Abortion: Stories Women Tell
After watching “Abortion: Stories Women Tell” on HBO, which will be showing in select theaters before airing on the network, I was reminded of the multitude of documentaries that have flooded the market over the past few years. More specifically, it struck me how different each approach has been: “Trapped” focused on laws that are essentially making abortion illegal in several states; The phenomenal “After Tiller” looked at the few doctors left willing to perform third trimester abortions and the danger they face to do what they think is right.
It’s right there in its title “Abortion: Stories Women Tell” takes a direct approach by looking at women who have had first hand experience with getting an abortion. In a unique twist, director Tracy Droz Tragos does not just talk to those who made that decision but people like Chi Chi, a security guard at a clinic (she’s small and feisty like a Chihuahua) and even those on the other side of the issue, including prominent female voices in pro-life organization 40 Days For Life.
But what makes Tragos’ film so powerful is that most of the male voices we hear are fringe: men screaming Jesus in a parking lot or lawmakers trying to subvert Roe v Wade. This is about women’s rights and so this film only listens to what women have to say.
Some of these stories are among the most powerful I’ve heard all year from a documentary. There’s Amie, for example, who knows she can’t afford another baby because she already works multiple jobs just to feed her child as it is (“I’d rather go through this than watch my baby starve”). Several people we meet throughout “Abortion: Stories Women Tell” find themselves in situations where they know their family will go hungry if there’s another mouth to feed.
Others find out their baby won’t survive after birth. Some are stuck in abusive relationships. One woman says she was with such an abusive partner that bringing a child into the world would’ve been putting its life in danger (“I just couldn’t do it”). It’s important to note, though Tragos doesn’t point this out, that every story is different. Money, health, abuse everyone has their reasons and contrary to what pro-life proponents would have you believe, none of them feel like bad ones.
What makes “Abortion: Stories Women Tell” unique is that it also interviews those trying to close clinics in Missouri, which they have all but done, with one of them saying in all seriousness that she believes she saves lives by protesting outside abortion clinics. She doesn’t equivocate. And the film is at its best when it’s interested in commonalities moments like the one where a woman who works at the Illinois clinic sings along with anti-abortion protesters as they belt out “Jesus Loves Me.” One of the last lines of the film is “Do what you think is right.” So many people involved with fighting for legal and safe abortions or trying to prevent them are doing just that.
“Abortion: Stories Women Tell” isn’t an overtly political movie even though it clearly takes a pro-choice stance and lets some on the opposite side speak their piece. We get to know about this particular border region, where one Midwest state has TRAP laws so tough that it pushes women into another state and yes, there’s some politics there but really the only thing we need to know about this place is what happens there. The faces matter most, especially Amie’s incredible bravery and vulnerability (and I don’t use either of those words lightly) in letting us come along on such a difficult journey with her.
Those are what will stick with you from this movie. They’re the reason movies like these keep getting made, and why they still matter to people. Because as much as we may talk about abortion during presidential campaigns, it’s documentaries like this that remind us what we’re talking about: Women. Their stories need telling.
Watch Abortion: Stories Women Tell For Free On Gomovies.