Roe v. Wade: La véritable histoire de l'avortement

Reversing Roe gives us a good history of the battle for and against legalized abortion in America. The strategies and tactics employed by the players on both sides are well presented. However, several things which I believe are extremely relevant to this debate were completely absent from this documentary.

The first of these omissions is there was no discussion whatsoever that the 1973 SC ruling seemed to invent out of thin air a Constitutional "right to privacy" and a woman's "right" to have complete control over her own body. Wouldn't those "rights" also apply to prostitution, where a woman would be able to rent her services as she sees fit, without having to fear being thrown in jail, or give the lion's share of her earnings to someone paying off the police?

The ROE decision also included "viability" of the fetus, which is an ever-moving target due to constant medical advancements.

The movie well depicts the passion that drives the leaders of both the "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice" movements. What the movie omits is that this passion is limited to a fairly small section of the population as a whole.

Many Pro-Life supporters publicly claim abortion is murder. But ask ANY Pro-Life politician if he or she believes that women who go to foreign countries for abortions should be prosecuted, imprisoned, and/or executed for premeditated murder, and the answer will be "NO!" Similarly, very few people who want to keep abortion legal will admit to wanting the taxpayers to fund an unlimited number of abortions for a woman who keeps getting pregnant but doesn't want any children.

Because of these realities, abortion isn't in the forefront of the minds of most Americans. In scores of national polls where voters are asked what the most important political issues are in America, abortion currently ranks around 14th place. REVERSING ROE might have you believe otherwise.

Film does an excellent job in telling the story of the fight for the right to choose what happens to your body if you are a woman. It simply is balanced, both sides got more or less equal amount of time/space to speak their mind. If you browse through a couple of reviews here you can find some claims about the movie that simply are not true, so for instance you can find this gem: " The pro life movement is made to look like a bunch of idiots, driven only by males. Not one woman was highlighted as being pro life.". He/she proved the first part of that claim with that very sentence incidentally, because not only was that not the case in the movie but the last person who is speaking for the pro-life side is a woman. Also there is critic that the pro-life side is represented only by religious fanatics, no science on their side. Of course there is a reason for that also, in that the scientific facts simply are not in favor of pro-life. I am sorry that certain people seem to be offended by the representation of pro-life by the religious right in the movie, but that is who is pushing pro-life agenda, as mentioned there is a reason its not Nobel lauerates picketing clinics and killing people. Thats not the fault of the film. To summarize: take the 90 minutes and watch the film, if you are a person with critical/objective/rational thought process you will enjoy it (no matter on which side of the fence you fall on), if not then be prepared to get upset I guess....

I sit through this documentary with a heavy heart, because it really makes me wanna scream while watching this.

It showcases how abortion becomes a political issue to mobilize voters' support to win an election, and how pressure groups and lobbyists utilize their influence to sway politicians to pass laws in their favor regardless of scientific facts and medical evidence. It showcases how the democratic system in the US is broken in a way, that it no longer upholds its most fundamental values of passing laws that protects individual liberties (when they pose no harm to other individuals), based on scientific research, facts and statistical evidence.

It shows how people are being emotionally mobilised by packaged ideologies and propaganda, to uphold a view that may not be entirely factually correct. To split people into a bipolar view of one-side vs the other, when there can be compromises and more detailed arguments to reach consensus. It promotes a culture that it's either us or them.

One critic for this documentary, is that it could have provided more scientific evidence and medical research regarding abortion and reproductive rights. Delve more into the social and philosophical aspects of the abortion issue.

For example, how does the right to abortion interact with the family structure, economic discrepancies, educational and job opportunities? More discussion can be made on why people want abortions, or what makes abortion an important right.

Also, there can be more discussion for what does it mean for a foetus to have a "life"? What does the three trimesters of pregnancy signifies? These questions are essential to understanding more about the debate on abortion rights.

Instead, this documentary focuses entirely on the politics of the abortion issue. Which I feel like is not enough information on the issue.

I'd first like to say this review is an actual FILM review, not a diatribe of my own opinions. Some users of this site seem to put their own viewpoints ahead of a real review, which is what IMDB is for. Although I expected as much. But there was so much nuance and complexity that could've been covered here; I'm disappointed yet unsurprised that it wasn't that sort of doc.

This film had potential. In the beginning I thought that it was perhaps showing both sides... Telling a story, as a film should, and letting the viewer make up their own mind. Allow both sides to gain some insights and compassion for each other. Allow nuance. I think it occasionally veered towards that, but ultimately it was still geared towards either swaying you to one POV or affirming you if you already had that take on the issue. And it left no side with any greater understanding of the other.

In reality there are far more people than you'd think who don't have a black and white viewpoint, who don't fit themselves into a choice-or-life box. Or aren't coming from the same place you might expect. I really would've love to see more of that covered. After all, I come to a documentary to learn, and a good doc should really make the viewer think.

For example, I once read a fascinating essay written by a feminist, athiest woman - who was pro-life. I've also seen those who are extremely religious, and just as staunchly pro-choice. Humans usually don't fit into neat little boxes. I would have loved to hear the stories and reasoning of people like that in this film.

Ideally, I would've like to see this film look outside of the typical, politically-based talking points, and look beyond the usual spokespeople of the two camps. It would have made for a very compelling and interesting documentary if they had interviewed feminist/atheist/secular pro-lifers, if they interviewed the extremely religious pro-choicers, if they spoke to those who could not pick a side, to those who had an "or/but" viewpoint, believing that sometimes abortion wasn't right and sometimes it was, or that some situations would allow for it. Something that would challenge us all, no matter where we stood on the topic.

I also would've loved to hear from more scientists, especially biologists. Evolutionary biologists would have been a fantastic resource in my opinion. There are many who hold the view that science backs up life human life beginning at conception. There are others who have the opposite viewpoint. Imagine if we could get a couple well-educated biologists in a room debating this fact politely and using reason, logic, and facts.

So, in the end this film fell short. It didn't provide new perspectives or give viewers anything to think about. And there are so many perspectives to be had. In pro-life and pro-choice camps, and with all the others in-between or undecided. In the end I felt like this documentary served a political purpose, and wasn't really an honest film. I'm still waiting for that film, the one that will simply tell a STORY and show all sides, and show all the gray areas.

We're all human beings. Documentaries can remind us of that. A great doc really can change societies (Blackfish being a prime example). Unfortunately this was not one of them.

The documentary is lacking in showing history of the abortion debate prior to 1900. This is because there was NO ABORTION DEBATE prior to 1900. Abortion was safe and legal, and NO ONE CARED. This should have been presented.