Beyond Limits

Beyond Limits is moving, personal, insightful, and powerfully written. Long considered a hero of the abortion field, Dr. Sella gives us an eye-opening account of being one of the few providers to offer abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy. This book shares her thoughts and emotions as she recorded them during almost two decades of providing abortions. Her sincerity and calm devotion to women’s bodily and life autonomy are clear. This book reveals how her own personal experiences and her years working with Dr. Tiller before his assassination shaped her philosophy of respecting the judgment and choices of pregnant people. This book helps us to see people who seek abortions with clarity and compassion, as people in the real world, rather than as the objects of an abstract moral or political debate.,Through heartbreaking stories culled from Dr. Shelley Sella’s remarkable career as an abortion provider to all who need care, Beyond Limits reminds us that when we leave third-trimester abortions on the floor of political compromise, we abandon some of the most vulnerable among us. This beautiful, devastating book may do what seems impossible in our viciously divided country: it just may change a few minds.,In Beyond Limits, Dr. Shelley Sella gives an intimate and unflinching look into her life as a third-trimester abortion provider for two decades_x2014_from her own experiences leading her to become a staunch defender of bodily autonomy for all to her vision for abortion care in this country. Grounded in the experiences of third-trimester abortion patients, Beyond Limits is a steadfast account of a week at a later abortion clinic and a clear-throated argument for why it is key to ensuring reproductive justice for us all. Dr. Sella's care and patience shines through the recounting of her own life and the stories of all who entered her exam rooms. People who have and provide later abortion procedures are some of the most misunderstood and lied-about people in the abortion conversation, but Beyond Limits provides a precise and prophetic argument for why we must all shift our understanding about later abortion_x2014_and show up for those who need care with the patience and love Dr. Sella leads with.,Beyond Limits is an important addition to the literature on abortion and reproductive justice. Interweaving the real stories of the people whose abortions she performed with her own personal history, Shelley Sella has written a narrative that is emotionally powerful, intimate, and engaging.,At a time when abortion, and especially third-trimester abortion, is being weaponized against pregnant people and providers, Dr Sella’s book provides much-needed information to help us understand the nuances and deeply personal nature of these decisions. Recognizing these complexities informs our ability to advocate for justice and dignity for people who are pregnant.,_x201C_Sella, the first woman to openly perform third-trimester abortions in the U.S., reflects on her career and debunks antiabortion myths in her empathetic debut _x2026_ Sella does a stellar job of straightforwardly and compassionately explaining why third-trimester abortions happen: _x2018_Third-trimester abortions are rare,’ she writes, _x2018_but the situations that drive women to seek them are not.’ This bursts with insight._x201D_