Just Pills

“An important and clarifying look at two crucial medications in the wake of the US Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, endangering reproductive rights and women’s health.”—Booklist“Just Pills is essential reading for anyone who cares about the attacks on our bodies and freedoms. An exacting history of abortion medication doesn’t just give us the information and context we need to fight back but also reminds readers that the courage behind this struggle is nothing new.”—Jessica Valenti“Just Pills is a revelatory work of cultural history, deeply researched and gracefully written. With the battle raging over women’s rights to control their own bodies, this important story could not come at a better time.”—Jonathan Eig, author of The Birth of the Pill and winner of the Pulitzer Prize“Just Pills is an incredible and meticulous account of abortion pills around the world and in the United States. Rebecca Kelliher’s research and journalism shine bright as she details the long history of abortion pills and tells the stories of the women who made it possible along the way.”—Renee Bracey Sherman, author of Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve“This beautifully written, meticulously researched book tells readers all they need to know about the crucial role abortion pills have come to occupy in today’s abortion landscape, both in the United States and globally … Just Pills is medical journalism at its best.”—Carole Joffe, author of After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but Not Abortion“In this fascinating and well-written account, Rebecca Kelliher tells a global story of abortion pills up to the present day. It is a story that is as relevant today as it was half a century ago, as women are again fighting for the right to control their own bodies.”—Elaine Tyler May, author of America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation“At a time when reproductive rights are under severe threat in many parts of the world, Just Pills—through masterful storytelling and impressive research—is both a timely and astute reminder of the hurdles so many individuals have overcome to safeguard these collective rights and a fiery appeal for none of us to give up hope, however bleak things might seem.”—Josie Cox, author of Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality

Rebecca Kelliher is a journalist and Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Post-Graduate Fellow. She is a staff writer at Diverse- Issues in Higher Education, where she covers national public policy on higher education inequities. She was educated at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and Barnard College, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Before journalism, she worked at universities in the United States and United Arab Emirates as a writer and teacher. She lives in New York City with her partner and their cat.