Zurawski v Texas Review: The Truth About Abortion Bans
Streaming Movie Review - Documentary
Abortion. Just seeing the word almost certainly evokes some kind of an emotional response. In the new documentary, Zurawski v Texas, directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault put abortion front and center by forcing people to look at it not as an issue to be debated but as something that affects the lives of real women.
When Amanda Zurawski began to miscarry her daughter, Willow, her doctors were unable to immediately perform an abortion due to the Texas Heartbeat Act, enacted following the Dobbs decision from the Supreme Court of the United States. The delay in treatment led to numerous health complications for Amanda, including the loss of her ability to conceive children. As a result of her experience, Zurawski is the first named plaintiff in the suit that attorney Molly Duane brings on behalf of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
However, the film does not exclusively follow Zurawski. It also goes into the story of Samantha Casiano, a Texas woman who was told early that her baby, Halo, would not survive after birth. Still, because she didn’t have the means to leave the state, she was forced to carry her pregnancy to term and then watch her child die in her husband’s arms. The film shows how the trauma of this experience leads to continued issues for her, including difficulties in her marriage.
The film also follows Dr. Austin Dennard, an obstetrician who joins the suit as a patient. She also had complications with her pregnancy and was unable to obtain an abortion in Texas, instead being forced to leave the state to save her future fertility.
Zurawski v Texas is almost certainly a film that is preaching to the choir, but that does not negate its efficacy. It highlights the real concerns that face women all over the country who no longer have access to medical care that they could receive. What it does well is that it spends no time demonizing those who hold opposing views but instead looks exclusively at the laws and how they impact people who need access to abortion care.
The film's structure is compelling, highlighting how emotionally difficult this is for both the women who must relive one of the worst days of their lives and for the attorneys who are representing these women. In one scene, Casiano vomits on the stand while delivering her testimony, showing just how brutal this experience is for her.
It is also notable that Zurawski v Texas does not end on a positive note. Crow and Perrault are not afraid to leave their documentary where the story is - with women in Texas and around the United States unable to access abortion care, even in emergencies. In one of the most compelling scenes, Kate Cox seeks an exemption from the law to save her life and fertility. An attorney for the State opposing the exception says, “The only party that is going to suffer immediate and irreparable harm…is the State.”
Zurawski v Texas asks if there is a more compassionate response to the issue of abortion than that.
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You can watch Zurawski v Texas for free through November 5th by clicking this link.
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on November 2, 2024.