Upcoming events

Since LIBERATING ABORTION launched, we have traveled all across the country (and to Australia) to discuss our book and vision for reproductive justice. We love book events and we can’t wait to bring LIBERATING ABORTION to your community! If you’d like to host a LIBERATING ABORTION book event in a local bookstore, your community, or virtually, be sure to reach out to us!

Beyond Limits - Washington, Dc
Jun
28

Beyond Limits - Washington, Dc

Renee Bracey Sherman will be in conversation with Dr. Shelley Sella about her new book BEYOND LIMITS: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care.

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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.

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THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG - WASHINGTON, DC
Jun
29

THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG - WASHINGTON, DC

Renee Bracey Sherman will be in conversation with Leila Mottley about her new novel The Girls Who Grew Big.

About the Author

LEILA MOTTLEY is the author of the novel Nightcrawling, an Oprah’s Book Club pick and New York Times bestseller, and the poetry collection woke up no light. She is also the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She was born and raised in Oakland, where she continues to live.

From the author of Oprah's Book Club pick and New York Times bestseller Nightcrawling, here is an astonishing new novel about the joys and entanglements of a fierce group of teenage mothers in a small town on the Florida panhandle.

Adela Woods is sixteen years old and pregnant. Her parents banish her from her comfortable upbringing in Indiana to her grandmother’s home in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida. When she arrives, Adela meets Emory, who brings her newborn to high school, determined to graduate despite the odds; Simone, mother of four-year-old twins, who weighs her options when she finds herself pregnant again; and the rest of the Girls, a group of outcast young moms who raise their growing brood in the back of Simone’s red truck.

The town thinks the Girls have lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, and navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood.

Full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of these friends’ secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big confirms Leila Mottley’s promise and offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman.

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Moon Palace Books
Nov
21

Moon Palace Books

Moon Palace Books’ LIBERATING ABORTION book talk is sponsored by Our Justice, Minnesota’s abortion fund, and Renee Bracey Sherman will be in conversation with ShaVunda Walker, Our Justice’s Communication & Advocacy Director.

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Women Foundation of California
Nov
19

Women Foundation of California

This gathering on November 19th comes at a crucial moment, offering an opportunity to reflect on the current political landscape and envision what comes next. Through Liberating Abortion, Black and Brown people are written back into the history of abortion, retelling stories that have long been silenced, bringing nuance to a conversation too often narrowed to legal decisions like Roe v. Wade. The book goes further, offering a deeply personal and systemic look at the history of abortion rights, connecting abortion not just to the right to choose, but also to the right to parent, and exposing how the fight for reproductive freedom is deeply entwined with racial justice.

During this intimate and powerful conversation at Kinfolx in Oakland, Renee and Bia Vieira, CEO of the Women’s Foundation of California, will explore how to take meaningful action beyond the election and toward a feminist future anchored in reproductive freedom.

Join the Women’s Foundation of California for the inaugural gathering of our Subversive Pages Collective—a book club and space for radical dialogue, transformative action, and envisioning new futures where justice, equity, and love for all are at the center. Enjoy Palestinian-Cuban fusion tapas by ASÚKAR and purchase Liberating Abortion from Marcus Books, a cherished Bay Area institution that celebrates Black narratives and the power of storytelling. Together, we gather to uplift our stories, our voices, and our actions toward liberation. We hope you’ll join us.

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Trident Books
Nov
17

Trident Books

Renee Bracey Sherman and Dr. Gretchen Sisson, author of Relinquished, will be in conversation with Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason-Pieklo of Rewire News Group and the Boom! Lawyered podcast.

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The Future Front
Nov
5

The Future Front

Renee Bracey Sherman will be in conversation with Jasmine Wahi of the Body Freedom for Every(Body) bus tour, Becca Rea-Tucker, The Sweet Feminist & author of Baking By Feel, and Lucie Arvallo, Executive Director of Jane’s Due Process. After the event, hang out with us to watch the election returns.

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Uncle Bobbie’s
Oct
29

Uncle Bobbie’s

  • First United Methodist Church of Germantown (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Renee Bracey Sherman will be in conversation with Feminista Jones for Uncle Bobbie's Bookstore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Huxley & Hiro Booksellers
Oct
25

Huxley & Hiro Booksellers

Renee Bracey Sherman will be in conversation with Huxley & Hiro's bookshop owner Claire van den Broek. Proceeds from the sales will benefit We Testify, an organization dedicated to the leadership and representation of people who have abortions. Learn more at WeTestify.org.

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Holding Court: Liberating Abortion
Oct
22

Holding Court: Liberating Abortion

The Alliance for Justice and Abortion Care Network are inviting you to join us on Tuesday, October 22 at 3pm ET for a conversation with Renee Bracey Sherman, reproductive justice activist, founder and executive director of We Testify, and co-author of the newly published book, Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve.

In her new book, co-authored with Regina Mahone, Bracey Sherman examines the history of abortion access and why reproductive justice is essential in today’s society. Both courts and state legislatures have been attempting to limit abortion access for decades, and after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, restrictive abortion measures have increased at an alarming rate. People of color bear the brunt of abortion bans, and Bracey Sherman uplifts the narratives of people of color throughout her book. The conversation will be moderated by Erin Grant, Co-Executive Director of Abortion Care Network.

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