Oscar-shortlisted documentary short “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa” is 13 gut-wrenching minutes of the impacts of the Hyde Amendment, showcasing the devastating reality of the lack of abortion access in the U.S.
When the difference between feeding your kids, forgoing your life-saving medication, or losing everything in your life is $275, what do you do when there’s no one left to call? This is the question viewers are left with when watching “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa,” a short documentary film offering a glimpse into the lives of five callers to an abortion fund hotline in Philadelphia—each left with an unplanned pregnancy, no options, and everything to lose.
At the Women’s Medical Fund, the counselors depicted in the film (all referred to as Lisa) are often the last call before there’s no one left for thousands of people every year. One caller in the film—who needs only $275 more for her abortion—has already survived one life-threatening pregnancy, has just lost her job, and barely has enough left for groceries.
“All my savings that I had are going towards my insulin and making sure my kid is set,” she tells Lisa, “I have $100 and have enough to cover my rent for this coming month.” The film glaringly shows us the counselor’s computer screen: There’s only $19 left in funds for the current shift. They will need to call again tomorrow and hope there will be more.
Hope is not going to be enough, but it is all viewers are left with—we never learn how this caller’s situation turns out. The outlook is grim: People who are denied wanted abortions are four times more likely to live below the federal poverty line, and three times more likely to be unemployed than people who receive an abortion, leaving them with chronic economic insecurity. Additionally, those who are denied abortions are more likely to experience complications during birth, raise the child on their own, and remain in an abusive partnership.
This the reality for over 7 million people under the Hyde Amendment, a 1976 federal policy prohibiting the use of Medicaid and other federal funds for abortion, leaving many low-income people in a similar place to the caller above: with no options left.https://www.youtube.com/embed/T_KxUvT1B-E?feature=oembed
Directed by Janet Goldwater, Barbara Attie and Mike Attie, “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa” is 13 gut-wrenching minutes of the impacts of the Hyde Amendment, showcasing the devastating reality of the lack of abortion access in the United States. The film has been sweeping through global film festivals, and was recently named to the 93rd Academy Awards shortlist.
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