After Tiller

Co-directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, After Tiller presents a sympathetic, non-sensationalized portrait of Drs. LeRoy Carhart, Susan Robinson, Warren Hern, and Shelley Sella—the last four doctors in America who are publicly willing to terminate pregnancy in the third trimester. A fifth, Dr. George Tiller, of Physicians for Reproductive Health, was murdered in 2009 by an anti-abortion fanatic (cheered on by religious zealots online), which had a chilling effect on American abortion providers. Carhart and Tiller, both ex-military, saw themselves on a literal battlefield and they knew how high the stakes were. Carhart is here demonized by Nebraska Republicans (the GOP lives up to the worst aspects of its reputation here) and ultimately relocates his practice to Maryland. For his part, Colorado-based Hern says he was radicalized in the Peace Corps by witnessing the hideous suffering of Brazil's back-alley abortion victims. The filmmakers also give significant time to on-staff counselors at the abortion clinics, who—along with the doctors—try to assess the reason for a late termination (such as a rape, or heartbreaking evidence of severe birth defects in utero). Pro-lifers are not interviewed in much detail here, but right-leaning viewers may take heart in knowing that some abortion applicants (one all the way from France) are refused or steered toward putting babies up for adoption, if their cases are not "compelling." A powerful and provocative documentary about the abortion wars, this is highly recommended. (C. Cassady)