Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton led the list of producers of Zurawski v Texas, a documentary by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault. After screening in the five states where abortion is on the ballot, this essential documentary is now in a theater near you, following an impassioned event at the recent Hamptons International Film Festival.
“This means you, New York,” the women shouted from the stage at the East Hampton Middle School in early October, where the packed audience stood to cheer the film team: the directors, producers Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, and a brave and hardworking legal team from the Center for Reproductive Rights who work with women suing Texas over its Draconian anti-abortion laws. The film is an unflinching look at women who have had to endure barbaric cruelty when some basic medical care was all that was needed to avert trauma and in the state of Georgia, now two deaths. What the women want is a clarification of the language—when exactly, under the new Dobbs decision—is it legal for a doctor to perform procedures on women at risk? What is a “medical exception?”
As it stands, the medical community is scared. Doctors face fines and imprisonment. In one harrowing case, a woman is made to bring a pregnancy to term even knowing the baby had a zero chance to live. Calling her Halo, the parents watched her die in her four hours of life. The mother was so traumatized, she subsequently had her tubes tied.
At the film’s Q&A, Mariska Hargitay saved the best for last. The best being the words of Hillary Clinton, loud and clear in her reminder to vote democrats not only into the Presidency, but the House and Senate too. This is what the Hamptons International Film Festival does best: showcase a film before it reaches its intended audience, bring in the highest wattage celebrities to shine that light. If anyone can energize a crowd, Hillary can as she cautions everyone to make no mistake about the restrictive intentions of Trump and his associates. How timely is that?
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