Democracy Now
A new documentary by the Oscar-nominated directors of Jesus Camp offers a rare inside look at the pitched battle over abortion rights that’s being waged not just in Congress and the courts, but on the street corners of small-town America—in particular, one street corner where an abortion clinic and an anti-abortion pregnancy care center sit across the street from each other.
Guests:
Rachel Grady, filmmaker, 12th and Delaware
Heidi Ewing, filmmaker, 12th and Delaware
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1 comment:
I found this documentary to have an interesting flaw. Some political films treat opinions like facts. This one treats facts like opinions.
For example, the documentary shows a woman who says she can't afford another baby. The protesters outside the abortion clinic promise to pay her rent and grocery bills and all other sorts of things. She leaves with them. Then the documentary cuts to the woman running the clinic, who says that the protesters never keep such promises.
The film crew never goes back to tell us what happened to the woman and her kids. It gives everyone a say, as if this were a matter of opinion, but either the protesters kept their promises or they didn't. Either the clinic woman is right about them being liars or she is wrong and they are honest and generous.
There's a similar issue with the abortion-breast cancer link. The staff at the crisis pregnancy center claims that abortion causes breast cancer. The staff at the abortion clinic claims that it does not. The film crew should have cited one of the many, many studies that shows that, in this case, the staff of the abortion clinic are right and the staff of the crisis pregnancy center are wrong.
Yes, it's good to give people equal time when what they're discussing is open to debate, but if one group of people says "the sky is blue" and the other says "no, it's black," you're allowed to point your camera out the window and show us who's right.
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