VANITY FAIR: Documentary ‘Zurawski v Texas’ Reveals the Personal Devastation of Antiabortion Laws
By Rebecca Ford
August 30, 2024
When filmmakers Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault heard that it seemed likely that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, they sprang into action, thinking about how they could explore the devastating repercussions of that decision. “We really felt like we needed to couple the trauma and devastation with some sort of hope,” says Crow. “And we found that in Molly Duane and the case that she was filing in Texas.”
The pair, who had previously worked together on the 2021 documentary At the Ready, met attorney Duane through the Center for Reproductive Rights. She represents a woman named Amanda Zurawski, who nearly died when a Texas law prevented her from receiving an abortion after her pregnancy became nonviable. Zurawski subsequently joined with four other women and two doctors to sue the state.
Zurawski v Texas, which covers the case and will have its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, is a deeply moving film investigating how Texas’s antiabortion laws have caused grief, loss, trauma, and in some cases near-death experiences. The laws prohibit most abortions even when a woman’s pregnancy is deemed unviable.
With executive producers that include Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Jennifer Lawrence, Zurawski v Texas takes one of the nation’s most pressing issues and makes it personal, told through the brave women who share their stories of loss and heartache. “Policies and war, they can just seem such faraway issues that will never happen to us. And that’s why films like this can be so impactful—to show the actual lives that are affected,” says Lawrence. “Not just how easily it could happen to you or someone you love, but to be a true witness to what happens when you’re not just failed by your government, but condemned by it.”
Samantha Casiano learned at a 20-week ultrasound that her fetus had no chance of survival.
Like many people across the nation, Chelsea Clinton learned of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade when the Court’s draft opinion leakedin May of 2022. “I was sitting on the edge of my bathtub and just sobbing hysterically,” she says. “And I think what I was really grappling with that night was, ‘I’m not surprised, but I still am so completely shattered by what we’ve allowed to happen to women in our country.’”
She woke up the next morning determined to jump into action. Through their production company HiddenLight, which she founded with her mother, the pair joined the Zurawski v Texas team as executive producers. “No pregnant woman should ever be denied necessary medical care. The health care emergencies these women faced know no political boundaries; they affect all of us, our daughters, mothers, friends, and entire families,” says Hillary Clinton. “I hope that millions of people will watch Zurawski v Texas because I know it will help bring to life what is happening to women across the country at the most fundamental human level.”
In the film, we watch Duane as she fights in the court system for more clarity on antiabortion laws, which have left medical practitioners unsure of what abortion procedures are allowed. Zurawski’s water broke at 18 weeks pregnant, but she was denied an abortion even as her health rapidly declined. It wasn’t until she became septic that she was able to end her pregnancy. Another woman followed in the film, Samantha Casiano, learned at a 20-week ultrasound that her fetus had no chance of survival. Yet she was forced to carry her baby to term, and watched her daughter suffer for the four short hours of her life.
In an exclusive clip debuting here, Duane is captured practicing for the court case, as we see many of the women also preparing to appear in court. Throughout the film, Duane reveals the emotional toll that the case takes on her as well. “It became clear how much she threw herself into her work,” says Crow. “It didn’t take very long for her to be comfortable in front of the cameras.”
Each of the women followed in the film shares devastating stories of loss in an effort to keep this from happening to more women in the future. “These people were ready to tell their stories and eager to find a way to use their really difficult experiences to make a change, or to elevate their voices and make sure people know what’s really happening in Texas and other states like it,” says Perrault.
The documentary is full of highs and lows. Just when it seems that they’ve won a battle in court, another hurdle stands in their way. The group of women and doctors suing the state eventually grows to 22, with Duane hearing more and more tragic stories every day as the case makes its way to the Texas Supreme Court. Crow and Perrault were feeling the urgency to release the film as soon as possible, and were awaiting the court’s decision just days before their deadline. “We felt that it was urgent that we get the film out this year,” says Crow, who asked the participants to record their own reactions when, in May 2024, the Texas Supreme Court rejected their challenge, upholding the Texas abortion law and its definition of exceptions to the law. “Those videos started coming in minutes and hours after the decision came down, and we really felt that…they hit a place in the narrative where it was just kind of a natural ending for this point in the story.”
Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OBGYN, fled Texas to obtain an abortion when her pregnancy was diagnosed with a fatal condition. She was pregnant again during the court case.
As the presidential election looms, the sense of urgency surrounding the film’s release (it’ll debut at Telluride on August 31) is palpable. “Abortion access is quite literally on the ballot in a number of states,” says Chelsea Clinton. “These are truly women’s lives and self-determination that people will be voting on.”
Lawrence summarizes the ticking clock most succinctly: “Well, there’s a fuck of an election coming up,” she says, adding that she feels an eerie sense of déjà vu that reminds her of 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president for the first time—and many around the country became concerned about the devastating possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. “We were just told we were being hysterical—and then it happened. And so I really hope that we’ve all learned our lessons and how important it is who you vote for and why, and that you get your ass out and vote.”