If These Walls Could Talk – Movie Blog

If These Walls Could Talk – Movie Blog

Summary

The movie takes place in three different generations, 1952, 1974, and 1996, and portrays three different women and their decisions on having an abortion, along with the political and social “thoughts” that go hand-in-hand with each generation.

The first part takes place in 1952 – we meet Claire: a widowed woman who’s two months pregnant. She struggles with what to do with the baby. She can leave town for the remaining seven months and give the baby up for adoption, but she doesn’t know what to tell people. She hears of a man who gives abortions (illegally – it was illegal to terminate a fetus’ life at that time) and Claire gives the man $400 to perform the operation. She is left for dead as she hemorrhages on the kitchen floor, the operator still on the line.

The second part takes place in 1974 – Barbara, a middle-aged woman finds out that she is pregnant. She can legally have an abortion; she has four children the youngest of whom is in middle school. She has a friend who had an abortion and doesn’t regret it, and her oldest daughter, about to go to college, pushes for her to have the abortion. She doesn’t talk about it with her husband John and she talks about women and their abilities to juggle personal life and work life with a current college professor of hers. In the end she decides that the best thing for her is to keep the baby.

The third part takes place in 1996 – Christine (Chris) is a college student who’s ten weeks pregnant with her professor’s baby. The man is seen in the beginning of the scene and finally ends the interaction with Chris by giving her money. Chris doesn’t know what to do. She’s the good child out of her four other siblings and doesn’t have the heart to tell her parents about her pregnancy. There is a point in the movie where she is about to tell her mom, but the conversation ended abruptly and she didn’t say anything. She goes to a clinic and encounters a religious group who begs her not to go through with the abortion and that the group would support her. She doesn’t get the abortion that day, but goes back later in the week to get it. There is a mob of people picketing and the doctor, Dr. Thompson, is shown coming into the clinic wearing a bulletproof vest. After the abortion is finished a young man appears in the doorway, one we saw earlier, and he yells “murderer!” and shoots Dr. Thompson. He then apologizes to Chris if he shot her and proceeds to run away. The scene and movie ends with Chris holding Dr. Thompson.

Interesting Facts

I found it incredibly interesting how the legalization of abortion progressed over 44 years, and yet the general public’s reception of abortion was still the same.

Question

The movie was made in 1996 which is 15 years ago this year. I found it an interesting movie because of the reception of abortion to the public. My question involves two parts: 1^st is: Do you think abortion is taken as seriously as it was 15 years ago (pertaining to the shooting incident in the movie)? And 2^nd: Do you think, with the advancement of medicine, that abortion is a safer procedure now?