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4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
Laura Vasiliu, Anamaria Marinca
Culture of death, it is a charge leveled against liberals, usually by those who are cheerleading the slaughter of thousands of innocent Iraqis. They sat on their hands while New Orleans went under, and put profits ahead of future generations when it comes to global warming. Yet, as a slogan, it is pretty powerful. “Culture of death,” You can almost see the mustache twirling. It is black and white. Those who are opposed to a woman’s right to abortion are on the side of angels. Those who support it are on the side of darkness. It is a phrase that almost defies you to stand against it. There is one little problem with it that the far right kind of leaps over without thinking. If pro-choice is a culture of death, it is the culture that has been with America throughout most of its history. It is the culture of George Washington, of Thomas Jefferson, of Abraham Lincoln, and all those old white men in powdered wigs that we claim to love so much. At the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, there were almost no laws on the books in any of the colonies regarding abortion. Most of the states followed the common law held over from their English heritage that held that abortion was okay until the time of quickening, if they bothered to address it at all. In fact, a strict constructionist would have to take seriously the words of James Wilson, one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, who wrote that “life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb.” It would take about half a century for the first abortion laws to start to appear on the books, not because Americans considered that life began at conception, but rather to protect women from fly-by-night snake oil salesmen who were poisoning women.
It was the rise of the American Medical Association (AMA) in the 19th century that spelled an end to a woman’s right to choose. Usually, abortions were performed by midwives. Male doctors saw the practice as a threat to their power base, and a dangerous procedure. With the AMA’s backing and a declining birthrate among the Caucasian population, which gave way to fears of “racial suicide” among those who believed in eugenics and feared a growing immigrant population. By 1900, almost every state in the union had outlawed the procedure. Women still sought abortions. In fact, doctors estimated that the number of illegal abortions per year at the beginning of the 20th century surpassed the number of legal abortions per year since 1973. (The primary reason for abortions has always been economic.) They did so against the law and three score and five years later, with advances in medicine, and the discovery of miracle drugs, the same AMA decided that abortions could now be performed safely. The late 1960s found the tide rolling back as several states liberalized their contraceptive laws. In 1973, the Supreme Court stepped in and ruled in favor of a woman’s right to decide about her own body. Yet, a church that for thousands of years was moderately accepting of abortion before quickening, or at least looked the other way, and showed little interest in the AMA’s efforts to make abortion illegal, were now outraged and made life at conception one of the bedrocks of the faith. One has to wonder what is really behind this change of heart. Is it really concern for these unborn fetuses, or is it something else? Hatred of women? Fear of a sexual revolution?
I mention all this because abortion and people’s attitudes about it are complicated. Looking at the estimates of abortions performed every year, legally or illegally, seemingly makes no difference in the number of women seeking the procedure. For example, in the 1950s, in a much smaller nation population wise, one million women had illegal abortions compared to a million-and-a-half now. Compare these numbers to the estimated 2 million abortions performed just before the turn of the 20th century. Even if Roe v. Wade was overturned, what difference would it really make? It would just mean that upper class girls would have therapeutic abortions, like they always have, middle class girls would climb on greyhound buses heading toward blue states. Poor girls, since 84 percent of counties in the United States have no abortion services and most red states have no state financial help for those seeking abortion, would be stuck in the same position they are now. I must admit that I am not smart enough to know when life, and let us be honest - when the far right means life, means when those cells multiply, they have a soul. If life begins when sperm meets egg, then God becomes a Pol Pot, a ruthless slaughterer of trillions, because the majority of zygotes are passed before they ever attach to the uterine wall.
I mention all this because nothing will make the average American get out of their seats faster to jump in their car and make their way to the nearest movie theater, than a movie that focuses on abortion and has subtitles. Words you will never hear, “I am tired of all those comedies starring Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and Sasha Baron Cohen. What I want is an uplifting, non-English language abortion movie. You know those films always have happy endings and have you leaving the theater whistling a tune.” I cannot imagine this film having much of an audience. This is not the kind of film you will find at the multi-plex, and it is a shame because it is wonderful, a beautiful little gem that is more about the friendships that exist between women, and the horror story that these two women go through. I am sure you will know when it reaches Des Moines, by the picket signs out front of the art house it is playing at. I just hope that a couple of the protesters actually view the film before they scratch out Bible verses on cardboard, because I doubt they would be so willing to condemn the movie.
Set in 1987 Romania, where abortion is still illegal, the movie opens up with college roommates Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) and Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) going over plans for the next day. The small dorm room and its narrow corridors give the feeling of being trapped. It is bleak and confining. You see, the passive Gabita is 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days along in her pregnancy. The girls are making plans to terminate it. Every one of their actions over the next 24 hours seems unnecessarily labored and difficult, from purchasing a ticket on the train, to getting a private room in the hotel where they are to meet with a man named Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), who is a back alley abortionist. The two women and this man they never met before, verbally dance around each other as they feel each other out. Bebe is not a nice man, knows what he is going to do from them is illegal, and wants a sexual favor and money in return. What happens in this motel room is shocking, humiliating, and violating. This is one of those movies that stay with you. It is devastating and gripping. A brilliant film. This is not a popcorn film. It is a cinematic experience, and makes me feel very humble when I wax about when life begins, because you are watching two women’s lives spin out of control.
Much like our current drug policy, outlawing abortion will not work. You have to deal with the question of who do you arrest. I cannot imagine the American people standing by as doe-eyed Rachael Ray, middle class-type girls with trembling lips, are drug into the courts, so that leaves only the caretakers. If it is illegal, that means only those with nothing to lose, the butchers and back alley types. As our history has shown, legal or illegal, (it does not make much of a difference) women will still seek abortions. They will just be unsafe and bodies will hit the floor. The only thing that seems to affect the numbers is financial stability and opportunity. Hope. One of the reasons I question conservatives’ opposition to abortion is that they know that poverty and the fear of financial problems, are the breeding ground in which most abortions arise. Yet, they do nothing, and often stand in the way of the one organization, the government, which can truly make a difference for a young woman’s life. I am not smart enough to know when a soul is formed, and Christianity has flip/flopped over the centuries on it, but it seems to me that a real culture of life would turn their swords into plowshares, offer opportunity to those with none, and help the living, breathing weakest members of society. In such a society, I doubt there would be as many women having to make that decision.
Verdict: One of the Best Films of The Year