After Tiller

After Tiller

“After Tiller” represents the politically divisive and emotionally charged issue of late term abortions in a way that is graceful, understated and human. Filmmakers Martha Shane and Lana Wilson are clearly aligned with the four doctors left in America who perform third-trimester abortions, a procedure that troubles even some pro-choice advocates. The directors give us an up-close look at their clinics, homes and family lives the tears they shed with despondent women, the ethical struggles they face.

These are doctors who love their patients very much and consider what they do a noble, necessary calling. Religious zealots appear only as anonymous images of graphic rhetoric and relentless prayer. There is no attempt to provide anything like equal time or fair treatment for them, but it doesn’t feel like an omission when you consider that what these filmmakers clearly set out to do was put a human face on a complex issue. Whatever your feelings about abortion in general or this procedure specifically may be, “After Tiller” underlines the dedication of these particular physicians by its title alone.

Dr. George Tiller was one of them; he was shot to death in 2009 at his regularly attended Kansas church. Tiller was also a mentor and friend to the other doctors featured here, so his absence looms large; they talk about missing his counsel and camaraderie while knowing full well that any one of them could be next. Anti-abortion protesters are constantly outside their clinics as it is; all third-trimester procedures take place in just a handful of states where they remain legal. Dr. Warren Hern works in Boulder, Colo., still finding time to hit the slopes as an avid skier.

He has a rewarding home life too; he’s married to a Spanish woman he met in Barcelona and plays father figure to her young son though he points out that wasn’t always possible because being an abortion provider kept him single for so many years. In Albuquerque are the film’s two female doctors: Drs. Susan Robinson and Shelley Sella. Both live in California Robinson with her husband, Sella with her wife but they take turns commuting to New Mexico to keep their shared practice going.

Now 66, Robinson says she can’t imagine retiring because there’s too much work to do and not enough OB-GYNs to do it. And then there is Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who starts out practicing in Nebraska but eventually must move to Germantown, Md., where he meets fierce resistance from citizens and city leaders alike. Some opponents even go so far as to protest outside the middle school his office landlord’s daughter attends. Through pressure and threats, Carhart’s wife also his longtime office manager remains steadfastly by his side.

The furor this topic generates is remarkable given how relatively few women actually undergo the procedure which these doctors consider a labor, not a surgery. As “After Tiller” points out, less than 1% of the abortions performed in America each year occur after the 25th week of pregnancy. But those who seek them are so desperate that they’re often willing to travel from other states and pay thousands of dollars for them.

However, Shane and Wilson show the pregnant woman discreetly. They do not show their faces but instead concentrate on their hands in their laps (often crumpling tear-soaked tissues) and their choked-up voices. Listening to some of the most painful stories, it is hard not to choke up as a viewer and especially as a parent. One couple knows that their baby has a terminal illness and will likely be stillborn or live only briefly and in pain. Nevertheless, they still want time with him afterward; they have even given him a name: Hudson. In stories like this one, abortion seems the kindest option though still heartrending.

But this leads into an interesting argument Robinson has with herself: does the quality of the story matter? Or storytelling to make late term abortions seem more acceptable? A 16-year old girl who made a mistake but did nothing about it until 25 weeks out of fear, shame or denial has every legal right to abort as any other woman who decided earlier but should she? Robinson’s decency and honesty come through when she admits wrestling with her own conflicting feelings on this point; such inclusion adds intellectual weight alongside the movie’s considerable emotional punch.

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