In Girls Like Us, Randi Pink introduces us to four very different girls with one very similar dilemma: they are all burdened with unwanted pregnancies. The year is 1972 and women have very few options. Abortion was not one of them, as it was a time when it was illegal throughout the United States.

First, we’re introduced to Ola and her younger sister, Izella, daughters of an evangelist minister. Both Ola and Izella know that when their mother finds out about Ola’s pregnancy there will be hell to pay. Izella’s concerns lie in that Ola is a teenager whose head is mostly in the clouds. To make matters worse, the father of the baby is suffering from PTSD after serving in Vietnam. So neither of them is in any condition to raise a child or support a family.

Izella comes to the conclusion that the best option is for there to be no baby. Desperate, she seeks the advice of a local town witch, Mrs. Mac, to help her get rid of her sister’s baby.

In that same town, we’re also introduced to Mississipi, a girl so young and naïve that, at 13, she barely understands her condition or the sexual assault that put her in it. With little to no options, her father chooses to send her away to live with a woman in Chicago called Miss Pearline. Miss Pearline’s duty is to help girls like Mississipi carry out their pregnancy in a safe place, away from the public eye, and until they can decide either to keep the child or give it up for adoption.

The fourth girl, Sue, arrives at Miss Pearline’s soon after. She is a young hippie and the daughter of an anti-choice senator whose family will be scandalized to find out that she’s pregnant out of wedlock. Sue quickly becomes disillusioned with the father of her baby, but even though she comes from a wealthy background, her options are also reduced to that which will best help keep up appearances.

Despite some elements of magical realism, the narrative always remains uncomplicated and straightforward. Pink weaves the story of these four girls — each of them a reflection of real-life stories — together to present to us a pretenseless account of the dangerous and limiting ways women were forced to deal with unwanted pregnancies before abortion laws were put in place.