This film shows up as well now as I did when I first saw it in 1996 and was amazed. All those in the "demi moore can't act" camp should check out what she can do with the right material. She delivers an amazing performance in the first piece, giving those of us who dont remember a glimpse of the pre-Roe v Wade situation for women who found themselves in a less than desirable situation. Sissy Spacek is brilliant as ever in a lighter, though heartfelt and often ignored situation of a mom deciding whether one more child is what she wants. The final segment knocks me off my feet. Kudos to Cher for pulling together great actors and great stories.
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Dfredsparks14 August 2003
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sddavis6317 April 2010Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Anne Heche play three very different women from different eras (the 1950's, 1970's and 1990's respectively) who are each confronted with the same dilemma. They're pregnant, and struggling with whether or not to end the pregnancy, with each story being set against the value system of the day. The stories are unrelated in any other way, but together they represent an interesting evolution of thoughts around the abortion issue.
Moore's performance is probably the one that brings forth the greatest feelings of sympathy from the viewer. She's a nurse and a young widow, alone and lonely except for the connection to her deceased husband's family, who has to find a way to deal with a pregnancy that was unplanned and the result of a one-time "fling" with her brother in law. Abortion is illegal, she has to avoid shaming her "family," and she can't just disappear for nine months to give birth because she has a job and little money. In the end she finds a shady abortion provider who does the deed on her kitchen table, and leaves her in a desperate condition - her fate remaining a mystery. This was the most powerful of the stories. Heche's character has an affair with an older, married man who wants nothing to do with the responsibility. She chooses abortion after a lot of soul-searching, but while it's legal in the 90's she's confronted by pro-life protesters at the door of the clinic who do cause her to think twice about the decision, although she ultimately goes ahead with it. With a best friend who's pro-life but supportive of her she goes falls into a scene of horror that seemed to me too expected and contrived. The soul-searching the character goes through, though, makes this a worthwhile vignette. The weakest of the three stories was probably that featuring Spacek. She's a mother of three in a happy marriage and re-starting her own education when she becomes pregnant again. This story revolves mostly around tensions within the family as all consider the potential impact of the pregnancy on their hopes and dreams. In the end, this pregnancy continues.
It was interesting to see the perspective on the issue from three very different generations. -
leonblackwood15 August 2014Review: I quite enjoyed this deep, emotional drama which is set from the 50's to the 90's about 3 different women, Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Anne Heche, who all have problems concerning abortion. The first story, which stars Demi Mooore, is the most emotional out of the 3 because it was illegal to have an abortion during the 50's. Demi Moore's performance was brilliant and extremely real. It's a shame that you don't see the outcome of the first story, but it a very well written storyline that will definitely touch the heart. The second story, which is based in the 70's is starring Sissy Spacek as a house wife and a mother of 4 who struggles to have any time for herself because of her hectic lifestyle. When she finds out that she is pregnant, she has to make the difficult decision if to keep or abort the baby. This is another powerful drama that was very well made. The acting by all of the cast was great, along with the storyline which was also, emotional. The third an final storyline which is set in the 90's is starring Anne Heche as teenager who gets pregnant by a married man. She also has to make the decision if to keep or abort the baby, but she gets help from her close friend Jada Pinkett Smith, and the nurses at the clinic. This was also an emotional piece, which stars Cher as a nurse. In all, the whole movie is a right eye opener that was a great watch. Emotional!
Round-Up: This movie came out when Demi Moore and Cher were in the spotlight and extremely popular. As this movie was an HBO special, it didn't get a major release in the cinemas, but it was talked about at the time. Personally, I hadn't heard of the movie, but I'm glad that I added it to my rental list because it was a great watch. The fact that the whole film is based around the same house was cleverly done by the director and the delicate subject matter was dealt with in a sympathetic and thoughtful way. Although the movie came out in the 90's, it doesn't seem dated or out of touch with matters of this day and age which is why it's worth watching.
I recommend this movie to people who are into there extremely emotional dramas about 3 stories based on abortion which takes place over the years in the same house. 7/10 -
If you ever thought a woman's right to choose was an easy one, this will take care of that. Unexpected pregnancy can be from carelessness of course, but it can also be from fallible birth control, boyfriends who lie, and people you were with against your will. This is three distinct movies in one on the same topic of a woman trying to chose to have, or not have, an unexpected baby. Each one is set in a different decade.
I had to turn the volume down and close my eyes at times. Not for gruesomeness but the way you close your eyes when someone is about to hit that awful note in the Star Spangled Banner. You feel the pain of their attempt at something difficult. You don't just watch this movie, you feel it.
Men are not portrayed as multi-dimentional as the women are, but they are not the villian either. They are included yet they can never fully understand. You see the suffering the women go through in their own head, how difficult it is, the wavering in their decisions. They have equal fear of having an abortion, having a baby, and having the people around them know of their predicament. -
secondtake15 January 2014If These Walls Could Talk (1996)
Three half hour movies with three distinct casts (each featuring a superstar) and each tied together by occurring in the same house, each twenty years apart. In each episode, a woman needs an abortion, and with great realism and sometimes great drama, they deal with the problem in terms of the era they were born into.
The first is the best, and features Demi Moore as a woman in 1952, when abortion is not only illegal but utterly shameful to consider for most people. But Moore's character is a sympathetic one, and if you feel she should "just have the baby" as some in the movie do, she could only do so at great sacrifice (if losing your job, your friends, and your current life by having a baby and giving it away is a sacrifice). She eventually tries to get a fly-by-night provider.
The second episode is also really strong, and has a vivid, realistic depiction of a 1974 household. This is when abortion has been made emphatically legal by Roe v. Wade, and so the mother of four played by Sissy Spacek finds herself pregnant. The issue then becomes whether or not have a legal abortion. Her husband and others (including a feminist teenage daughter) advise and pressure her. It's now become a legitimate "choice" in the true "pro choice" sense of the word.
The third episode is a dud. That's not to say it's dull. But the first two segments were filled with internal, intimate dilemmas and decisions. They depict contemporary life and make real the problem women faced in those terms. Here the "family" is a pair of college-aged roommates, one of who can't act. The other is pregnant and goes to the local woman's clinic to check it out (and possibly have the procedure). Outside are some protesters. So far so good—this is the more recent 1996 reality, and it fills out the set.
But the mood shifts to politics and social circumstance, and to sensation. Furthermore, the star actress is not the one who is pregnant, but the clinic doctor, played by Cher (who also co-directed this segment). It seems far too gratuitous, and since it comes at the end of the movie, it undermines the subtle power of the first two thirds.
Still, overall, director/writer Nancy Savoca deserves a bow. She takes on a tough issue and more or less tells it like it is. Her stance is clear—she's for women's rights, and not sympathetic to the protesters and naysayers—but she deals with both sides fairly. (I'm sure an anti-choice viewer might disagree here.) And Demi Moore gets credit for pushing the whole idea for years beforehand. The usual studios wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, and it took a youthful HBO to give it a run.
The movie taken whole is, in a way, pro life. That is, it's for what is "best" in the normal sense, the same sense that my mother was pro choice and chose to have me. -
Lavake29 July 2002Great movie, although it rather is a documentary... The abortion-scandal is well displayed and the director, producers and the cast can be proud of their work. The last story (with Cher) is based on real documentary-footage, so the things the anti-abortion-club does and the things these people say, were really done and said. A movie you MUST see if you are at all interested in the abortion-case.
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The stories in this film are simply three of millions as to why the law to protect a woman's right to choose is so vitally important in a civilized society. Watch this with your sons and daughters after educating them on safe sex, and familiarize them with all the health care services provided by Planned Parenthood so they can stay safe. Two forms of control, one being latex condoms, EVERY time.
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One thing is clear in this tree Park compilation of women in different eras considering an abortion. Many women do not support other women when it comes to their choice in regards to whether or not they will keep a baby or in their lives in general. In the first part set in 1952, you have a war widow (Demi Moore) who finds out that she's pregnant from a one-night stand with her brother-in-law, comforting her and leading to a situation that sets the course for something truly dramatic. While her mother-in-law, Shirley Knight, seem supportive, as well as her sister-in-law, eventually the sister-in-law turns against her. Dangerous abortion techniques leads to tragedy after she has tried to find something safer, the viewer is left shattered and broken when it switches to 1974.
The second part, starring Sissy Spacek, stars an already too busy mom, considering aborting it after the onslaught of Roe versus Wade. It's a very generic story and while Spacek is always likable, it's rather a pointless chapter. It's the third part (directed by and co-starring Cher) that recaptures some of the emotion the single mother Anne Heche facing pro-lifers (led by Eileen Brennan) who become violent on the second day when she decides she's going to go through it. Her roommate (Jada Pinkett) and best friend initially is not supportive, but when Heche breaks down, her friend realizes that friendship is more important than differences.
While the initial scene of the pro-lifers seems calm and peaceful, the second day is anything but, a reminder of headlines of some of the hectic violence that this issue has caused with a horrifying twist I did not see coming. As a man, I take no point of view in watching this, and I make no presumption of the writers motives. But I do know what touches me emotionally, and the final shot of Moore had me shaking. This is the most vulnerable I've ever seen her be on screen since "Ghost", and she gives one of her best performances and certainly the best performance in the film. The final sequence of the third part maybe a bit extreme, but it still makes a very strong point and left my emotions raw and exposed. If that was the writer's intentions, then they greatly succeeded. -
darkangeleyes23 November 2001Excellent film. Shows the realities of abortion and the trials and tribulations of the women who had to endure these situations. True to life and accurate depiction. Hopefully will help others to understand why some women choose to abort. It is not a decision made lightly or without conscious. And the film depicts how important it is for abortion to be legal. How even when it is illegal it still happens.
Very educational. A definite must see. Especially for those unsure of how they feel on this issue.
Excellent casting. Very emotional plots. -
Milhaud26 October 1999The only thing that disturbed me in this movie is its clear bias towards pro-choice, which is obvious from the very beginning. Unfortunately, it makes the film look like a propaganda piece. However, the movie does provide a very powerful picture of what it is like when you get pregnant and don't want to. Beyond the technical-medical-moral issue of abortion itself, the movie also shows very well how, basically, the main problem of a women living an unexpected pregnancy, be it in 1952, 1974 or 1996, is often that she is downright alone and must face the indifference and despise of society at large and of most people around her - including the father of the baby.
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amber-henderson0228 November 2012At age 14 when if these walls could talk, came out I felt the intensity of the plots and characters. Then I had seen abortion as very selfish. Demi's character has casual sex, out of loneliness and grief sure, instead of protecting her child she selfishly brutalized herself and child to save face. The middle aged woman, selfish. Woman die of ab these days and don't forget about all of the unborn females aborted. Hypocrisy. Ab is not about woman's rights, and I am a woman. Ab is about convenience, greed and selfishness. Even though ab brings suffering to many who were misguided and coerced. Woman's rights are about protecting, not slaughtering a 'pregnancy'. As I've grown I have more compassion for post ab woman as most were naive or manipulated or even forced by threats and lack of support. Ab as a whole is grossly out of the realm of 'womans rights'. And I know this still even through living around corruption and harm in my naivety and adulthood. I think this movie has a great potential to misguide. It is a fragment of the bigger picture. But still captivating, good acting.
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fellicity14 February 2003I have just seen 'If These Walls Could Talk' for the first time, and I am completely in awe. This film should be mandatory viewing material for any person who thinks that abortion is an easy choice or that women faced with an unplanned pregnancy should have their right to choose taken away from them.
Sissy Spacek did a wonderful job portraying the most overlooked unplanned pregnancy demographic: the aging career mother who must choose whether or not to make the sacrifice of raising another child. In this story I truly appreciated the message that choosing to have a child is also pro-choice. Anne Heche's role in the final story was the most 'typical' of the three: the single college student who must struggle with her own moral and personal issues when making a choice about her pregnancy. While she portrayed the most common demographic of women who face an unplanned pregnancy, her role was beautifully and honestly acted. But the most riveting and heartbreaking of the three stories featured Demi Moore as a young widow who must make the hardest decision in her life-- to risk not only her career and reputation but the relationship of her in-laws who have taken her in as one of their own by carrying to term the baby of her dead husband's brother, or to risk her life by choosing what was once a barbaric and incredibly dangerous procedure due to the illegality of abortion. Her struggle is disturbing, and any woman who remembers the dark days before Roe v. Wade will feel her character's pain, fear, and especially her desperation. This story in particular showcases why keeping abortion safe and legal is so very necessary.
What struck me most about this film was not only the realism in all three situations, but how each one of the stories showed that "Pro-Choice" is not always "Pro-Abortion"; a fact that those of us who support a woman's right to chose will be all too glad to point out while those of the stauncher anti-choice fold may be a little slow to admit. The struggle that each woman faces in this film is unique, and while another reviewer mistakenly commented that each instance was merely 'cliché', I will argue that each instance was REAL. Rape and incest are not the causes for most unplanned pregnancies, and a great number of women who choose abortion are of legal age to do so. This film would have been 'cliché' if every actor had portrayed a low-income person of color, which is clearly unrealistic. And while violence against abortion providers isn't an every day occurrence, there are people in our society who wish that were the case-- and including this scene in the film shows us, in graphic detail, the hypocrisy of that opinion.
I was surprised that this film, especially the final story, didn't tackle other reproductive choice-related issues such as birth control. However, I was extremely pleased with how the final story educated viewers on the realities of the abortion procedure (mandatory counseling and all)-- a reality which couldn't be further from the horrific depictions offered up by many in the anti-choice camp. Speaking of which: I was grateful for this film showing that not all people who oppose abortion are stereotypical, out of control lunatics, but that the most radical in this faction tend to be, ironically, male. And one comment made by a character regarding adoption truly hit home for me as I once worked in a residential facility for abandoned and abused children that was, like so many others in this country, bursting at the seams: "The last time I checked, there wasn't a shortage of little black babies".
This film needs to be aired during prime time and piped into the Bush White House, if for no other reason than to show that abortion is not a black and white issue, that the argument surrounding it cannot be settled through protest, violence or prohibition, and that restricting a woman's legal right to reproductive choice will only complicate matters further but will not be an end to abortion. Anyone who has ever been faced with an unplanned pregnancy will agree, and anyone who hasn't will learn that their opinion can be subject to change depending on their circumstances. -
evaruah22 November 2015Pure propaganda, and this is another one of those films that really lay it on thick as a Kansas City steak.Imagine having sex and then becoming pregnant. What a notion eh?What an original idea.The problem with this is why should an innocent die because a woman does not have the decency to have the baby one way or another.Most of the time a woman has sex and thinks that the answer to everything is the taking of a life of a child.The child has no say in the matter.The child has no rights.I do not care who tries to make the act of murdering a baby in a womb cool or chic,it is NOT.Cher with her misguided pathetic life.Cher pretending to be a doctor who is telling the woman I care about you and I know how hard this is for you.Bull!Demi Moore with her messed up life.Demi Moore is a great example for American womanhood.Sissy Spacek who is not as screwed up acting as most Hollywood women,but she is wrong.Her character decided to keep her baby and not to destroy the baby.Thank you writers for advocating that it is a wonderful thing to have the child.I believe they wrote the baby being saved in the end in that story because a lot of people would not want to watch a movie to its end unless there was a ray of light in the dark forest of murder.If you believe that God made each and every living creature then don't watch this movie.It is painful.
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I saw this movie back in 97 and thought it was well acted, well thought out and realistic. As it follows different women, in different decades that have the very difficult decision to make on whether to continue a pregnancy or not. All the women are in totally different stages and situations in their personal life and ages.
Sadly, with the RIDICULOUS LAWS TEXAS JUST PASSED in 2021, I see us veering for a collision course with THE HANDMAIDS TALES :O VERy FRighTENing and VERy SAD! They don't care about the Women or the Babies, this is just a Political/Religious Obsession.
I'm surprised that as well as the $10,000 bounty people can get for snitching on a woman or girl they suspect may have had an abortion, that they just don't pass a law to Burn her at the Stake too! :o
Even Ireland finally made abortion legal when they realized the horrific outcomes for so many women and children. The states that are passing these oppressive laws don't want to pay for more welfare, food stamps, housing, birth control and they sure don't make the fathers pay child support either. I still haven't heard where the man gets to share any responsibility in the pregnancy or the punishment with so many unplanned pregnancies???? Why???
And what happens if someone has a miscarriage and someone reports them for the money?? Like it isn't horrible enough for a woman to miscarry and now she will have to be shamed and fight a legal battle too?? WOW! I'm Amazed at the Stupidity and Selfishness that abounds.
There are SO MANY children being abused, physically, emotionally, sexually by their own families EVERY DAY!! And people who shouldn't have kids at all and foster homes overflowing with kids and epidemic numbers of kids born addicted to drugs going thru horrific withdrawals from their 1st breath. People selling or pimping out their kids. WoW! :O My Heart Hurts writing this down, For Real! :(
There's gonna be a Great Migration as women will choose to move away from these Crazy states. And so many Republican's complaining about wearing a mask and social distancing in a Deadly Pandemic in it's 3rd and I'm sure NOT FINAL Wave, shouting It's my body, my choice. Guess that only applies to whether you wanna risk killing your whole family, innocent people you encounter, the health care workers and Drs that are overwhelmed trying to save you dummies.
And rapes are at an all time high and now women and girls have to worry about going to jail or having some creeps child too with NO options??? WoW!!!
The USA is also overwhelmed with mental illness in kids and teens like never before, and kids shooting up schools. Sorry, I don't get it?? And for all you citing the Bible to pass this Ridiculous Law, You know what,1st not everyone believes in your God and the ones that do and choose to have an abortion, well, it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, that is to be settled between her and God ! NOT YOU, So BUTT OUT!! :0. -
laursene13 January 2004All three of these short films are good, but the first is outstanding, largely because Demi Moore, whose performances I've otherwise never particularly liked, is so excellent. The point that she and Savoca convey - powerfully - is the sheer isolation, 50 years ago, of women who faced unwanted pregnancies. Moore spends most of the film, it seems, sitting alone in an empty house. Otherwise, she's enduring the company of her late husband's family, who see her only as their boy's widow, not as a human being. It's a frightening story that exerts a very strong empathetic pull.
The dialog is spare; Savoca relies on Moore's face and body language to convey her terror, aloneness and feeling that things are closing in on her. There's very little "emoting" here, which makes Moore's character all the more forceful. The result is an exemplary piece of film acting.
Of course, how much do we need in the way of tears and histrionics when we can see Moore attempting the old knitting needle cure, and later dealing with the aftereffects of a ghastly kitchen-table operation? This country's abortion laws created - and maintain effectively, in many places - a sort of hell for pregnant women. Thanks to this film, we can really understand a bit of what it was - and is - like. -
ccr21325 June 2022I don't write reviews really ever... but I had to post this today because I couldn't get this movie out of my mind! Everyone needs to watch this movie, especially those that have never faced such a decision or known someone who has, to remind them why it's absolutely ridiculous that RvW would be overturned. What a horrible and sad moment in the good ol' u s of a...
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Im sorry to those who loved this film. But i thought it was sick. The scene at the end was hideous, with the way matthew lillard shot cher was horrible and very unpleasant to watch. yes it's educational at how christians react to abortion, but surely this is extremism that isn't even enjoyable. However I did think it was well acted by the leads, but I cannot get over why on earth the shooting scene was in here. It was horrific, and as a secondary school religious studies student, i found it rather distracting and haunting and something i will always think of whenever learning about abortion. truly horrible. cher has certainly dropped her standards, why on earth would she make this hammy, horrid rubbish?
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davispittman3 December 2017If these walls could talk (1996) is a TV movie made in an episodic way. This movie examines the issue of abortion throughout very different time periods. The first time period that this movie takes on is 1952, before Roe v Wade, when abortion was illegal. The star of this first of three episodes is Demi Moore, one of my favorite actresses. Moore does a really good job with this role. You can really feel her raw emotion and her pain. It portrayed back alley abortion that women were unfortunately forced to undergo if they wanted to terminate a pregnancy. The next episode is set in 1974, just about a year or so after abortion was legalized in the Supreme Court. Sissy Spacek stars in this segment, I love her and her movies, and she does a great job here, very realistic portrayal of a woman already with 4 kids, mulling over the tough decision of whether or not to have an abortion. The third segment is set in what was modern day when this was released, 1996. This portion of the movie stars Anne Heche, Cher, and Jada Pinkett. I really loved this portion especially because of its realisticness and it's very raw portrayal. Heche was just perfect in the role, loved her. Pinkett was hard to love because of how her character is, but nevertheless she did a good job. Cher, who is both a fantastic singer and actress, does a great job at playing one of the most caring characters I've seen. I loved how they showed the realities women have had to go through simply to have an abortion. In each section, they continually painted such a raw portrayal of this issue and I applaud the filmmakers for doing so. 9/10!
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TheOtherFool22 September 2004I watched If These Walls Could Talk II (which is much more accessible here in the Netherlands) before this one, but I must say I'm not too impressed with either of them.
This one picks up the issue of abortion, telling three tales in three different periods. In the first, a woman is pregnant by her dead husbands brother. In the second, a mother of 4 who is finally ready to live for herself finds herself pregnant yet again. And in the third, a young woman is pregnant by her professor.
The movie is showing us how abortion laws and ideas about it change over the years. Some scenes were hard to watch (in particular in segment no 1) and one of the movie's conclusion is that it's best that women have the ability to have an abortion in a clean and safe envirement.
Although I agree with that, I still have major problems with the concept of abortion. I feel it's often an easy way out for people who should've known better (I'm aware of the many exceptions). But never mind that, I should value the movie for what it is.
And it just ain't that good, I'm afraid. 5/10. -
PeachHamBeach18 March 2004I love this film because it tackles the issue from both internal and external places. Arguments are presented without bias, no matter what some may say. My dad even thought this was a Pro-Life film. I clearly disagree with him and believe it's got lots of Pro-Choice leanings. Demi Moore playing a nurse who is totally alone with an unplanned pregnancy was excellent. Her fear and aloneness in the not so fabulous '50s was so beautifully represented. And it's like the other comment said, her "family" treated her more like an extension of their dead son than like an individual person. I'd rather have no family at all than one like that. Sissy Spacek represented a choice, in a decade where choices were allowed. She had it so much easier than Demi Moore's character, yet her struggle and ultimate decision were just as hard in a lot of ways, maybe even harder. Anne Heche and Cher play two women who are up against Pro-Lifers who "love babies". It reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw: "I love babies...born and unborn." Okay, great, but too many people who love babies actually hate KIDS. Once the child is no longer bald, pink and small, this passionate "love" turns into hatred and abuse of the worst kind. I know, I've seen it and I've lived it. Truly the most nerve jangling moment is at the very end of the film. Matthew Lillard is terrific as a psycho!!!
I give this film an A+++++ -
vgloveforlife16 June 2019This movie is an important movie that shows the woman's side of this issue which is the only side that matters. It showcases the consequences of both choosing an abortion, or choosing to continue to gestate and embryo into a child. Sissy's S. character would have to give up her education and career promise, she and her husband's sanity, and sending her second eldest to college, if she chose to continue to gestate the embryo. Demi M. is in a hard predicament from one lonely mistake after her husband died in the war. If she chose to continue the pregnancy, she would be shunned by her family and sent away, and if she chooses abortion, it would be the ultimate risk in a time when it was illegal. Ann H. is young, immature and too irresponsible to raise a child. She is abandoned by her lover when she gets pregnant. She drinks heavily while she's pregnant - an important reason why abortion is the best choice.
This movie shows what a difficult, thoughtful decision abortion always is. It also shows clearly how much women must give up when they choose to have the child. That choosing to have the child should never be a thoughtless decision. Children should never be punishments for a mistake. Children deserve better. Children deserve to be wanted 100%.
This movie is one reason I will forever by pro-choice. -
christmas_2813 January 2002"If These Walls Could Talk" is one of the most powerful films I've ever seen in my life. It is divided into 3 segments: 1) 1950s - Demi Moore plays a woman who must either face becoming the town tramp or getting an abortion; 2) 1970s - Sissy Spacek is a woman forced to choose between losing her lifelong dream or terminating her pregnancy; and 3) 1990s - Anne Heche must come to terms with her own choices amidst a world of hate. All 3 parts are brilliant, each very special in its own way. Demi Moore gives a terrific performance in her role. Sissy Spacek is equally impressive. However, the greatest deal of my praise must go to the '90s portion. Anne Heche is absolutely incredible. Cher also appears as the abortion doctor, as well as directs this part. The ending is so shocking and disturbing that it will leave every viewer breathless. That being said, this film is not for the light of heart. But if you are seeking a well-made movie with a shining cast, "If These Walls Could Talk" is for you.
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jas-cenn-chargers21 August 2023The movie "If These Walls Could Talk" is a thrilling drama that spans 22 years in three different time periods: 1952, 1974, and 1996, all set within the same house. It follows the plights of three women, Claire Donnelly, a widowed nurse living in suburban Chicago, who becomes pregnant by her brother-in-law and decides to undergo an abortion in order not to hurt her late husband's family. However, abortion at the time is strictly illegal. Claire eventually finds another nurse who provides her with the phone number of a woman who can find her someone to perform the abortion.
Barbara Barrows, a struggling and aging mother with four children and a night-shift-working policeman husband, discovers she is pregnant, despite having recently gone back to college. She considers abortion with the support of her teenage daughter but ultimately chooses to keep the child.
Christine Cullen, a college student pregnant by a married professor, decides on an abortion when he breaks up with her and only offers her money. After consulting with her roommate she makes an appointment with Dr. Beth Thompson. However, the abortion takes place during a violent protest and, during the actual abortion, an anti-abortion protester walks in and shoots Dr. Thompson immediately after she completes the procedure. Christine comforts Dr. Thompson as the doctor slowly bleeds out.
My favorite character is Barbara Barrows Because She considers abortion with the support of her teenage daughter but ultimately chooses to keep the child. I would recommend this movie to teenage mothers who are considering having abortions. I rate this film 5/5 atars for awesome acting from the cast. -
sh33na25 January 2004Lest we forget.
For all the folks who have no clue as to what a woman who finds herself pregnant goes through, this movie could be a great educational tool. Making a baby is easy and one doesn't need any degree of maturity to accomplish the task. Deciding to continue with a pregnancy or to termitate is a trying, sometimes heartrending decision - one that is very individual and very personal. Sometimes there are no right answers, only better choices.
There are now 2 generations of women (and men) who have no idea what life was like before women had access to reliable birth control and safe abortion. Because of birth control, fewer women are forced to make these life or death decisions. Because of legalized and safe abortion, fewer women are forced to go to less than qualified, back alley abortionists who more often than not rendered their clients barren. This movie showed the worst and the best. Bravo for having the guts to make this.