I never was one to agree with abortion, I am pro-life by personal choice.

Part of it has to do with my Roman Catholic beliefs, I believe life begins at conception. However, with Trump planning to overturn Roe Vs. Wade, I found myself playing devil's advocate for Planned Parenthood. Why? We'll like I said, I personally chose to not agree with abortion, but knowing how secular this country is on the foundation of laws, understanding the seperation of church and state, as wel as knowing not alot of women dissapprove of the anti-abortion position; especially coming from a man, I chose to keep my mouth shut on the subject. So if you ever come to me before going to the abortion clinic, well I am going to tell you not to go. So don't ask for my opinion because you won't like it. Knowing that its a women's right to choose I acknowledge that since I am a guy, my opinion doesnt mean much because I will never know what it's like to be pregnant. I still believe its immoral but its still only a women's right to choose.

How did I soften up on my pro-life views?

When I attended Farmingdale State College, one of the classes I took was Sociology for the Family, one of the subjects we touched on was pregnancy. For a film we watched the 1995 HBO special titled, If These Walls Could Talk, which is the subject of this article. This was a feminist film directed by Nancy Savoca and Cher. Cher, a widely acclaimed pop star and a feminist icon also stars in the film, along with Jada Pinkett, Craig T. Nelson, and Matthew Lillard. Included in the cast is Demi Moore, and Sissy Spacek. The film recieved universally positive reviews, including famed film critics, Siskel and Ebert.

Now the film is divided into three segments taking place in different time periods so the views on abortion do vary thoughout the film.

The first segment of the film takes place in the 1952, 8 years after the second world war. Demi Moore plays Claire, a widowed nurse who lost her husband in the war and is pregnant with the baby of his younger brother. Now this is the 1940's, abortion was considered illegal and since people were a little more religious and had deeper family values, having sex with other relatives with considered taboo. So she is in a dilemma. She can't terminate the pregnancy because its illegal and she can't have the baby without the family knowing. Its made clear what was working against her is the fundemental mindset at the time. Since most people were much more religious at the time, abortion is considered a sin. SInce the family of her deceased husband still remain close to her, she knows she will be shunned when they find out she slept with their younger son, her bother-in-law. Ultimately she ends up being alienated by her family, when the sister-in-law walks in on her attempting to kill the fetus by sticking a knitting needle into her uterus. (Apparently, that is what some women tried to do.) She ends up finding a man to perform the abortion on her, and its done on the kitchen table in her own house. This scene alone is probably the most unconfortable scene I have ever watched, no sound but the clinking of tools the man is using and Claire grunting at the pain of the procedure. The abortion seems to be a success but unfortunately she begins to hemorrhage, and is left ambiguous if she dies from blood loss or not. (Now supposedly in the original script it says that she does die from the blood loss, but I am willing to be a little more optimistic and say that she survived but suffered alienation from alot of people for breaking the law.)

The second segment jumps ahead to 1973, the same year Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal by the Supreme Court. In the exact same house. Barbara Burrows, played by Sissy Spacek is a mother who just started going back to school to become a teacher after her raising her kids. She has four kids, two of them are in elementary school, one is still in high school and the eldest daughter is on her way to college. Her husband works the night shift as a police officer to make ends meet. So there is alot going on right now. When she finds out she is pregnant, it is heavy on her. She knows that having a new addition to the family means alot of sacrifices will have to be made. Her daughter might not to be able to go to the college she desires, her husband will have to continue working the night shifts, and she will have to drop out of college to take care of the child, something she doesn;t want to do. Her daughter on the other hand, encourages her to get an abortion. While it doesn't imply that Barbara is religious, it does show that she doesn't believe it would be morally right to terminate the pregnancy. She puts alot of thought into it and chooses to keep the child. Like the last segment its left ambiguous what happens next.

The third and final segment is probably my favorite segment of the film. This jumps ahead to the same house in 1995. This is around the time when the third-wave feminist movement was in full swing. The riot grrl music scene was at its peak, more women were coming out and identifying as bisexual and/or lesbian, and abortion was more accepted but was countered more aggressively by people who identified as pro-life. Christine, played by Anne Heche, is a college student who is pregnant by a married professor (Craig T. Nelson). The professor gives Christine money for an abortion, and knowing how strict her Irish Catholic parents are, Christine chooses to go through with it. She is met with immediate dissapproval from her roomate and close friend Patti, played by Jada Pinkett. However, accompanied by her friend, they go to the abortion clinic, however they are met with violent protesters. The protest is because the doctor who proforms the abortions, Dr. Beth Thompson played by Cher, is coming to perform the weeks abortions. The abortion is a success but seconds later, a violent protester who infiltrates the clinic, storms into the room and shoots the doctor dead. Ending the film.

Each segment has a different reason as to why the women gets an abortion. The first segment is about the desperate measures a person will take in order to get an abortion. The second segment touches on the circumstances that will influence one's decision to get an abortion. And the third segment is about the reaction you will get from people who disapprove with your decision.

The cinematography is amazing, and helps establish scenes and conflicts, sometimes without dialogue. The dialogue is written very realistically, seeing the characters work off of eachother is very interesting and you really get the feeling these are actual people. It never demonizes one side of the arguement, only when one side is being irrational. This is propaganda film done right!!