“After Tiller”

Abortion is a hot topic – perhaps the hottest topic – in our political culture today, so documentaries on the subject are to be expected. After Tiller may be one of those docs, but it’s certainly not what you’d expect.

The film, directed and produced by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, narrows its focus onto the white-hot apex of controversy: the handful of doctors left in the United States who will still perform late-term abortions, which even some pro-choice advocates oppose. Its title refers to the most famous doctor to participate in the practice: George Tiller, who was killed by an assassin in 2009. The killing served as a flashpoint for supporters and opponents alike, and Shane and Wilson’s close following of the four doctors left puts you right in the midst of the maelstrom.

What we find there is surprising. There are no monsters behind the walls of these three clinics, only men and women who truly believe they are doing the right thing for the women who see them, only about 1 percent of all abortions in the country. Because of the restrictions of Roe vs. Wade, only women who are in medical distress or whose child has a severe birth defect can qualify, and many states also require two separate physicians to validate their claims; at one point, a woman is even turned down because her rationale does not meet the clinic’s requirements. So the women we see (faces neatly cropped out of frame) are not facing the usual choices. Their pregnancies are sometimes planned, but unviable; their unborn children have underdeveloped brains or are breaking their bones already within the womb. And the doctors within feel more like counselors, helping them come to terms with the horrible choice – for, as one of them says, there are no good options in these situations – that they feel they must make to spare their child.

This makes it sound like the film portrays these doctors as infallible do-gooders, but they would not say so themselves. Each expresses, at least once, feelings of ambivalence or outright worry that they are making a mistake, and not doing the right thing for the women in their care. The situations depicted in the documentary go a long way toward eroding the black-and-white mentality of the abortion rights controversy in the United States, but just getting to hear these doctors talk about the issue from their personal experience does much of the rest. No matter what side of the conflict you stand on, odds are you’ve never had the opportunity to hear what abortion providers think about their profession, and in that along After Tiller validates itself.

If you’re out there thinking you would never consider watching this documentary, change your mind. Not your beliefs – especially impressive considering the subject matter, the filmmakers have managed to keep After Tiller as neutral as possible, and I didn’t walk away from it with any substantial changes to my personal opinion on the subject matter. What I did walk away with was more knowledge, understanding and compassion – traits both sides of the controversy could stand to beef up on.

After Tiller will screen only once at the Milwaukee Film Festival: Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre. Tickets are $10, $9 for students and seniors and $8 for Milwaukee Film members. The film features obviously mature subject matter, but no depictions of any significant medical procedure. To purchase tickets or get more information, call (414) 727-8468 or visit the Milwaukee Film website.