Guest column: Why individual stories are lost in the fight for abortion rights

I spent three years filming in abortion clinics. [while making 2016 doc Trapped], spending time in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. Nothing I knew before traveling to these places could have prepared me for what I would see. If you’ve ever spent time in the south, you know what I mean when I say there are few things more beautiful than a southern afternoon. Days when the piercing blue sky is softened only by flowers and a carpet of bright green grass. Birmingham, Alabama is like that. People say “hello” as they pass and wish them good luck on their way out.

As I approached the Birmingham clinic, several anti-choice protesters were waiting outside, ringing the doorbell. There were lengthy legal battles over how close they were to the entrance, so the protesters weren’t really blocking the entrance, but they made their presence known. They held up posters, often with black babies, and begged the mostly black and brown women who entered the clinic not to kill their children. Patients learned to drive and park alongside the group of protesters, from where they were taken to the clinic. yesterday of june [who operated the Reproductive Health Services Clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, and who was featured in Trapped] He sat at the front desk and called each patient. A guard waited at the locked back door to escort doctors who usually came to clinics to perform abortions when local doctors were unavailable.

Entering the clinic is always stressful. I admit I gasped every time I walked in, wondering if some anti-choice extremist had decided this was the day to shoot them all. I knew June had several large security monitors at home. The monitors set up a 24-hour watch in the house he shared with his daughter. She had long ago taught her daughter to look for bombs under the car before they arrived at school each day. This woman is a cancer survivor. The day before, I heard protesters shouting, “June, did God send you cancer?” (June later died, in 2021, of cancer.)

This is what I want you to know. Even though I was physically beautiful, I felt like a nightmare. How can such a seemingly peaceful place be occupied by people so angry and hostile who are determined to get you into an argument? In Tuscaloosa, I met several protesters who told me I was a disgrace to my race for supporting black women’s right to abortion. In Mississippi, protesters argued with escorts from clinics and yelled at women who entered clinics, sometimes trying to block their cars.

But what about inside? Inside the Birmingham Clinic was a nondescript-looking doctor’s office. In the waiting room, women and a few men waited in silence to hear their names. some were sleeping; Others are looking at their phones. Everyone was silent. Actual abortion takes less than 10 minutes in most cases. less than five minutes. The women then wait to recover while being monitored for postabortion complications.

Many of the women who agreed to speak with me did not want to be filmed, but some of them allowed me to record our conversation. I can say that all the women told me that their main emotion was relief. No two stories were the same. A young woman was in college and she loved her partner, but she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Another had just gotten out of an abusive relationship. Many of them wanted to continue the pregnancy but simply could not afford another child. These were some of the most disappointing. For many women, the decision to terminate a pregnancy is the result of poverty. A woman I will never forget told me through her tears that she was happily married with a 2 year old son and suddenly found herself pregnant. She had just come out of public assistance, enrolled in school, and found a day care she liked. Through her tears, she told me that she would love to continue the pregnancy, but then she wouldn’t be able to feed the whole family; They were just making it the way it was.

The stories were hard to hear, but the attention was incredible. Nurses treated each patient with respect, sometimes handing out tissues or holding hands during a brief procedure. Women often spoke spontaneously to their nurses and talked aloud about going to the clinic. Many traveled for several hours, borrowing money from family and friends. Some slept in their cars for days and couldn’t afford a hotel during mandatory waiting periods. After being seen for an abortion, doctors also performed routine exams, checking blood pressure and other illnesses. Many women were uninsured and hadn’t seen a doctor in years. One woman told me that she got pregnant because she tried to stretch her birth control pills by two months to save money.

I know too. What is missing in the fight against abortion are women. Nobody asks them what they need, or even what they think. Nearly every woman I interviewed in Alabama was completely unaware that the clinic was struggling to stay open. They had no idea that politicians would regulate these clinics. When I read that the Supreme Court overturned the decision Roe vs WadeI knew exactly what would happen. Most women in these states will not be able to travel out of state and will continue with this unwanted pregnancy, seek out an illegal abortionist, or attempt to abort on their own. When people ask me which post…roe The world is like that, I don’t have to imagine it, I know. If you don’t believe me, ask the women. Ask them.

Dawn Porter directed the 2016 Sundance documentary on abortion Caught up; Produced from the newly released Hulu document replicason the North American crisis in black maternal mortality; and documentary series directed 37 words, chronicles the uphill battle for equal rights in education and athletics as part of ESPN’s “Fifty/50” initiative. His other directing and producing credits include Apple TV+ can not seeby National Geographic Rising Again: tulle and red summerfocus functions the way i see and Magnolia Pictures’ John Lewis: Good problem..