WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER: Two New Women-Directed Documentaries Spotlight Reproductive Rights
By Carla Hay
Two recently released independent documentaries directed by women — No One Asked You and Zurawski v Texas — have put the spotlight on activism for reproductive rights in very different ways. What both documentaries have in common is that they warn about abortion rights being taken away in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, but point out that the stripping of these rights in various states is being met with great resistance from a growing number of activists.
No One Asked You, directed by Ruth Leitman (founder of Ruthless Films), is doing a tour of U.S. movie theaters, as of October 18, through distribution from Ruthless Films. No One Asked You is also available on the streaming service Jolt from October 25 to December 29. Filmed from 2017 to 2024, No One Asked Youchronicles the work of Abortion Access Front (formerly known as Lady Parts Justice League), a nonprofit, pro-choice activist group that was founded in 2015 by Lizz Winstead, co-creator of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. The documentary includes a lot of footage of the group’s 2017 Vagical Mystery Tour, which traveled across the U.S. to help workers and patients at facilities that provide abortion services; raised money for the cause through comedy shows; and educated and enlisted people who want to get involved. No One Asked You (a runner-up for the Audience Award at the DOC NYC documentary film festival in 2023) also shows the activism of Abortion Access Front since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Zurawski v Texas, directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, was released in select U.S. cinemas on October 25, after its world premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. The movie’s distribution is a partnership between HiddenLight Productions, co-founded by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Sam Branson; Story Force Entertainment, co-founded by award-winning film producers Blye Faust and Cori Shepherd; and Out of Nowhere, co-founded by Crow and Perrault. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence is an executive producer of Zurawski v Texas through her Excellent Cadaver production company. Zurawski v Texas tells the stories of a group of Texas women plaintiffs (led by Amanda Zurawski) and their lawyer Molly Duane (senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights) in their 2023 lawsuit to fight for reproductive rights in Texas, which has some of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the United States. Each of the plaintiffs has a harrowing personal story about their health being put at risk by being denied abortion care. Zurawski, Samantha Casiano, and Dr. Austin Dennard (an obstetrician/gynecologist) are three of the plaintiffs who are spotlighted.
No One Asked You director Leitman tells Women’s Media Center what sets this film apart from other documentaries about abortion: “This is a story that brings a lot of joy. There’s a lot of abortion documentaries out there. They’re all really incredible, and they’re all really important. But we need some that bring a lot of hope and joy. And that’s what our aim was in this. The guiding light around the making of this film was that the worse things got for abortion access … the more we need to infuse AAF [Abortion Access Front]’s comedy into the film.”
Leitman adds, “I also think it really connects so much to not just abortion access and body autonomy but it’s really a stamp on showing audiences how the dismantling of abortion access and the underreporting of the media on this issue [are] a glimpse into how our democracy is cannibalized. It’s a connection to the dismantling of our democracy that is critical. Men’s health care is not political. Why is women’s health care political? I think calling it out is key.”
Leitman continues, “Lizz [Winstead] is singularly an important voice and visionary about this issue. Her approach to it was unlike anyone else’s, in terms of her understanding of the media and her understanding of politics. And to take it and to fuse comedy and levity into it with a big loud megaphone was something that really appealed to me.”
Zurawski v Texas co-director Perrault tells Women’s Media Center that after Roe v. Wade was overturned, she and co-director Crow knew immediately that they wanted their next documentary to be about the devastating consequences that this U.S. Supreme Court decision was having on reproductive health care in Texas. “Maisie and I are both journalists from Texas. We were introduced to Amanda [Zurawski] by some people who are for reproductive rights. With Amanda, we knew she [is someone] who was fighting back against what the state was doing.”
In Zurawski v Texas, Zurawski shares her heart-wrenching story about being pregnant with a daughter named Willow, who was dying during a miscarriage, but under Texas state law, Zurawski was not immediately able to terminate the 18-week pregnancy. It was only after Zurawski went into septic shock that the pregnancy was terminated, but this medical emergency has had long-term consequences for Zurawski’s reproductive health. As shown in the film, she finds out more traumatic news about her ability to get pregnant again.
Casiano was 20 weeks pregnant with a daughter named Halo when she was told that Halo had anencephaly, a fatal fetal diagnosis. Texas law prevented Casiano from terminating the pregnancy, and she could not afford to travel to a state where she could get this medical procedure. Knowing that Halo would die, Casiano had to give birth to Halo, who lived for just four hours after being born. Zurawski v Texas shows the funeral of Halo and how Casiano and her family grieve.
Dennard was 11 weeks pregnant when she found out that the pregnancy would not result in the child being born alive. She too was prevented from terminating the pregnancy due to Texas law. Dennard had the resources to travel to another state where the procedure was legal. She became a plaintiff in the Zurawski v Texas case as a way to fight for people in Texas who cannot afford to travel to other states to get legal and safe abortions. Zurawski v Texas includes footage of what happened with another pregnancy that Dennard had during the filming of the documentary.
“It was so important for us to show a diversity of women living in Texas under these laws,” Perrault says. “Ultimately, it was Molly [Duane] who chose to have those three women testify on the stand in court. It was important for Maisie and me to follow the women who were going to be telling their stories directly to the state.”
Perrault reveals that Casiano was not yet a plaintiff in the case when Perrault and Crow first met her on the night before Halo’s funeral: “She [Casiano] had just contacted the center when she got the fatal fetal diagnosis for her pregnancy. She had initially wanted to be anonymous. But the day that Samantha gave birth and met her daughter Halo, she realized she never wanted to be anonymous. Not only did she want her story told, she also wanted her daughter Halo’s story told.”
Perrault adds, “We were so compelled by Samantha’s immediate determination to share her story with the world. Regardless of the pain and suffering that her family was actively going through, she knew it was important for people to see her story and understand what women in Texas are being put through.”
As for Dr. Dennard, Perrault comments: “I think there’s this misconception that if you have enough privilege, you’re immune from the consequences of these laws. Both Amanda’s and Dr. Dennard’s stories show you that is really not the case. Women in Texas in medical emergencies are trapped in the state and left with doctors whose hands are tied by the law. The three of them told really different and powerful stories and came with different perspectives.”
No One Asked You was originally conceived as a documentary series with the title Lady Parts Justice in the New World Order, which premiered two episodes at DOC NYC in 2018. Leitman says there were no takers for the documentary as a series because, she believes, TV networks and streaming services were skeptical of the subject matter. These rejections did not deter Leitman and her team at Ruthless Films, who carried on with making the documentary (revamped as the feature film No One Asked You), which took on more urgency when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Leitman comments on why the documentary didn’t get distribution as a series: “We actually thought broadcasters and streamers would understand what was at stake and how unique this approach was to the subject. And they didn’t. [They asked], ‘Why would you use comedy to talk about abortion? It’s such a political issue.’ And we would punch back with: ‘No, this is women’s health care. This should not be political.’ The other thought [from TV networks and streaming services] was nothing is going to happen to Roe.”
Leitman adds, “We were really determined. We knew we were following the people who were sounding the alarm for decades, but the media was not reporting on this issue. We knew we had something that was very important. We have a broken industry and a broken health care system. I consider myself kind of a renegade punk filmmaker, so I will call it out.”
Having traveled across the U.S. for the making of No One Asked You, Leitman says that there are some noticeable changes to anti-abortion movements since Roe v. Wade was overturned: “There’s a little bit more accountability. Several of them have been arrested, including [anti-abortion Mississippi doctor] Coleman Boyd, for FACE [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] violations. But at the same time, they are still completely emboldened. They feel like they’ve won. They feel like the overturn of Roewas not serious enough, not stringent enough. They want more.”
Leitman says that one of the advantages that anti-abortion activists have is that they are well-funded (often by religious groups) in their travels across the U.S. to shut down facilities that provide abortion health care. Many anti-abortion activists are also involved in openly and publicly harassing and threatening people who give and receive abortion services. Leitman says she’s also noticed that the overturning of Roe has resulted in more so-called pregnancy crisis centers, which are really non-medical centers whose main purpose is to convince women and girls not to have abortions. “Pregnancy crisis centers have increased all over America,” Leitman says. “A lot of this has to do with the funding.”
Part of the process of getting No One Asked You and Zurawski v Texas made and distributed included the filmmakers connecting with activists and other supporters to get the word out about these documentaries and reproductive rights causes. Leitman says, “We led our own impact campaign,” which included hosting online events with comedians, stakeholders, and influencers. Ruthless Films also got involved in the 2024 campaign to elect pro-choice Kamala Harris as U.S. president, by partnering with voter groups in support of Harris and presenting screenings of No One Asked Youin swing states Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia. “It really shows what people can do to be part of the movement, to be part of the fight,” Leitman says of these initiatives. She adds, “Jolt is an incredible platform because they’re new. All of the films [on Jolt] organically have an incredible audience with a thirst to see those films.”
For the filmmakers of Zurawski v Texas, it was very important to partner with female-led production companies, according to Perrault. She says of HiddenLight Productions, Story Force Entertainment, and From Out of Nowhere: “Immediately, we connected because all three of our companies were looking for stories to tell in this space. The situation was rapidly developing about what it would look like in a post-Roe America. Together, the three companies came together and started this project.” Excellent Cadaver became aware of Zurawski v Texas during post-production, when edits were being made to the film. “They were really taken by the stories in the film and immediately were ready to jump on board,” Perrault says.
She comments on the involvement of Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Jennifer Lawrence as executive producers of Zurawski v Texas: “What’s really incredible is that all three of these people have high profiles and wide audiences, and they are doing so much to use their platforms to share the stories of Samantha, Amanda, Austin, and Molly. It’s been incredible to have them supporting the film and helping us reach as many people as possible.”
Perrault says she’s noticed two main things since Zurawski v Texas has been made available to the public: “Every time we show this film, somebody will approach us and say, ‘I had a similar situation. I went through what these women went through.’ A lot of them have never shared their stories before. And I think there’s something so powerful about what Amanda has done, which was be the first to step forward for this case and share her story with a national audience because she sees the value in storytelling. She’s definitely not the first to tell an abortion story … but there’s something about the way that she has told her story that has grabbed so many people and helped them reframe the way they think about abortion as health care in this country.”
Secondly, “The story is not only reaching women,” Perrault observes. “It’s reaching families, partners, children, and parents, and helping them understand that abortion is not just a women’s issue. It is something that impacts the whole community. And when access is denied, there’s trauma that reaches far beyond the woman who experiences that denial of care. … It’s bringing men into the conversation in a new way. I think it’s been incredible to see the way that so many different people are connecting with the film.”
Zurawski v Texas and No One Asked You both show how male allies are important members of the abortion rights movement. Leitman says, “Bringing comedy into it has really helped that conversation. Documentaries that have levity have a certain power with audiences. [Men] are at least 50% of this fight. Men [who support pro-choice causes] are taking responsibility and don’t want to be associated with the other side.”
Leitman says of No One Asked You: “This is a film for progressives. We’re not going to change people’s minds about being anti-choice or pro-choice. We’re going to de-stigmatize [abortion].” Leitman believes it’s important for women who’ve had abortions to not feel shame or embarrassment if they choose to go public. Leitman also says that for people who are fighting for reproductive rights, the goals for abortion are clear: “It needs to be accessible, equitable, and affordable for everyone.”