Sick of Hearing About the Handmaid’s Tale? Try These Stories Instead

There are many powerful examples of how anti-abortion measures only hurt people; here are a few everyone should check out.

No shade against the prolific writer Margaret Atwood and her critically acclaimed work The Handmaid’s Tale, but if you’re like me and a bit tired of everyone comparing current events to that story, then read on for a list of other works that give context and dimension to the history and issues around abortion rights.

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Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Frank and April Wheeler are Connecticut suburbanites in this story set in the 1955 pre-Roe era. April wants to move to Paris and support the family with her creative endeavors and Frank considers it as he watches himself fall into a rut, hating his office job in the city. But all hell breaks loose when April discovers she is pregnant with their third child — a child she doesn’t want. I won’t spoil the rest, but suffice it to say, this is an intimate view into a modern American marriage that struggles with pregnancy, abortion, and identity. And although it was set in 1955, it is startling apt for our current times.