How We Made This

This film is part of a campaign of public service announcements that I produced for the PRO CHOICE EDUCATION PROJECT, based out of New York. The intention was to illustrate the realities of what it means for both women and physicians when abortion is illegal. In the other films in this campaign we interviewed women discussing their experiences of illegal abortions and why they feel it is essential that abortion be legalized, we filmed an illegal procedure being performed by a physician, we interviewed a priest who gave the church's perspective on this issue, and here in this film we had a doctor walk us through, in detail, the manner in which clandestine operations are typically performed, showing the instruments that would be used on camera. My hope was that by taking a clinical, unflinching look at abortion purely as a medical procedure that one could forever shatter the offensive misconception, held by many as an argument against the legalization of abortion, that this is an procedure that is ever undertaken casually or carelessly. From the sober and serious tonality of the doctor featured in this piece I would hope that it would be obvious to all that abortion is a matter best left in the hands of qualified, trained physicians who are concerned only with the health care and best interests of their patient.