After Tiller-2013

After Tiller-2013

Director-Martha Shane, Lana Wilson

Scott’s Review #153

70267800

Reviewed August 13, 2014 

Grade: A

After Tiller is a brilliant and thought-provoking documentary about the controversy of abortion. The issue presented is not whether abortions should be performed, but rather should be performed late-term (beyond 20 weeks).

The Doctor Tiller mentioned in the title was the Doctor who opened the handful of clinics that perform late-term abortions and who was murdered outside of his church by fanatics before the documentary was made.

The 4 remaining protégé’s of his are Doctors who now openly perform these controversial procedures and who are presented as, not monsters as some would think of them, but as sympathetic, kind professionals who put the pregnant mothers’ needs first.

As I assumed before seeing the documentary, the Doctors are not strictly performing the abortions for mothers seeking a way to get rid of a “problem”, but rather, in most cases, the baby will lead a life of pain, misery, and health problems and typically the parents do not learn of the problem until late in the pregnancy which adds dimensions and levels to the issue at hand.

The viewer is left wondering, what would I do?

Most of the parents struggle with the decision to terminate the pregnancies.

These Doctors (and their families) constantly receive death threats from pro-life groups who do not comprehend the issue and the Doctors are harassed by people who do not want their abortion clinics anywhere near them and as a viewer, this is painful to watch.

Any viewer who is pro-life or pro-choice ought to watch this for a better understanding of the complexities of late-term abortions.

After Tiller is riveting but has shamefully been seldom seen by audiences.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Documentary Feature

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