Deeply intimate, profoundly human stories of third-trimester abortion, recounted by one unflinching physician dedicated to preserving the right to choose
In post-Roe America, where our bodies are not our own, the conversation around reproductive healthcare has been systematically stripped of its humanity. Yet few understand, save for the patients themselves, the humanity in abortion care as the physicians who provide it do. For the first time, one of these doctors—the first woman to perform third-trimester abortions in the US—shares patient stories that challenge preconceived notions of who gets abortions and why.
In Beyond Limits,Dr. Shelley Sella interweaves real patient stories with reflections on her personal and professional journey. She draws on 20 years' worth of journal entries to illustrate the deep connection between the patients making a life-changing decision and the physicians who will shepherd them through it. With care and compassion, Sella invites the reader into her clinic and introduces them to people like
- Clarissa, a mother of 2 whose third suffered a massive stroke in utero with no chance of recovery
- Mary, a devoted Catholic woman 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 a testament to the real people whose hearts, reasons, and stories are more complex than those weaponized in conversations about abortion. And it is a call for understanding that, no matter one's stance, true freedom is having the choice to go beyond limits for what one feels is right for themselves.
