Directed by Amalie R. Rothschild • Documentary • 1971 • 32 minutes
Made in 1971 when a medically safe legal abortion was available in only one state, "It Happens to Us" was produced to bring to public attention the sometimes shattering, and always difficult, personal situations underlying a woman’s decision to end a pregnancy. As long as the availability of legal abortion remains limited or threatened outright, it is important that contemporary audiences know the consequences of abortion being illegal, and what life was like before Roe vs Wade, and what it is becoming again in many states after the Dobbs decision in 2022. The film presents the most cogent arguments through the personal stories of a wide range of women both rich and poor, young and older, black and white, married and unmarried, as to why women should be allowed to control their own bodies.
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