YA Books That Feature Abortion

Women’s reproductive rights have been front and center in the headlines, so I decided to compile a list of YA Books That Feature Abortion. These are fiction; if you have non-fiction that is targeted to the YA age, please let me know and I will add it.

YA Books that Feature Abortion

Our national conversation has recently moved to debate abortion and women’s reproductive health and rights. While YA fiction has often been the first to feature political issues, I couldn’t remember many young adult books that feature a character who decides to end an unwanted pregnancy.

This is a list of YA fiction that has a character deciding on an abortion (or contemplating it) as part of the plot. If you know of any books to add to this list, please comment on the post or email me.

This post will contain affiliate links. For every book on the list ordered through my affiliate link, I’ll make a dollar donation to Planned Parenthood.

Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Heppermann

Addie has always known what she was running toward. In cross-country, in life, in love. Until she and her boyfriend—her sensitive, good-guy boyfriend—are careless one night and she ends up pregnant.

Addie makes the difficult choice to have an abortion.

And after that—even though she knows it was the right decision for her—nothing is the same anymore. She doesn’t want anyone besides her parents and her boyfriend to know what happened; she doesn’t want to run cross-country; she can’t bring herself to be excited about anything.

Until she reconnects with Juliana, a former teammate who’s going through her own dark places.

Aftercare Instructions by Bonnie Pipkin

“Troubled.” That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter—until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything.

As Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, she must also confront her most painful memories.

Through the lens of an ongoing four act play within the novel, the fantasy of their undying love unravels line by line, scene by scene. Digging deeper into her past while exploring the underground theater world of New York City, she rediscovers a long-forgotten dream.

But it’s when Gen lets go of her history, the one she thinks she knows, that she’s finally able to embrace the complicated, chaotic true story of her life, and take center stage.

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

Monica has just terminated a pregnancy as the book starts. Her sister was the last cheerleader in town to die in mysterious circumstances.

This is a unique book and great for fans of the A Good Girls Guide series by Holly Jackson.

My review of The Cheerleaders is here. There’s also a sequel to The Cheerleaders called The Champions – here’s my review!

Every Little Thing In the World by Nina de Gramont

When sixteen-year-old Sydney Biggs’s pregnancy test shows the tell tale plus sign, she confides in only her best friend Natalia, and Natalia promptly “borrows” her mother’s car so Sydney can confront the baby’s father.

But after the car is reported stolen and police bring the girls home, their parents send them away to wilderness camp as punishment.

With six weeks to spend in the wilds of Canada, time is ticking for Sydney, who isn’t sure what she wants to do about the pregnancy. As she befriends her fellow adventuremates and contends with Natalia’s adamant opinions on the choices available, Sydney realizes that making the right choice can mean very different things

Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert

Since she was seven years old, Yvonne has had her trusted violin to keep her company.

But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school.

Full of doubt about her future, and increasingly frustrated by her strained relationship with her successful but emotionally closed-off father, Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle. .

But when Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future. 

Girl on the Verge by Sharon Biggs Waller

Camille couldn’t be having a better summer. But on the very night she learns she got into a prestigious theater program, she also finds out she’s pregnant.

She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend, Bea, doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made.

Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone . . . and the system is very much working against her.

Girls Like Us by Randi Pink

Set in the summer of 1972, this moving YA historical novel is narrated by teen girls from different backgrounds with one thing in common: Each girl is dealing with pregnancy.

Four teenage girls. Four different stories. What they all have in common is that they’re dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

Things I Can’t Forget by Miranda Kenneally

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too.

He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt – with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy…

Unpregnant by Jenni Hendricks

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she would wish she’d failed a test until she finds herself holding a thick piece of plastic in her hands and staring at two solid pink lines.

Veronica needs an abortion, but the closest place she can legally get one is over nine hundred miles away—and Veronica doesn’t have a car.

Too ashamed to ask her friends or family for help, Veronica turns to the one person she believes won’t judge her: Bailey Butler, Jefferson High’s own little black cloud of anger and snark—and Veronica’s ex-best friend.

Absolute Value by Anna Henrik

Thanks to a blog reader for suggesting this title in the comments!

Nate and Gabrielle are a happy couple looking forward to their junior year of high school. Then Gabrielle discovers that she’s pregnant.

Nate knows that his Christian family, who is decidedly pro-life will expect him to “do the right thing.”

Gabrielle, still reeling from her parents’ divorce, is leaning toward an entirely different decision. This powerful story is told from both teens’ points of view.

If you have books to add to this list, please let me know.

Exit, Pursued by A Bear should also be on this list and is included in this post:

YA Books That Address Sexual Assault and Rape Culture