Mad is a much-needed antidote to apathy. Its short and engaging stories of leadership, activism, and creativity provide proof that Dobbs will not be the last word on abortion in the United States."—Lynn M. Paltrow, Founder, Pregnancy Justice

"The essays in this extraordinary collection illuminate both the barriers to reproductive autonomy and the expansive reimagining required to move us toward justice. This work lifts up so many perspectives that have not been central to the public discussion on abortion access, but should be."—Mia Kim Sullivan, Executive Director, Collective Power for Reproductive Justice

About the Book

About the Author

Table of Contents

Reviews