I'm a big fan of The Pudding, which has produced some pretty incredible interactive data journalism over the last few years. But the publisher's most recent project might be the most visceral one yet: a series of "abortion mazes" that challenge you to navigate the labyrinthine patchwork systems of abortion care from state-to-state after the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
The highlight of the piece is six real-life stories which depict six individual abortion journeys across six different US states. These stories illustrate the heartbreak and brutal pain that can often accompany a person's choice to pursue an abortion—like in the case of Courtney in Tennessee, who was already a mother of three when she discovered that she had an ectopic pregnancy, despite being on birth control.
Not all the stories end with a lengthy hospital stay or permanently damaged body parts. Some of them take place in states where abortion access is supposed to be easy—or at least, easier. Even then, the religious affiliations of medical providers and the lack of education around things like trans healthcare can make for a massively complicated hassle.
While I do wish that the Pudding was able to find and recreate 50 (or more) abortion stories for every single US state (and/or territory), I also recognize that that would be an enormous feat. Still, the interactivity that's presented here is powerful enough to show just how costly abortion bans can be—emotionally, and financially.
It should be enough to remind you that no government should be preemptively deciding who gets to do what with their bodies, or prescribe healthcare choices from on-high with no consideration for the long-term damage it can do to peoples' bodies, their families, and themselves.
The United States of Abortion Mazes [Jan Diehm & Michelle Pera-McGhee / The Pudding]