Abortion: Stories Women Tell review by Bobby Blakey
There are few documentaries that really stand out and break the mold of the way they tell stories. Despite the often mundane format they tend to shine the spotlight on an important topic that works to bring some enlightenment to the viewer. For years HBO has been bringing some of the greatest documentaries around and show no signs of slowing down. Their most recent takes on the topic of abortion with Abortion: Stories Women Tell, but does it bring anything new to the subject or will it just be more of the same arguments we have been listening to for years?
Abortion: Stories Women Tell follows a few different people on both sides of the abortion situation making a film that does a great job of allowing both sides to speak without feeling like it is trying to force an agenda down your throat. These days we all have our own feelings about abortion and here it takes the viewer through almost every situation you can think of to shine the light on all sides. Getting to see both sides of the argument makes for the perfect film to open the lines of communication to help build towards the most educated decision all around as opposed to everyone trying to force their own agendas on each other. The stories are not as heavy handed as I expected, but still feature the struggles that not only the people that are trying to make that hard decision, but also those working in the industry. Most of those against it immediately attack these people and clinics for doing abortions and ignore the fact that most of these clinics are not even primarily for abortions, but for female care that some might not get anywhere else.
As with most topics like this the truth is clouded by hate, judgement, fear and opinions instead of open dialogue and understanding which would go so much further on both sides. Whether you agree with abortion or not, this film offers a chance for both sides to see this situation through multiple eyes and quite possibly at least keep things in a positive direction and help build more communication that is sorely missing in this world. Be sure to check out this film in limited theatrical release now as well as debuting on HBO later this year.