The Abortion Diaries gives voice to an important but silenced community: women who have had abortions. Over a million American women will have an abortion each year. The Abortion Diaries dispels the stigma of abortion by presenting the abortion stories of twelve diverse women.
The Abortion Diaries is a documentary featuring 12 women who speak candidly about their experiences with abortion. The women are doctors, subway workers, artists, activists, military personnel, teachers and students; they are Black, Latina, Jewish and White; they are mothers or child-free; they range in age from 19 to 54. Their stories weave together with the filmmaker’s diary entries to present a compelling, moving and at times surprisingly funny “dinner party” where the audience is invited to hear what women say behind closed doors about motherhood, medical technology, sex, spirituality, love, work and their own bodies.
Edited by Penny Lane and Anne Barliant
Camera by Joseph Victorine and Elizabeth Ellis
Sound Recording by Christopher Asta
Original music by Guitars & Hearts, Alpha Ursa & Jump Cannon
Funding from the Puffin Foundation & NYSCA
"An honest look at compromise, indecision and lapses in judgment." - Marie Lyn Bernard, Nerve.com "When Penny Lane asked women to talk about their experiences for her film The Abortion Diaries, their responses challenged her preconceptions - and they just might change yours, too." - Shawn Stone, Metroland "Clear-eyed and surprisingly compelling .