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A groundbreaking and powerful investigation into how the fall of Roe changed American health care far beyond reproductive rights
In the turbulent aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the loss of abortion access created ripple effects that washed over the entire U.S. health system, making care both less accessible and of lower quality for millions of people. Alice Miranda Ollstein’s explosive reporting offers an urgent, on-the-ground look at a medical system under pressure, at the patients and providers caught up in the dragnet of the new abortion restrictions, and at the impacts on both reproductive care and completely unrelated services.
Ollstein, Politico’s senior health care reporter and one of News Media Alliance’s “Rising Stars,” spent years traveling around the country exploring the unexpected ways in which the Dobbs decision is disrupting the already fraught experience of pregnancy and birth, as physicians withhold or delay medically necessary procedures for fear of being prosecuted. A work of deep reporting and profound humanity, Side Effects chronicles the experiences of real people who have lost access to other forms of reproductive health care, including contraception and IVF, as well as those of all ages, genders, and geographic locations hit by the spillover effects to medical research, hospital staffing, wait times, management of chronic illnesses, and more.
Side Effects also reveals how patients, physicians, researchers, and pharmacists are fighting back in unprecedented ways, upending both the political and medical landscape in the process. By investigating the erosion of abortion access as a health care crisis rather than a culture war, Ollstein sparks a desperately needed debate on what it means for a society to be “pro-life.”
Praise for Side Effects:
“This alarming debut exposé from Politico reporter Ollstein warns that abortion restrictions are causing major disruptions to America’s health care system. . . . Readers will be unsettled and galvanized.”—Publishers Weekly
“Highly recommended for readers concerned about the effect of judicial decisions on reproductive health care and health care policy.”—Library Journal
“In this important and timely book, Ollstein shows us that Roe’s demise was the beginning of a destabilizing and dangerous new era in U.S. health care that stands to affect nearly everyone.”—Joshua Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Rebel
“Alice Miranda Ollstein digs far beyond the headlines to tell human stories that are visceral and unforgettable, forcing us to reckon with the consequences of abortion bans that affect us all. This is a brave and vital book.”—Andy Kroll, ProPublica investigative reporter and winner of the George Polk Award
“Urgent, important, and beautifully written, Side Effects is a must-read.”—Ali Vitali, MS NOW anchor and author of Electable
“What would happen if we retold the story of abortion in America by focusing on health instead of politics? In this searing report from the front lines, Alice Miranda Ollstein brings to life the very human costs of a conflict too often reduced to catchphrases. Revelatory and sobering.”—Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis and author of Personhood
“Alice Miranda Ollstein’s deeply reported, vividly rendered journey across post-Dobbs America shows all the ways restrictions on abortion are disrupting the health care system—and upending the lives of millions.”—Jonathan Cohn, author of Sick and The Ten Year War
Alice Miranda Ollstein is a senior health care reporter for Politico. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, La Opinión, and Talking Points Memo. In 2017, she was named one of the News Media Alliance’s “Rising Stars” under thirty; she is also a winner of the Association of Health Care Journalists Fellowship. The author lives in Washington, DC.