Welcome to Litsy!

In this powerful memoir, told with fierce honesty and surprising humor, a young woman goes on a journey of healing after abortion—a road trip across the United States with a diverse crew of spiritual teachers and a caravan of new friends. Nineteen years old, a thousand miles from her Kentucky home, Kassi Underwood sat in a doctor’s office, shaking with fear. She was pregnant—and broke, unwed, and struggling with alcohol. In a decision that obliterated her southern moral code, she checked into an abortion clinic. Afterward, to her surprise, she felt free. Three years later, accomplishing her wildest dreams had left her unfulfilled and thinking about the pregnancy she didn’t keep. When her ex-boyfriend had a baby with someone else, she shattered. But in the depths of despair, Kassi refused to believe she would “never get over” her abortion. So she created a road map of recovery. Determined to transform, she traveled across the United States on a journey that led her to a Buddhist “water baby” ritual, a Roman Catholic retreat for abortion healing staffed by picketers, a crash course in grief from a Planned Parenthood counselor, a night in a motel with a “Midwife for the Soul,” a Jewish “wild woman” celebration hosted by an eccentric rabbi—and a wedding ceremony. Dazzling with warmth and leavened by humor, this absorbing memoir captures one woman’s journey of self-discovery that enraged her, changed her, and ultimately enlightened her.