"12th & Delaware"

12th & Delaware, 2010

Dir.: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

I know I'm mainly going to be focusing on the HBO docs this summer, but that doesn't mean that's all I'm going to be watching. This particular documentary's tenure is about to expire on HBOGO and I wanted to catch it before I wouldn't get a chance to see it anymore and I am so glad I did. 

One of my favorite styles of documentary is called cinema verite, which translates to "truthful cinema". It allows the filmmaker to remain strictly observational, and the finished product is one that is no frills, no muss, no fuss. No music, no narration, no prompting questions. They are very much a "fly on the wall". This was the style that Ewing and Grady used for their eye-opening, heart-wrenching documentary about a woman's right to choose in 12th & Delaware. 

Now, I want to preface this entry by saying that I am pro-choice, and I will leave it at that. The documentary I am about to recount will make it clear where I stand. 

The documentary begins with two teenage girls being interviewed, separately, by a woman named Anne. The first girl is Widline, age fifteen. She is ten weeks pregnant and not ready, financially or emotionally for a baby. Then there is nineteen year old Brittney, who is seven weeks pregnant, and has already aborted one pregnancy before. Anne is the matronly sort, in her late forties maybe. During each interview, Anne occasionally scurries out of the room and whispers things to a woman in an examination type room. Things like, "She's abortion-minded" and "Let's get her in for an ultrasound, and see if we can get a heartbeat."

Anne shows the girls plastic models of what their babies look like at ten and seven weeks' development. The model for the seven-week fetus is about the size of a double-A battery. The ten-week one, about the size of an iPhone. Just by seeing this, I am immediately uneasy. Then it quickly becomes clear: these girls had mistakenly walked into a pro-life clinic. 

In 1991, an abortion clinic opened up on the corner of 12th and Delaware in Fort Pierce, Florida. In 1999, a pro-life organization opened up directly across the street. Often, girls enter the "Pregnancy Care Clinic" thinking they are getting help with their unwanted pregnancies. Instead, they get pressured and strong-armed and talked out of having an abortion. The clinic workers use scare tactics and lies to manipulate the girls and women who think they are getting help. They stock their waiting rooms with pamphlets that give completely false descriptions of an abortion procedure, and claim abortions give you breast cancer. 

Now, back to what made me uneasy about what Anne said about the size of a seven- and ten-week old fetus. According to thebump.com, at seven weeks, a fetus is the size of an apple seed (approximately .13" long). At ten weeks, it is the size of a prune (approximately 1.2" long). Knowing these girls were shown completely false representations about the size of their fetuses makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. 

Across the street, the abortion clinic is run by a husband and wife, Candace and Arnold. Arnold picks up and drops off the doctors who actually performs the abortions at a separate location every day, to protect them and their families. Arnold covers the doctors with a sheet when they are on the road, so no one can see their faces or recognize them, and he insists that the doctors carry guns and wear bulletproof vests.

"This is their paycheck," Anne says of Candace and Arnold. "It's like when you walk into a car dealership, they want to sell you a car. When you walk into an abortion clinic, they want to sell you an abortion."

Every single day, protesters arrive as early as five in the morning to set up shop in front of the abortion clinic. An elderly woman is usually the first to arrive. She carries a sign that says "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and shouts at the women who walk into the abortion clinic, calling them murderers and tells them they should be ashamed and that God will save them. She is joined by others, who carry even more graphic signs depicting babies with their limbs torn apart and spouting hell fire. They often go ignored, but it's terrifying to hear and see. When women and girls come in for their procedure, the clinic workers have to warn them ahead of time that there will be protesters outside.   

Inside the abortion clinic, Candace and Arnold make sure video cameras are on the protesters at all times. Candace talks about how disgusted she is by the. She often jokes about how she wants to go over to the pro-life clinic and stage her own protest. "But we don't have the time! We're too busy...we're not obsessed with them!"

Back at the pro-life clinic, Anne is sitting with Victoria, a 24 year old woman with two children already and pregnant a third time. Their exchange is one of the most intense parts of the film. 

Victoria tells Anne that her boyfriend is verbally abusive, and is not the best father. Anne asks her how she knows the baby won't change him (here I slap my palm to my forehead so hard I black out for a second). Anne tells her she will regret her decision to abort. Victoria says no, "abortions are for getting rid of unwanted pregnancies. This pregnancy is not wanted. The only thing I regret is having sex without a condom." Anne smiles and says that condoms are only effective 85% of the time. Victoria disagrees, and tells Anne that she's never gotten pregnant when she's had sex without a condom. Their argument becomes heated and Victoria excuses herself to make a phone call. 

"This fucking bitch is getting on my nerves," she says over the phone. "If I have this baby, she's not gonna take care of it." Victoria then leaves the clinic, and drives off. Smart girl. 

Back at the abortion clinic, we view a few of the interviews that Candace has with potential patients. Her voice is warm, she smiles a lot, and asks a lot of questions. All the women she interviews have their faces hidden. The first woman Candace interviews explains that she is 47 years old and was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. "When this baby is twenty, I'll be sixty-seven," she says to Candace. "That thought is why I am doing this." 

Another woman, who barely speaks above a whisper, tells Candace that her husband is violent and pressures her into having sex without protection. She says she does not want to do this. Candace is very patient and asks why she is here. "Because I have to," is her answer. "I feel like a monster." 

"You're not a monster," Candace assures her. "The only way you would be a monster would be if you had this baby and then mistreated it." 

One of the worst parts of the documentary is when a young girl - whose face is hidden - tells Candace that she'd gone across the street by accident. They gave her a pregnancy test and told her she was seven weeks pregnant. Candace asks the girl when the start of her last menstrual cycle was, and then pulls out a chart when the girl gives her a date. According to Candace's chart, the girl is actually more than ten weeks pregnant.

"They lied to her," Candace says later. She explains that the pro-life clinic will tell girls they are not as far as they actually are, so they think they have enough time to think it over. By the time the girls decide to go through with an abortion, it's too late and they're too far along.

The reason this documentary infuriates me so much is that this is even an issue. It's 2013 and there is still a debate over a woman's right to choose. Why are women still getting shit over what they do to their bodies? You don't like abortion? Don't get one. Just like how if you don't like tattoos, don't get one - you don't have a right to not get a tattoo. No matter what happens, people are always going to protest, just like how currently people are tearing their hair out about DOMA being shot down. What I don't like is how people choose to verbally attack these women and then use religion as their shield. Religion is a great thing, I have religion. It's okay to not have religion. But don't use it as an excuse for your ignorance.

I can't say I enjoyed 12th & Delaware, just like you can't enjoy a root canal or paying bills. But it was a very interesting documentary about how two sides of the same old debate are never going to see eye-to-eye.