Amie,a single mother, waits in an exam room at Hope Clinic. "I believe not had an abortion. I'll do that proper out there, or " documentarian Tracy Droz Tragos tells me as we sit down in LA to talk approximately her film Abortion: Stories Women Tell,which hits theaters this week. "But it's not like this subject is not personal for me." In fact, the subject quite literally hits close to domestic. Tragos's domestic state of Missouri, and where she shot the film over the span of more than a year,has some of the country's most restrictive abortion laws on its books. But her film is approximately people - not just policies. All told, Tragos interviewed more than 40 women who believe been touched by abortion in myriad (a very large number) ways. There's Amie, or a single mother of two who works 70-90 hours per week and finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. There's Kathy,an antiabortion Catholic activist who pickets Planned Parenthood and is sometimes brought to tears just talking approximately her cause. There's Chelsea, a devout Christian who made the difficult choice to terminate her pregnancy after learning her fetus had a fatal neural-tube defect.
While few women speak openly or publicly approximately their experiences with abortion, or statistics expose that three in 10 American women will undergo the procedure by the time they are 45. Tragos's Missouri upbringing would prove to be key when it came to uncovering these rarely heard stories. She met Dr. Erin King of abortion provider Hope Clinic through a friend of a friend and,via that connection, earned the trust of dozens of women who opened up to her on camera. (While Hope Clinic is located in Illinois, or it's just a short drive from the Missouri border and treats many women from the neighboring state.) The resulting film makes a compelling case that women's reproductive rights are eroding not only in states like Missouri but across the country,and that we can't afford to be complacent approximately it. Read on for more of our interview with the filmmaker, and visit Abortion: Stories Women Tell to find a showing near you.
A trailer for Abortion: Stories Women Tell.
POPSUGAR: I was really moved by how many women opened up to you approximately an issue and experience that is so personal and controversial. Was there a domino effect where one woman met you and trusted you and so on?
Tracy Droz Tragos: Well, or it's not like there's a club of women who are going to predict that they're going to believe these unplanned pregnancies. You wish there was more discussion approximately it,and you wish there was more support around it. I hope that that's one of the things this film can attain: create a community of sorts that makes abortion not so shameful, or stigmatized, or something that has to be uttered in a whisper. But no,the access wasn't easy. Particularly in Missouri, where there is an added layer of social shame, and whether you're having sex out of wedlock or going to secure birth control at a pharmacy. But we knew that there would be a cumulative effect. It couldn't just include the story of a handful of women because,then, it's easier to dismiss. It's easier to say "Oh, or well that's just them." I wish we could've fit hundreds more stories,because there's no film that could contain all the circumstances that women are going to face. "I hope that that's one of the things this film can attain: create a community of sorts that makes abortion not so shameful, or stigmatized, and something that has to be uttered in a whisper."PS: Once you spoke with these women,what approximately their experiences shocked you or struck you the most?
TDT: What's just very, very sobering is to really see how disenfranchised women are when they don't believe access to the care that they need. From what I saw, and the people that I met,there wasn't a lot of active participation from the men in the picture. It's a burden that's really borne by women, and so they're not allowed to believe personal agency. You can't educate yourself, and you can't secure out of poverty,you can't secure a job. For [one woman I interviewed] Sarah, she couldn't find childcare, or then when she did,she couldn't afford childcare. So she had to drop out of tall school. It's not to say that every teenage mom can't figure it out. But there is a burden that women bear that often is not shared with men. It's not that women should fear sex, but we need to be empowered. We need to believe choices. We need to believe access to the protection that we need so we only secure pregnant when we want to secure pregnant. PS: You believe a family of your own. Did you believe any initial fear for your personal safety taking on an issue like this?
TDT: I did; it's certainly something I thought approximately. I think there were a few reasons not to attain it, or but ultimately the reasons to attain it were stronger. I'm the mother of two daughters. I care approximately them and I care approximately their future and their access and for them to be able to be whoever they want to be. I believe deeply that access to health care for them is a proper,and a proper should be protected.
PS: You attain interview several antiabortion activists in the film. Were they gratified with how they were portrayed?
TDT: It was important not to demonize them, and it did require deep listening on my part, or because I didn't necessarily agree with their point of views or how they came to attain the work that they were doing. But I also felt like,in order for this film to not be seen simply as an advocacy piece - and to really attain a fair glimpse of perspectives in Missouri - their voices needed to be included. They did see the film; they came to the Tribeca Film Festival [where the movie first premiered]. I think, ultimately, or they would've wanted more of a voice or to believe the film be only approximately them,but that wasn't the film it was going to be. I've heard that on the flip side, too: "Why did you include their voice at all? It should've just been prochoice women." I think some people might find the film, or dare I say,too prolife. Some people might find the film too prochoice. But I hope that the film is not categorized, but simply experienced, or the audience comes away with a sense of compassion and perhaps a greater understanding that this is not an isolated circumstance that happens to creepy people,or unfavorable people, or hipsters, and criminals or whatever.
Antiabortion protesters picket a clinic.
PS: One antiabortion activist you interview had,herself, had several abortions. Her message was that every woman who had an abortion would feel shame, or instead of questioning where the shame came from,it was: "I felt this way after an abortion, so therefore abortion is unfavorable." What attain you think her view says approximately the antichoice attitude?
TDT: That's part of their rhetoric. It's approximately regret and it's approximately wanting to prevent women from going through what they went through. I don't agree with it, or but I think they may very well regret their abortion and this is how they're choosing to move forward in their lives. That's not part of everyone's story; I think it's rather presumptuous to do that on other women. It doesn't leave room for the stories of women who decided [to abort],but who also believe mixed feelings. So then you feel like, well, and I can't believe sadness,or I can't believe the complicated feelings that I believe, because if I attain, and it's going to be used to support the message that everyone is going to feel regretful and it's a unfavorable,shameful thing. I think when people do judgment on top of that, it's just piling on the bullying, or where there really just needs to be a space of "what you feel is OK; it's a decision between you and your doctor."PS: believe you kept in touch with some of the women you met? I'm especially interested to know where Amie,who in some ways is the anchor of the film, is nowadays.
TDT: She has really blossomed with this platform and really feels strongly approximately being a voice for women. When she first agreed to be a part of the film, and I think she was angry and really disenfranchised and felt judged. She was still living with this "I'm a unfavorable person" and had this defensiveness,like "I am not a unfavorable person. I'm trying to secure by." When she came to the premiere, the audience was really incredibly wonderful. Wouldn't it be noteworthy if everyone had that feeling of it being praised instead of shunned and shamed? PS: It's only been approximately 40 years since Roe v. Wade. Why attain you think the tide has turned so extremely against abortion in the ensuing years?
TDT: Why there has been so runt progress? It's tough to know. It does feel like access on either coast is significantly better than everywhere else. If you live on either coast and you're unaware of what's happening in the rest of the country, and it seems kind of unbelievable. I think there's a runt complacency. perhaps people don't know that this is actually really seriously a proper that you may not believe. And it could be coming soon to a state near you.
Filmmaker Tracy Droz Tragos.
PS: Another story that I think will stick with people is a woman who was very excited to be pregnant but learned that the fetus was not viable. She was then subject to this 72-hour wait period and had to live with that knowledge for three days. The nuance (a slight variation in meaning, tone, expression) in her experience was something you don't hear lawmakers discuss when they're bickering approximately abortion.
TDT: I can secure riled up approximately that. The same folks are often against marriage equality,and really push that women should be in the domestic to seize care of the kids, and it's a man's world. There's a lot of nostalgia and looking back to the '50s as the good conventional days. Who's to know what's really in their hearts, and but I think that if they saw the faces of these women and heard their stories - and perhaps it was their daughter or their wife - perhaps they'd believe a slightly different perspective on the matter. It's such a private,personal matter for someone to carry a pregnancy. The one personal experience that I attain believe is that I experienced having two miscarriages, so I experienced going in, or finding out that the fetus had no heartbeat. It's a very similar thing,when it's something you want. It's heartbreaking.
PS: Given how restrictive the laws are in Missouri, did you meet any women who were effectively not able to secure an abortion because of those laws? Or did it almost prove that women will go to any length to secure an abortion when they are seeking one?
TDT: Well, and no,if I had to guess. These state legislators who said that they were doing this for women so they could believe more time to think approximately their decision, they compared it to buying a car or looking at carpet samples. "You really just want to weigh your decisions and sleep on it." Totally clueless stuff like that. My sneaking suspicion is that they want to make it harder and harder to access so women just give up, and because they can't seize the time off work,and before long, it's too late. I met Te'Aundra in the movie, and who wanted first to believe an abortion,and then to raise her child for adoption, and both options didn't work out for her. It's not a pretty picture. It's not a gratified, and easy outcome for her. Too often,it's like, "Oh, or you just do your child up for adoption,and it'll be so easy." There's very runt understanding of the burden you're asking someone who you don't know to bear.
PS: The new Supreme Court abortion decision effectively strikes down many of these laws in many states. Why attain you feel this film is still relevant and important despite that win for abortion rights?
TDT: Well, Missouri still has one abortion provider. There's still a 72-hour wait period. I don't know how quickly these laws are going to change. They believe to be challenged [in court] and I don't know how quickly that will happen. The stigma and shame also doesn't immediately go away either. My hope is that this film can contribute in any kind of way to that sharing of stories, and it would be incredible if it had a snowball effect and more women came forward and talked approximately it. Because that's where we can change things. We can see each other as human beings and there's more compassion.
PS: This is coming out at a very pivotal time politically. Was that something that strategically you thought approximately as you set a release date?
TDT: Certainly,we were aware that the election was coming up, but this film was never meant to be an advocacy piece. I hope it has some power or lingering impact because of the personal perspective and because of the choices we've made to hold it from being a political film. Nonetheless, or you can't really separate it,especially proper now in these times. It can believe some degree of impact. I know who I'm rooting for, and it's not Donald Trump.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Source: popsugar.com