Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa (Germany 2007/8). Language: English/Polish with English subtitles (50 min.) Written and Directed by Sarah Diehl
Zeit. 29. Dezember 2008, 19 Uhr
Ort: VBKÖ – Vereinigung bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs, Maysedergasse 2
This documentary feature explores and contrasts changes in Poland and South Africa regarding abortion laws and their impact on the lives of women.
In the 1990’s, Poland banned abortion due to the increasing influence of the Catholic Church after the fall of communism; around the same time South Africa legalized it, reforming the health system after the fall of apartheid.
The film reveals how the legal status of women is a direct result of the silencing or empowering of women’s voices. In the Polish society and media, women’s perspectives were made invisible; in South Africa, on the other hand, they were invited to give public hearings in the parliament about problems in the realm of reproduction.
The film aims to emphasize the need for safe abortions and liberal abortion laws. It also, however, illustrates the paradox that the implementation of such laws may have little effect on the accessibility of abortion services. In Poland, for example, illegal abortions are quite available and relatively safe; in South Africa, where the law is very liberal, women have a harder time getting information and services in public hospitals due to jugdemental behaviour of the health staff. Only a change in the fundamental social and cultural attitudes towards abortion, contraception, and reproductive health can ensure a woman’s right to choose in a world where about 80.000 women die every year from unsafe abortions.
Abortion Democracy lets its subjects speak for themselves. Interviews include personal stories from activists, researchers, health staff, patients and other men and women who live with the problems every day. It is a thought provoking and challenging film for any audience interested in the international struggle for human rights.
Interviewees
Poland

• Wanda Nowicka – Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw
• Magdalena Pochec – Youact, Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw
• Michal Placzek – Pro-Choice Alliance, Warsaw
• Agnieszka Szabla – Centrum Praw Kobiet, Krakow
• Anna Lipowska-Teutsch – TIK (Towarzystwo Interwencji Kryszysowej, Crisis Intervention Center, Krakow)
• Alicja Tysiac – Sued the Polish government in landmark EU court case because of a denied abortion and her resulting visual impairment, Warsaw
• Beata Zaduminska – Centrum Praw Kobiet, Krakow
• Anna Zawadzka – Editor, Gazetta Wyborcha, Instigated the failed Polish „I had an abortion“ Campaign, Warsaw
• Ewa Waszkiewicz – Economist, University of Wroclaw

South Africa

• Richard Burzelmann – Coordinator of Abortion Services in Western Cape Province
• Marijke Alblas – Doctor, Cape Town
• Nurrudin Farrah – Somali Author, lives in Cape Town
• Sister Ida Frawces – Nurse, Public Health Care Center, Atlantis
• Jade F. – Young pregnant homeless woman, Cape Town
• Jane Harries – Women Health Research Unit, Medical School, Cape Town
• Sister M. – Nurse, Public Health Care Center, Atlantis
• Noluthando Ntlokwana – Woman Legal Center, Cape Town
• Awino Okeck – Mother Tongue Theater, Cape Town
• Glenn de Swardt – Triangle Project, Cape Town
• Marion Stevens – Reproductive Right Alliance (RRA), Cape Town
• Marieta de Vos – Mosaic Health Care Center for Women, Cape Town

Sarah Diehl – www.abortion-democracy.de
aus: femail@liab.at