Vera Drake at Santa Fe Community College

vera drake (vera drake)

By SFR

June 22 kicks off the start of "Before There Was Choice," a five-month film series on women's reproductive rights.

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Janet Gotkin and Dana Middleton, both members of Santa Fe's National Organization for Women chapter, are the brains behind the series, designed

"to open up a discussion

about abortion and reproductive rights," Gotkin tells

SFR

.

"I hate to say it, but abortion is legal—it's a right—and we're about to lose it," Middleton adds. The first film in the series,

Vera Drake

, was made in 2004. Its star, Imelda Staunton, received an Oscar nomination for her performance as a doctor who secretly helps women end their pregnancies in 1950s Britain, where abortion was illegal.

"That's why we chose these movies [in which] abortion was illegal: to find a place through art to have a rational, reasoned discussion" about abortion as a legal right, Gotkin says.

Each film will be followed by a discussion; on June 22, it will be led by Dr. Elizabeth Buchen, the women's health policy director at the

Southwest Women's Law Center

.

"Before There Was Choice" Film Series

Santa Fe Community College Board Room (2nd floor of main building)

Tuesday, June 22

7:00 pm

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