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©1992, a film by Susan Froemke, Deborah Dickson and
Albert Maysles, 67 mins
Film Synopsis:
An intensely personal exploration of an explosive issue --
abortion in America. Wrenching first-person narratives
from seven decades of women, each one facing an
unplanned pregnancy -- and the dreadful decision that no
one wants to make. Both pro-life and pro-choice, both out
front on the picket line and inside the clinic, these women's
stories turn politics into heart-searing drama: a pregnant
17-year-old and her pro-life mother whose conflict unfolds
in front of the camera; a 22-year-old who became a pro-life
protestor when she learned that her mother nearly aborted
her; an unhappy mother-of-two who's expecting a third when
her marriage suddenly hits the rocks; a 71-year-old
grandmother who still grieves for her mother, an early victim
of illegal abortion. In this fusion of past and present, the history
of abortion is the history of women -- told at a time in America
when yesterday's back-alley abortions may be the only choice
left for tomorrow.
Reviews:
The battles here are inside the mind.
- Robert Koehler, LOS ANGELES TIMES, May 5, 1992
In the waiting areas and operating rooms of the Women's
Health Services clinic in Pittsburgh, Abortion: Desperate
Choices finds deeper resonances in words like choice and
life than are heard on the street outside· The camera
makes no judgements; somehow it manages to be
sympathetic and unsparing at the same time.
- Walter Goodman, THE NEW YORK TIMES, May 4, 1992
Accolades:
Premiered on HBO series American Undercover
three CableACE Awards
The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award.
1992 Emmy Award Nominee for Outstanding Informational Special
1993 World Fest Special Jury Award, the Charleston International Film Festival
1993 World Fest Bronze Award, Houston International Film and Video Festival
1992 New York Festivals Finalist Award
1992 Peabody Award Winner
Vancouver International Film Festival, 1992
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