The nature of death, the right to justify it, and the value of human choice. There are few documentaries that deal with these weighty issues as uncompromisingly as After Tiller. The award winning film by co-directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson revolves around the four remaining doctors in the US who are willing to perform legal third-trimester abortions. Despite relentless opposition, they continue their hard work in the wake of the assassination of their colleague Dr Tiller by an anti-abortion extremist in 2009. The Frontline Club was packed on Friday 10 January for the screening which was followed by an animated Skype Q&A with Wilson.

Lana Wilson during the Skype Q&A

With only nine American States allowing late-term abortions, it remains a highly contested and pressing domestic issue. Wilson explained:

“In the last year more anti-abortion restrictions have been passed in the US than ever before. Since abortion was legalised in 1973 it has just been a tidal wave of restrictive legislation.”

Set in Colorado and Nebraska, Wilson recounted how shooting began in 2010 and that it took another year before the two female doctors gave their permission to be filmed along with their male colleagues. Evidently the doctors’ fear of further public stigmatisation was a major concern. Wilson expressed her frustration over the media’s abortion coverage, which was an underlying motivation for her film. She said:

“It is always dressed in this polarised black and white way. We are so often divided into these different camps: pro-choice and anti-abortion . . . as though there is no area in the middle.”

After Tiller successfully sheds a more nuanced light on the largely grey areas of third-trimester abortions. It achieves this through insights into the individual patients’ compelling stories and touching glimpses into the doctors’ personal lives. This is in stark contrast to the doctors’ demonisation as “sick individuals” in the papers and courtrooms across the country.

Instead, a very emotive atmosphere is presented inside the clinics and the sadness of each case is seen to have a direct effect on the doctors. After Tiller presents the uncomfortable truth that, without access to legal abortions, women might seek highly dangerous alternatives, and illustrates that there is no easy answer. As one expecting mother summarised in the film: “It is guilt no matter which way you go.”

A few audience members commented on how in touch the doctors were with the subjective element of evaluating the viability of a late-term abortion case. Wilson explained:

“Women who aren’t very articulate and who often find it difficult to get an abortion early in pregnancy are women who are poorer and less educated across the board.”

She continued to outline a major dilemma in the justification process:

“If you are really pro-choice you have to be ok with other people taking decisions that you might completely disagree with. . . People have the right to regret their decisions, that is part of being free. . . It is really hard to wrestle with.”

Despite the huge grey area that After Tiller deals with, when it came to its message and style Wilson was very clear:

“For us the bottom line is to get people to think about this with a little more compassion and less judgment. . . . Our goal was to try to bring more humanity and more understanding to these people who are at the centre of the abortion debate and whose voices have rarely been heard.”

The documentary’s filming style was remarkably subtle and observational. Wilson said: “We were trying to be invisible flies on the wall.” Links were made during the Q&A between the ethical considerations and delayed judgment necessary for the doctors dealing with abortion patients, which are also qualities synonymous with good documentary filmmaking. Wilson agreed:

“All four of the doctors really taught us a lot about being better documentary filmmakers: How do you listen to someone without judging them but just with compassion?”

What is the future of this fragile profession? Wilson explained that the doctors’ concerns are not the lack of professionals performing the procedure but the tightening legal restrictions in the various states. Since filming, a new law has been implemented know as the Fetal Pain Act, banning abortions after 20 weeks.

The anti-abortionists’ wrath lead one lady in the audience to ask: “Did you worry when making the film that you would be brining down some of that negative attention on yourself?” Wilson reassured her that despite some “nasty emails” the reception to their film, which has also been screened in medical and nursing schools, has surpassed any expectations. It is no surprise why. After Tiller breaks free from the polarised abortion rhetoric in a way that moves its audience.

For upcoming UK screenings of the film please visit November Films or the After Tiller website. You can also watch the film on iTunes here.

By Nicole Hunt

Following the horrific shooting at the Dark Knight Premiere in Aurora, Colorado on Friday that killed at least 12 people and injured 58, suspect James Holmes appears in court on Monday morning. Police spent much of the weekend disabling explosives in Holmes’ apartment, and are still trying to piece together a motive for the attack.

EU Foreign Ministers meet in Brussels to discuss a host of issues, from energy policy to South Sudan. But the real focus will be on Syria – French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed last week that ministers would seek to impose new, stronger sanctions on the Assad regime, a move which gained renewed importance after China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on 19 July that would have authorised stronger global sanctions.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is in Moscow to hold his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Syria is on the top of their agenda, too. Given Russia’s recent stance, though, it’s unlikely that Monti will be able to persuade Putin to change his mind, so their time might be better spent discussing bilateral issues.

Officials from the IMF, EU and ECB make their quarterly-ish visit to Greece on Tuesday to check on how economic plans are progressing. The mission is the first since Greece’s new government under Prime Minister Antonis Samaras took over after elections last month, and was delayed from June due to Samaras’ health problems. Discussion will reportedly focus on securing a ‘bridging loan’ for Greece while the new government tries to find nearly €12bn in further spending cuts.

Tuesday also sees the latest hearing in Baghdad in the trial of Iraqi Vice President Tareq al Hashemi, who is accused of operating a death squad. The trial was postponed earlier in the month to allow an appeals court to review the case and rule on the conduct of the trial, including a request by Hashemi’s lawyers to call senior government figures as witnesses, which was denied by the trial court.

The Pakistani Supreme Court has given new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf until Wednesday to issue a letter to Swiss authorities asking them to re-open graft investigations against President Asif Ali Zardari. Ashraf’s predecessor Yousuf Raza Gilani declined to submit the same request to Switzerland; he was subsequently found to be in contempt of court and disqualified from standing as Prime Minister, so it’s a deadline Ashraf will be looking at with some consideration.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is in London on Thursday. In addition to attending the Olympic opening ceremony and reportedly meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne, Labour Leader Ed Miliband, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Romney is also playing host to two fundraisers for wealthy American ex-pats. Those whose wallets can only spare $2,500 will attend an evening reception with Romney, while donors who can dig up $75,000 will find themselves sitting down to dinner with the man himself.

Friday…Friday…Well there must be something going on Friday. Oh yes, the small matter of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. The Queen officially opens the Games, and in return she and other attendees can enjoy Danny Boyle’s ‘Isles of Wonder’ spectacle, a concert with Paolo Nutini, Stereophonics, Snow Patrol, Duran Duran and Paul McCartney, and a Red Arrows flypast.

Meanwhile, the mood may be a bit less celebratory in Spain, where the latest quarterly unemployment figures are released. Despite relatively positive figures recently, including a drop in unemployment of 100,000 last month, figures still hover near the 25 per cent mark, and hundreds of people took part in demonstrations in Madrid last week to protest against unemployment and austerity.

Former US President Bill Clinton delivers the closing address at the AIDS 2012 Conference in Washington on Friday. He caps off a week of speakers that have included his wife (otherwise known as Secretary of State) Hillary, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former First Lady Laura Bush, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sharon Stone.

Romney continues his international jaunt on Saturday with a three-day trip to Israel, where he’s planning to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and US Ambassador Dan Shapiro. In addition to bolstering his international credentials – and probably making much of the fact that his Democratic rival hasn’t made the trip to the holy land during his presidency – Romney is also hosting another of his ex-pat fundraisers on Sunday.

Romanians go to the polls on Sunday to decide whether or not President Traian Basescu should be impeached. Basescu was suspended from his post in a 6 July parliamentary vote, after Prime Minister Victor Ponta accused him of exceeding his authority and acting in a partisan manner. Basescu and his supporters have in turn accused Ponta of trying to oust the president in order to consolidate his own power.