my review

It starts out like Mad Men and ends up like Hair. It has a little of "If these walls could talk 1" in the middle.

A "nice" housewife named Joy is expecting another pregnancy when she learns she has a 'complication' and the hospital board her obgyn refers her to will not grant an abortion after all. The boards are after all, supposed to limit the number of abortions actually permitted and performed by the hospitals. And they are proud of themselves for keeping their numbers way down.

Joy first considers a questionable illegal abortion operation before thankfully finding Jane, as if by fate. Jane was actually founded by a college student as a referral service, but the film is past that part, instead focusing on the service as a well-established community resource.

Joy's daughter Charlotte was the unrealistic part. In reality, if Charlotte and/or her friends got pregnant in the late 1960s/early 1970s, they would have had to drop out of school and go away to a maternity home. Charlotte should have at least not thrown a fit re what her mom and friends were doing and instead worried about their safety. I'm pretty sure "Charlotte' was created to get funding for the film and/or avoid/minimize counter protesting including at the movie theaters.

The celebratory music when Roe is announced? Okay I get that music licensing has costs but surely there was SOMETHING from a feminist artist either then or even now which could have been used? Playing the theme song from another screenplay/play doesn't exactly leave audiences energized. And that's unfortunate especially in these current circumstances. After they took so much time with so much of the screenplay, they just kinda tire out at the ending. It's a shame because this story deserved more.

Overall though, it's a good screenplay and you still should see it.