An Unplanned Pregnancy Changes the Course of a Girl’s Future In This Excerpt From Plan A
If it feels like there are more stories about abortion than ever these days, it’s probably because there are. But that’s also because there is truly no more important time to give voice to the stories and experiences related to women’s healthcare and reproductive freedom than now, when so many of those rights are under threat across America each and every day. Stories, after all, not only help us to relate to people and experiences different from our own but to see the human impact of laws like abortion bans, which may not affect us individually due to our own circumstances of birth or location. Such is the cast with Deb Caletti’s Plan A, a YA novel about an unplanned pregnancy that wrestles with a situation that will likely feel all too familiar to young women of today.
From the acclaimed author of A Heart in a Body in the World, this deft, necessary exploration of love, trauma, autonomy, and choice could not be more timely. The story of a pregnant Texas teenager who must undertake a road trip to access an abortion, Plan A wrestles with questions of autonomy, choice, and healing along the way, without ever judging its heroine for her feelings or fears.
Here’s how the publisher describes the book.
Ivy can’t entirely believe it when the plus sign appears on the test. She didn’t even know it was possible from . . . what happened. But it is, and now she is, and instead of spending the summer working at the local drugstore and swooning over her boyfriend, Lorenzo, suddenly she’s planning a cross-country road trip to her grandmother’s house on the West Coast, where she can legally obtain an abortion.
Escaping her small Texas town and the judgment of her friends and neighbors, Ivy hits the road with Lorenzo, who, determined to make the best of their “abortion road trip love story,” has transformed the journey into a whirlwind tour of the world: all the way from Paris, Texas, to Rome, Oregon . . . and every rest-stop diner and corny roadside attraction along the way.
And while Ivy can’t run from the incessant pressure of others’ opinions about her body or from her own expectations and insecurities, she discovers a new world of healing and hope. As the women she encounters share their stories, she chips away at the stigma, silence, and shame surrounding reproductive rights while those collective experiences guide her to her own rightful destination.
Plan A will hit shelves on October 3, but we’ve got an early look at this extremely timely YA story right now.
4
It’s actually kind of nice out there by the Eiffel Tower. Peyton’s cousin from the UK thought it was laugh able when we brought him, because it’s so much shorter than the real thing. He said it’s ten times smaller than the one in Las Vegas, too, which was pretty rude, if you ask me. Another opinion I have—if you visit someone, you should remember that their town is their home. And, okay, it’s only about two and a half flagpoles high, but so what.
The tower has a red cowboy hat on top, and there’s a long brick walkway leading to it, and trees all around, and wellkept grass. There’s a war memorial nearby, and the con vention center is there, too. It’s all on the outskirts of town, which is why we like to meet there. You mostly only see tourists taking photos, and not even many of those. When you lie on your back and gaze skyward, if you ignore the red cowboy hat perched at a carefree angle at the top, you can almost imagine that you’re in the real, actual Paris, in spite of the fact that you’re surrounded by a huge parking lot where kids come to spin out and burn rubber in their fathers’ trucks.
I’m there first, so I head to our favorite tree at the far right leg of the tower. In an oblong circle of shade, I spread out the blueandorange Houston Astros blanket, the one that Dad left behind when he and Mom got divorced. He’s the only one in our family who likes sports. Some part of my brain refuses to remember whether the Astros are basketball or baseball, the way Mom can forget east and west, and Mason can forget how to spell friend. Then again, I don’t watch any games, Mom misses the Oregon Coast, and Mase is an introverted kid, even though he always says, Alone doesn’t mean lonely.
I hear Lorenzo’s truck before I see it. That Avalanche rumbles like an avalanche. Lorenzo parks next to Mr. Smi ley. I wave to him when he spots me, but he only lifts one hand, like he’s swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.