It was John Steinbeck who said, “We do not take a trip, a trip takes us.” Unpregnant lives by this statement honestly as its protagonist sets out on a trip to find an abortion clinic that does not require parental consent. It’s an unfortunate commentary on the United States that some women live in a literal desert of reproductive care, but being 900 miles away from the closest clinic as a driven teenager in a jam makes for an excellent YA comedy premise.

Director Rachel Lee Goldenberg (perhaps most known for the Will Ferrell Lifetime spoof A Deadly Adoption) says of the journey laid bare for her protagonist: “I think that most young people don’t know their states’ rules. Even I, when I read the book (the film is based on the novel by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan), I couldn’t believe that 1000 miles was the closest place that Veronica could access abortion. I’ve been asked the question many times, ‘Is that real or did you make that up for the movie?’ and have to say, ‘No, that’s real,’ and I think the laws are purposefully complicated and difficult.”

Unpregnant’s inciting incident is in frame one of the road trip reproductive rights comedy out now on HBO Max: Picture-perfect student Veronica (played by the infinitely likable Haley Lu Richardson) sits in on the untoward toilet seat of a high school bathroom stall taking a pregnancy test. It’s positive. Not the results you want when you’re about to escape small-town Missouri (and religious parents, judgmental friends, and a clueless boyfriend) for Brown University.

But Veronica is nothing if not an excellent student and planner. She does the only thing she knows how to do — studies and plans her way to what will prove the most epic and life-changing road trip of her young life. Now she just needs a car.

Enter Bailey (played by perfectly punk Barbie Ferreira). Bailey and Veronica have been estranged for some time, but Veronica knows loner Bailey has a car and probably isn’t up to much. Bailey revels in watching Veronica (who usually knows exactly how to curate her Instagram) finally show cracks in her overly polished life. And Veronica’s right; Bailey has nothing going on except the overwhelming curiosity to discover whether or not this best friendship can be mended.

It’s this journey of a friendship reignited that drives the comedy, fun, and heart of the abortion-bound journey that often manages to scuttle much political discussion all together. Goldenberg says the chemistry between her leads came naturally; she knew she’d hit casting gold when Lu Richardson and Ferreira did a chemistry read for a particularly touching scene on a carnival ride where the pair scream, “We are gay, and we are pregnant,” letting their current secrets fly free to the wind.

Of course, the road trip of self-discovery and change is interrupted by friends and foes along the way. A shining moment for Ferreira comes in a heated scene with an unexpected drag racer played by the electric Betty Who. Their shared onscreen kiss is one of the more memorable of summer movie romantic moments this year, and when Goldenberg was asked if their romance gets to continue in this universe she simply replied, “What do you think?”

Where the road trip occasionally hits some speed bumps is when the film’s heroines face their antagonists head-on. A pair of evangelical pro-lifers try their best to dissuade Veronica from her mission in what results in a strange kidnapping, and one wishes for a turn not taken where Veronica stands her ground and argues her perspective more firmly with the oddball pair. But perhaps Veronica’s unwavering opinion and the impossibility of reasoning with crazy is part of the point.

As the trip weaves further from its intended destination, the friendship between Veronica and Bailey constantly deepens, and soon the audience believes no matter what happens, at least the friendship will remain. Goldenberg worked with a slew of additional writers to bring the journey to life, but also wanted to make the adaptation process personal to her.

“I had my own take on how to handle the abortion elements. For example, we (my writing partner Bill Parker and I) mapped out Veronica’s journey to being able to talk about her abortion. Also, the final sequence where she actually gets the procedure was reimagined in my draft. Each writer brought their view to it, and I got the benefit of having all these smart people’s ideas, and then also got to bring my own to it.”

Perhaps what shocks the most about the film is not the fact that the process of an abortion is portrayed onscreen, or that there’s a glorious queer kiss, or that the main male character feels deeply entrenched in patriarchal notions of love. No, what is most shocking is that any of this should feel revolutionary at all in the year 2020, but, for better or worse it still does. Fortunately for Veronica and the audience, the trip changes our leading women for the better, and offers a happy ending — if only young women in America could feel equally confident in being able to write the outcomes of their own reproductive rights road trips in the future.