As access to reproductive health care in the United States remains on shaky ground after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Call Jane star Elizabeth Banks and director Phyllis Nagy speak out on the importance of portraying realistic abortion in the media.
Banks plays 1960s housewife Joy, who seeks an abortion when a second pregnancy threatens her life. Rejected by a team of male doctors, Joy discovers the Jane Collective—a genuine, radically underground network that provided safe abortions to women in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s—and eventually joins the collective herself.
Director Nagy told Vanity Fair that painting is a more “normal” and realistic portrait of abortion care dispelling rumors about the risk of the procedure was a top priority.
“Hollywood thrives on a certain kind of conflict and drama. I get that, but it’s contributed to a terrible sense in the culture that abortion is really dangerous – it will kill you … or at least drive you crazy, you will be guilty forever.
The vast majority of people have a very different experience, so I thought, okay, let’s focus on the unusual. This is what happens every day. It’s a normal part of women’s health care.”
Banks Says She And Nagy Wanted To Break Mythology About Abortion Safety With Call Jane
Banks, whose character is already a mother when she needs abortion care, says Joy’s character is meant to show that anyone could be in the same situation.
“The majority of women seeking abortion care are already mothers, so it was important that this person was a mother,” Banks told Vanity Fair. “I think the fact that she’s white and privileged and a lawyer’s wife — if even she can’t figure out how to get someone to help her in the system, how bad is that for everyone else?”
The actress, who also produced Hulu’s shrillsays she and Nagy wanted to break the mythology surrounding abortion and show more women happy with their decision, such as shrill‘s main character who comes home from the procedure smiling.
“[On Call Jane]Phyllis Nagy and I were pretty much on the same page that we would present the full procedure — again, to break the mythology that it’s a scary life-threatening procedure if it’s much less life-threatening than dental procedures. So that was really important to present the simplicity of it, the mundane nature of abortion.”
“Because if one in four women in America has abortions, that’s pretty normal,” she added.
Call Jane hits theaters October 28.