I Had an Abortion Film Opens Dialogue Among Pro-Choicers
Documentary Includes Testimonials From Barnard Alumna, Others Who Had Abortions; Includes Only Positive Experiences
By Lindsay Schubiner
Columbia Daily Spectator
January 31, 2005
Have you ever wondered what it’s really like to have an abortion?
The new documentary Speak Out: I Had an Abortion, screened by Barnard and Columbia Students for Choice on Friday night to a packed lecture hall, was determined to address the “silence” that many say continues to surround actual abortion experiences.
The film features testimonies from women of all ages and backgrounds who have had abortions, and it comes at a time when many question the future of abortion rights. Pro-choice advocates suggest that President George W. Bush’s Supreme Court appointees may facilitate the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
The title of the documentary springs from a recent pro-choice movement that publicizes the abortion experience to make the procedure more accepted, in addition to stressing the right to choose. Most visibly, Planned Parenthood sells t-shirts that read simply, “I had an abortion.”
Jennifer Baumgardner, the film’s producer, now also sells the t-shirts.
Among other women, I Had an Abortion features Barnard graduate and former Students for Choice member A’yen Tran, BC ’04, who spoke about her two abortions. At the time, she said, she lived in the Barnard quad, did not have a job, and could not take care of a baby.
Of all the women interviewed, Tran was both the youngest and seemingly most-unconflicted about her choice. Even with a fully supportive mother, however, she said she was initially reluctant to be open about her abortion. It is this feeling of imposed secrecy that Tran and the filmmakers say they hope to combat with the documentary.
Baumgardner wrote the successful feminist text Manifesta and currently writes for publications such as Harper’s, The Nation, and Glamour. Director of the film Gillian Aldrich is known for her extensive work with Michael Moore and for her production of the daily news show “Democracy Now.”
The women agreed to participate in a panel discussion after the showing. Aldrich, however, could not attend, so Tran and Baumgardner took the stage.
I Had an Abortion showed only positive abortion stories. Baumgardner said that the main goal of the film was just to show “women telling their stories.”
The event’s press release also stressed the importance of this, stating, “The women that have procedures aren’t nameless, faceless, irresponsible types who don’t ‘deserve’ this right, but our mothers, our grandmas, our sisters, and ourselves.”
Baumgardner and Tran fielded questions from the audience, which ranged from inquiries about current policy decisions, personal experiences, and decisions about the film’s scope to a request that Baumgardner distribute the film in Poland and in other European countries.
One girl in the audience admitted that she had an abortion, perhaps indicating the effectiveness of the film’s message.
Tran stressed that both Barnard and Columbia Health Services offer abortions at no cost in private facilities and do not release information to students’ parents.
After the documentary, Caledonia Curry, an artist from Brooklyn who came at her friend’s request, said the documentary “was one of those where I kind of wanted to cry a lot.”
“Even though you’re so pro-choice, it’s just something that’s never going to happen to you,” Curry said.
Averill Leslie, CC ’05, who joined Students for Choice this year, said “there [must be] so many more people walking around in my life who’ve had abortions.”
Alice LaBrie, a neighborhood resident in her 60s, was surprised, however, that women would want to share what she believes is private medical information. “I believe that women should be very discreet about themselves to keep a mystique,” she said.
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