"Opening the heart and emotions of women": the No Estas Sola video project.

In Latin America every year, some 4 million women and their families face the difficult decision of ending a pregnancy by seeking an abortion. When Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled in May that abortion would be legal in the country in certain circumstances, a Catholics for a Free Choice project came full circle.

The country was where CFFC'S telenovela-style film about Latin American women and abortion, No Estas Sola, was written and filmed. Abortion's illegality in Colombia posed obstacles for the video team--but their product is now being hailed by reproductive health figures as a vital tool for women throughout Latin America facing decisions about abortion.

The Spanish-language film, released last year after three years in the making, uses the popular telenovela format to present six stories of women dealing with decisions about pregnancy and abortion. It adds to other resources CFFC has produced to help abortion providers address patients' concerns about religion and morality, and fills a gap in the repertoire of available videos on abortion, which until now mostly neglected the moral aspect of women's decisions.

On a recent trip to South America, CFFC president Frances Kissling received firsthand evidence of the effects of the innovative take on a television staple.

"In Peru," she recounted, "I met a midwife who was using it in her clinic in Lima. She said that it is a marvelous way of opening the heart and emotions of women who come to the clinic, who are frightened and confused, and that when they show the video to women, that it triggers for them their aura experiences. They are able to relate to the experiences of the women on the screen and able then to talk about this question in their own context."

The video offers women a narrative, affective window into theological and moral issues around the abortion decision. Its producers drew its six fictional stories from the experience of women seeking abortions and of doctors and counselors. The script was written in consultation with an expert group of Latin American advocates, practitioners and theologians.

One consultant on the project directs a reproductive health services clinic in Latin America. She described how the project group initially considered a documentary format but preferred a telenovela for legal reasons--the climate around abortion would have presented obstacles to putting real people on screen to talk about abortion in their lives--and to make the product more user-friendly for women. She pointed out that "a testimonial format, which in any case would have been very difficult ... would not allow women to identify themselves within those situations, which was what we wanted to achieve with this video: the woman who just had an abortion; the one who is trying to make a decision on the issue; the one who is going through this experience."

RESPECT FOR WOMEN'S "MORAL COMPASS"

Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir has distributed some 2,000 copies of the video so far to clinics, rape centers, medical institutions and government agencies throughout Latin America. The goal is to convey to women a Catholic perspective on their choices that treats religious concerns seriously and provides a broader alternative to the church hierarchy's narrow line.

"This is not a political film," Kissling said. "It deals with those women who are concerned about their relationship with God, whether abortion is a good thing--who have questions like, 'Is the fetus a person?' 'Am I going to go to Hell if I have an abortion?' 'Can God ever forgive me?'"

In taking seriously such questions, the video continues CFFC's long tradition of offering a broader perspective on abortion not only to Catholics but also to non-Catholic prochoice advocates--who are sometimes heard to say that abortion is not a moral issue or that talking about it can only make women feel guilty.

"We don't agree with that," said Kissling. "We think that women do have a moral compass and they do want to make these decisions in the context of their own moral beliefs. If they believe in God, we want to give them a kind of broad perspective on Catholicism ... to help them see God in a way that may be different from the way God has been presented to them by priests, or the way God is presented in secular society."

A planned sequel is intended for practitioners. At the moment, though, the promoters want to do much more with the current product. Plans include making the video available on the Web--where women can download it for themselves and not have to discuss their situation with anybody, if that is what they want--and versions with English and Portuguese subtitles, as well as broader distribution to Latin American communities in the United States.

The project's ultimate purpose, according to its creators, is to give people not only needed information but also a sense of relief about the legitimacy of their moral decision-making. The video is meant to help women to feel good about taking responsibility for their lives and those of their families.

"There is a very soft message that runs through the film," Kissling said, "which is that God loves you--very directly to say to women, 'God loves you, God trusts you to make good decisions, and if you feel some discomfort with what you have done, which some women do, God will forgive you.'"

Ordering Information

Copies of No estas sola are $20 each.

To order copies, please contact Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) at [e-mail]. Credit card orders may be called in to [phone] or checks, drawn on a US bank account, may be mailed to Catholics for a Free Choice, 1436 U Street NW, Suite 301, Washington DC 20009-3997, USA. Please specify PAL or NTSC format.

JOE FIORILL and CARMEN VALENZUELA are, respectively, senior writer researcher and senior international program officer at Catholics for a Free Choice.