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People's Movie Night: "Abortion Democracy" and "The Coathanger Project"
The People's Movie Night The People's Movie Night is Wooden Shoe Books' FREE Saturday Night Movie series, running for nearly 2 years now. Every single Saturday, come by at 7:30PM for a political movie, and a cup of popcorn. Wooden Shoe Books 508 s. 5th St. Philadelphia, PA 19147 Saturday September 6th 7:30PM "Abortion Democracy" & "The Coathanger Project" This night, we have a double-feature of two Feminist Films, with directors Sarah Diehl and Angie Young on hand to talk about their films! Abortion Democracy, directed by Sarah Diehl of Berlin, Germany, contrasts the differences in abortion policies in South Africa and Poland. In the 90's, Poland banned abortion due to the increasing influence of the Catholic Church after the fall of communism; around the same time South Africa legalized it, reforming the health system after the fall of apartheid. The film reveals how the legal status of women is a direct result of the silencing or empowering of women's voices. In the Polish society and media, women's perspectives were made invisible; in South Africa, on the other hand, they were invited to give public hearings in the parliament about problems in the realm of reproduction. The film aims to emphasize the need for safe abortions and liberal abortion laws. It also, however, illustrates the paradox that the implementation of such laws may have little effect on the accessibility of abortion services. In Poland, for example, illegal abortions are quite available and relatively safe; in South Africa, where the law is very liberal, women have a harder time getting information and services in public hospitals due to jugmental behaviour of the health staff. Only a change in the fundamental social and cultural attitudes towards abortion, contraception, and reproductive health can ensure a woman's right to choose. (45 min) The CoatHanger Project directed by Angie Young, is about abortionand the current state of the pro-choice movement 35 years after Roe vs. Wade. Since the passage of Roe vs. Wade in 1973, anti-choice forces have been making it their mission to dismantle women's reproductive freedom. They came together, brilliantly strategized, pooled their resources, and slowly but steadily they have been implementing their attack. Their weapons: money, the legal system, the government, the media, the church, and - this is the scariest of all - you. Armed with their slogans and their chants and their gigantic bloody posters, they got to you, too. And by "you" I mean the post-1973 generation. They took advantage of the fact that you never lived during a time when abortion was illegal so you had no frame of reference for the plight of desperate women with unintended pregnancies whose only option would be to carry to term or self-abort. As a result, we have conceded much hard-won ground the women's and pro-choice movements fought so desperately hard to win. Despite all of the gains we have made, we are still living in a world that hates the idea of women having control over their reproductive lives. (40 Minutes)
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