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

More relevant than ever - with another entry approved last year, that was also very controversial. But then again, what isn't controversial with the Trump administration? Just when you thought nothing could be more divisive than Faux News bashing anything (really anything) President Obama did and heating up and splitting many parts of America ... there came Trump.

But the documentary is not about Trump. It is about a moment in time, when something was rushed. And it should not matter what Party you belong to: decency should know no party affiliation. But we know this isn't true. We also know that looking from the outside in, it is easier to distinguish certain things. It is also true that other countries have issues. But one thing at a time and a look back (with parallels to now) gives you a really good documentary ... Some things will be harder to swallow than others. Don't expect this to be an easy watch

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.

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....

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.