Appropriate for: High School College/University
Browse Films
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First released in 1972, this film remains the classic plea for a woman's legal right to choose. Each of the main four methods are fully described by a physician and pertinent medical statistics are interspersed throughout. It presents the most cogent arguments, through the personal stories of a wide range of women both rich and poor, young and older, black and white, married and unmarried, as to why ending a pregnancy must remain an available choice. In particular, it reminds people of the consequences when it was illegal and what life was like before the Roe vs Wade 1973 Supreme Court decision.
The film concretely points out the need for contraceptive counseling...for education in self-awareness and values at an early age, and for legal access to abortion (without moral overtones) for all women.
Pam Wilson
Hospital & Community Psychiatry Vol. 25, No. 8
full review
A jolting indictment of the furtive illegality of abortion...Some of the testimonies are shattering. The experienced speakers are personable, intelligent and plain-spoken. And Ms. Rothschild has framed the film, without an iota of sensationalism, as a strong, confident plea for practical counseling toward legalized abortion.
Howard Thompson
The New York Times
Candid, poignant comments from various women who have had abortions dramatically contrast the brutality and secrecy of illegal abortions with the safety and confidence of early, legal abortions and provide a very personal perspective to the pertinent charts of medical information interspersed throughout the film. "It Happens To Us" is a unique, important film that calmly and honestly focuses on the personal situations underlying the issue of abortion. Ages 14-adult.
Booklist Vol. 69, No.9
full review
The interviews are open and honest, and have been selected to reveal a variety of experiences with abortion, both good and bad...The subject matter is indeed controversial and those who are opposed to abortion, especially on religious grounds, will object to the film's premise. But the issue involved--whether a woman has the right to control her own body, or whether the state has the right to force a woman to bear a child when she does not want to--this is a very real issue which is being fought today... Libraries have a responsibility to provide information in a variety of media on all aspects of current issues, and this film will be much in demand by women's groups, medical personnel and others interested in health care, population control, and civil rights.
Film Library Quarterly
...it provokes discussion and has found a wide audience from Planned Parenthood groups to training sessions of nurses who assist at the procedure.
Mademoiselle Magazine
AWARDS & SCREENINGS:
- ABC-TV Wide-World Special with David Frost
- Merit Award Winner, Johns Hopkins Medical School Film Festival
- The League of Women Voters Convention
- First International Festival of Women's Films
- WNET-TV and Manhattan Cable TV
- Planned Parenthood Convention
- The American Sociological Association Convention
- The American Psychiatric Association Convention
- British National Film Theater
- Finalist, American Film Festival
- Film Forum, New York
- Toronto Film Festival
- Pesaro, Italy and Tampere, Finland Film Festivals
