Hello,
My name is Melanie and I have been a long time feminist since grade school. Hell, I was one before I learned of the word Feminist!
I have no shame in telling anyone, male or female that I am one when they asked me. I often get "What are you, some sort of feminist?" every time I express anything pro-woman. When I get asked, I say "You bet your sweet ass I am." or something to that nature :)
I attend Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach Virginia and the people who know me knows that I am one and I'm no shrinking violet when they talk about things like abortion, rape, pay wage, double standards, gay rights, etc. Most people agree with me but some think of me as a "deviant rebellious woman that will never be married due to her independence". Well, I can point out a millions thing wrong with that statement but that's for another entry.
The reason I'm writing this entry is because of a myspace blog I wrote celebrating the anniversary of Roe V. Wade and I recieved this comment from a Pro-Life friend of mine (a younger girl that I went to elementary school with) about a movie called "22 Weeks".
Watch the movie
WASHINGTON – "22 Weeks" has the images and sound effects of a horror flick, but it isn't one. Instead, it's based on a true account of a woman who sought a late-term abortion but found herself living a nightmare.
In the 25-minute featurette, Angela, played by Natalie Wenninger, wakes up in her motel room covered in blood. She rushes to the clinic where she had been injected with a needle the day before to abort her baby 22 weeks into her pregnancy. She’s bleeding profusely and is having contractions but is left alone in a dirty room at the clinic. Something is wrong.
Earlier in the film, we find a much different Angela at the EPOC Clinic in Orlando, Fla., as she is midway through the second trimester of her pregnancy. There, Angela is presented with two options: the suction method or an injection to the baby's heart.
She chooses the latter, convinced by employees that the procedure will not cause the baby any pain. She would simply have a stillborn birth the following day. To her, the suction method is a monstrous act.
After the procedure, she is met by a group of pro-life advocates outside the clinic. When one Christian tries to convince her to save the baby, Angela replies, "God was never raped."
While there a several uncomfortable moments when Angela experiences some complications, the shocking scene near the end comes as she has given birth to her baby on a toilet.
"He's alive!" Angela screams, shocked that the baby was not dead like the employees had assured he would be when born.
But the mother is even more horrified when the employees, who respond slowly to her cries, deny the baby is living, do not help her and lock her in the bathroom.
"He's alive and they won't help me!" Angela tells her friend on the phone. "I don't want this anymore ... I made a mistake! Call 911!"
As Angela waits for help, she holds the baby close to her, telling her son, "I'm so sorry" and "I love you so much," and wishing she had another chance.
When the ambulance arrives at the clinic, the employees try to turn them away, insisting that no one placed a 911 call.
"22 Weeks" is based on an article by World Net Daily, which published the true testimonies of the real mother, Angele, in 2005. And while what was depicted in the film was horrifying enough, Angele said what actually happened was even worse.
The baby, whom Angele had named Rowan, died 10 minutes after the 911 call by her friend due to negligence. The doctor, Jim Perper, who administered the injection, was not prosecuted.
Angele, who has not released her last name, attended the free screening of the film at Union Station's Phoenix Theaters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as another way of going public with her experience.
The film, which was completed in August 2008, has only been shown in around seven cities in the United States as well as Puerto Rico, where producer Ángel Manuel Soto is from. This was his first film.
Soto, who has partnered with pro-life organizations BornAliveTruth. org and Operation Rescue to promote the film, hopes awareness of the movie and the disturbing practices at abortion clinics will spread by word of mouth.
"This is really happening ... [even] this very day despite the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act," said Jill Stanek of BornAliveTruth. org at the Washington screening.
With limited resources and funding, Soto is largely relying on viewers to get the word out and show the film, which was available for DVD purchase at the screenings. Requests for screenings can also be made at the film's website 22weeksthemovie. com .
After being moved to tears, viewers at the Washington screening expressed their willingness to help. One viewer, who said she had an abortion, told Soto she would show the film to her church of 20,000 members. Another encouraged Soto to get the film in the hands of President Barack Obama, who is pro-choice.
"Since he (Obama)'s advocating abortion, he should watch it," noted the viewer, who said she will write a letter to the president.
Obama and his pro-abortion decisions were indirectly mentioned in a scene in "22 Weeks," but Stanek, whose organization had publicized last year Obama's pro-abortion record, said the message of the film is not a political one.
Something tells me that it's not true. I mean, I'm sure there is a movie like that and I'm sure that was shown and that's the plot....but I believe it's just propaganda. Has anyone seen this film? If so, what is your take on it?
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It's probably along the lines of the dead fetus pictures. Something somewhere way deep in there is true, but it's been so distorted and manipulated for propaganda's sake that what is the "true story" looks nothing like what's depicted.
And President Obama (goddamn it still feels good to type that) isn't "advocating abortion" he's supporting a woman's right to make her own choices and plan her own family. Douchehounds.
Even if it is true, and like Liza said I suspect it was a story with a grain of truth that was horribly twisted, I fail to see why one story should have an effect on the wider debate of women's reproductive rights.
I'd enjoy reading some statistics about the surely MINUSCULE, if any at all, number of times something like this has happened. It's obviously an exceptional story in the most literal sense-- an exception. Using one exception as fodder for a huge propaganda machine is irresponsible and sort of stupid.
I haven't seen the movie, but I rely on actual facts and figures, not distorted images and horror stories, to make my decisions based on.
Also, I wouldn't have any problem at all with an investigation into whether the doctor in this supposed story was responsible for malpractice. If somehow the story was true it seems like an overall pretty horrible and traumatic occurrence for the woman in question regardless of whether she was secure in her decision to get an abortion.
Well of course. I mean, you could tell a horror story about pretty much any medical procedure, that doesn't mean that they don't help or save people in the vast majority of cases.
I worked at an animal shelter for some time. A dog died being spayed while I was there; that didn't stop me from taking my dog to be fixed when she was old enough.
And I agree with your last point. If this story is true the blame should be placed with the doctor who clearly botched the procedure, not the woman or the procedure itself.
I really have to call bullshit on this story, the one in the film, I mean. The youngest premature births to ever survive were at 22 weeks minus a day or two. This is with ideal medical care. The idea that a 22-week-old fetus would have the lung development to breathe on its own is fantasy at best.
The medical examiner in this case ruled it a stillbirth and found "no forensic evidence that the fetus was born alive". It never drew breath.
Babies born at 22 weeks almost never survive. With intense medical intervention only about 1% live long enough to even leave the hospital, and more than 2/3 of those survivors will have disabilities bad enough to render them incapable of living independently should they manage to reach adulthood.
The description of the clinic and the way they treated the woman in the story does not sound very realistic.
For an alternate, I would suggest watching "A Private Matter," about a couple in which the woman is carrying a Thalidomide child, and the battles they endure in seeking an abortion.
Frankly, given the often abusive nature of our (US) medical system, it wouldn't surprise me if that aspect of the story were accurate.