"Rabbit Test" is a 2022 science fiction short story by Samantha Mills, exploring the history of and future of access to abortion. It was first published in Uncanny Magazine.
Synopsis
editIn 2091, Grace is 17 years old, and abortion is totally banned. When her government-mandated menstrual tracker implant automatically administers a pregnancy test, her life changes. The story follows her over the next several decades, interspersed with vignettes about the history of abortion and pregnancy tests, going back millennia.
Reception
edit"Rabbit Test" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 2022,[1] the 2023 Theodore Sturgeon Award,[2] and the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[3][a]
Locus found the story to be "worthwhile reading", but noted that "some may find it too didactic".[5] Library Journal called it "frighteningly prescient".[6] In the Los Angeles Review of Books, Niall Harrison lauded it as "one of the most powerful recent examples of rapid-response science fiction" and "an incandescent and unashamed polemic that distills the bitter aftermath of 2022's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization [decision] into a few thousand words."[7] Strange Horizons praised it as "fierce and formidable" and "furiously sharp", and noted that in addition to being a story, it is also "an illuminating history lesson about abortion and reproductive rights".[8]
Mills has described the story's success as "wonderful, if bittersweet", specifying that she would "prefer if a story like this didn't resonate with anyone".[9]
Notes
edit- ^ Mills subsequently disavowed the award due to the controversy regarding the ballot.[4]
References
edit- ^ Rabbit Test at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ Mills Wins Sturgeon, in Locus; published August 25, 2023; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ 2023 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ Rabbit Test Unwins the Hugo, by Samantha Mills; at SamtasticBooks.com; published February 17, 2024; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ Paula Guran reviews Tor.com, Apex, and Uncanny, by Paula Guran; at Locus; published January 9, 2023; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 , reviewed by Marlene Harris, at Library Journal; published September 22, 2023; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ The Year’s Best Is Dead, Long Live the Year’s Best: On the 2023 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalists, by Niall Harrison; at the Los Angeles Review of Books; published September 21, 2023; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ Short Fiction Treasures: Quarterly Fiction Roundup, by Maria Haskins, in Strange Horizons; published January 23, 2023; retrieved August 10, 2024
- ^ In Glorious Tones of Copper: An Interview with Samantha Mills, by Myna Chang, in Uncharted Magazine; published March 29, 2024; retrieved August 10, 2024
External links
edit- Text of the story, at Uncanny Magazine
- Mills's list of sources used in writing the story, at Mills's official site