Obvious Child, a short film about abortion

I can't believe I'm just now discovering this amazing pro-choice short film, Obvious Child, from 2009, which stars former SNL cast mate Jenny Slate.  The film is described as "a romantic comedy about an unplanned pregnancy, an abortion, and a great first date in an unlikely location."  It's littered with abortion jokes that would piss-off even a half-assed anti-choice person.  It's also a very realistic depiction of what having an abortion is like for a lot of women.

One of the viewer comments on the film's vimeo page says it's "pure uncomfortable joy," but I actually found it to be the opposite of uncomfortable joy.  It was more like the totally-comfortable-this-is-how-it-should-be kind of joy.  It's the hollywood depiction of abortion that is so uncomfortable -- it's filled with taboo, shame and falseness.  Watching something honest should never feel uncomfortable.  The abortion jokes in this short were effective in de-stigmatizing a totally legal and very common surgery because it was presented in a casual, non-clandestine way.

I discovered this gem in the newest issue of BUST magazine, where the co-writer of the film interviews Jenny Slate.  Slate says of the film's theme, "A lot of times in movies or in books, when a normal likable person has to have an abortion, it becomes this huge thing: How will it define her?  How is she going to make this decision?  How are people going to react to it?  But I don't think that's what the experience is like for most people."

I'll take Obvious Child over Juno and its phony depiction of an abortion clinic protest any day.

Obvious Child from Gillian Robespierre on Vimeo.