With abortion rights under historic threat in the United States, directors brought three films to the Sundance festival that spotlight the grave dangers women face by undergoing or organizing illegal backstreet procedures.
Star-studded feature Call Jane and documentary The Janes portray the 1960s Chicago collective who helped connect pregnant women with underground doctors, while award-winning drama Happening follows a young woman who risked everything to procure an abortion in 1960s France.
“Having lived through that time -—believe me, we do not want to go back to that,” said Sigourney Weaver, who stars in Call Jane.
“I hope that we can engage the younger generation who have always had this and may have taken it for granted. Put the focus back on the woman herself,” she added.
The festival has fallen on the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling establishing abortion rights in the US.