Angie Leventis Lourgos began reporting on abortion access in Illinois in 2015. In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, she has watched the Midwest become even further divided over the issue of abortion rights.

“It seems like the chasm between Missouri and Illinois or Illinois and Indiana has only widened,” she said. “I didn’t think that was possible because they seemed so disparate when I started doing this reporting.”

Earlier this year, Leventis Lourgos published her first book, “Life-Altering: Abortion Stories from the Midwest.” She spoke with a number of abortion patients around the region about their experiences. The stories in the book span six decades: from illegal abortions pre-Roe, to post-Roe attacks on abortion clinics.

In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Leventis Lourgos about her reporting and the state of the post-Roe Midwest this election year.