A shocking documentary about abortion law

In many ways, Zurawski v Texas is a film about America itself and the government failures that have brought us to this point. In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, women and pregnant women have fought for adequate reproductive care. This much-needed documentary makes clear the obvious evil of an indifferent government that insists on taking full control of its citizens' bodies, unmoved by the pain that comes with it.

When Amanda Zurawski's water broke at 18 weeks, she was denied an emergency abortion, going into septic shock and spending three days in intensive care. She had already chosen a name for her unborn daughter – Willow – but the child was never born. As a result of this horrific ordeal, Zurawski's fallopian tubes were damaged and had to be reconstructed. Since she will likely not be able to carry another child, she and her husband Josh are forced to resort to surrogacy to expand their family. To prevent this from happening to other women and pregnant women, Zurawski decided to sue the state of Texas with the help of Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. They are soon joined by another woman whose story is equally heartbreaking. Samantha Casiano learned at 20 weeks that her unborn child had no chance of survival, but she was denied an abortion. Unable to take time off work to have the procedure performed out of state, Casiano was forced to carry the child to term and watch it struggle to breathe for four hours before it died. Casiano, already a mother, must bury her child and grieve with her husband and children.

Together, Zurawski and Casiano represent two populations of women who have been let down by the abortion ban: childless women desperate to start a family, and mothers who truly want to expand their families but are forced to give up because the government makes the process unnecessarily painful. And it's not just patients who suffer; doctors suffer too, facing prison time simply for treating their patients. Before the events of the film, Dr. Austin Dennard learned that her pregnancy had been diagnosed with a terminal condition, and she was forced to leave the state to have an abortion. As a gynecologist, Dennard was troubled that she and her colleagues were being prevented from providing appropriate treatment. Just as she was denied an abortion, Dennard was forced to turn away her patients as well, encouraging them to go to other states for treatment. Now she is pregnant again and determined to be there for all the doctors who are being threatened by the Texas government and for the pregnant people who are crying out for basic reproductive health care.

“Zurawski vs. Texas” follows Zurawski, Casiano, Dr. Dennard and Duane as they sue the Texas government for failing women and pregnant women across the state. Directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault take us through every aspect of the legal battle they wage, from the academics and case preparation to the witness stand, where they must face questions from indifferent prosecutors who only have the bottom line in mind. Thwarted at every turn by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, these brave women fight to put a public face on the fight for access to medically necessary abortions.

Their stories are devastating to witness, and the filmmakers show us every trace of emotional vulnerability in these women and their families. Towards the end of the film, when Zurawski receives heartbreaking news, her husband hugs her. Her microphone is muffled by the embrace, momentarily distorting the sound as she sobs. At Casiano's house, her husband walks away from her in grief. Traumatized by the experience of having to bury her child, Halo, Casiano has her tubes tied so she will never have to suffer such pain again.

But there are moments of hope too – when Zurawski's parents learn what their daughter has been through, it rightly disturbs them and changes their minds about the Republican Party. Zurawski's mother even explicitly states that she will no longer vote Democrat. While it may be a small victory, it is a stark, devastating reminder that American politics is based on tribalism rather than a real, thorough examination and questioning of the policies that shape the lives of so many people in this country. Decisions are often made to serve a general political aesthetic, whether it is good for the people or not.

When governments restrict reproductive care, lawmakers are essentially arguing that once a person becomes pregnant, their unborn child is the property of the state. And yet, when Casiano is forced to bury her baby, she receives no financial compensation for the funeral or headstone. Neither she nor her husband receive grief counseling for this enormous—and preventable—loss. When one of her children asks her what an abortion would have done for her daughter, she tells him that Halo “would have gone to heaven sooner.” If pro-life legislation is so focused on the child's soul, how could they argue against that mindset? It's mind-boggling. But perhaps there is no logic behind policies of cruelty and control. And so history repeats itself. Hopefully films like this will help us break this cycle, because something has to happen.

Class: A

“Zurawski v Texas” premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. A distribution partner is currently being sought.

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