New film explores evolution of telemedicine abortions
Tracy Droz Tragos spent the pandemic examining how Plan C works
A new film premiered at Sundance and showed again at SXSW that documents the evolution of abortion care in the age of telemedicine.
Plan C was directed by Tracy Droz Tragos, who was behind the 2014 documentary Rich Hill. The new movie follows telemedicine providers of abortion pills as they handle an increasing workload amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Along the way, viewers see the challenges that these doctors and their patients have and the possible barriers they will face in the future.
Plan C is generally the term given to abortion medication. It is associated with an organization begun by Elisa Wells.
Tragos sat down with Repro Rights Now and discussed her film. She didn’t know about Wells’ organization until the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings. The revolution in reproductive care challenged her preconceived notions of what that healthcare field was like.
“It was a real paradigm shift,” Tragos said.
Tragos said that telemedicine wasn’t widely accepted before the pandemic. The emergency created a need for new services. Tragos said it, “really was a game changer for this work and for abortion access.”
Telemedicine is also a lot less expensive to do than regular care. So Tragos doesn’t think the situation is being exploited for financial gain.
There’s an interesting quandary within abortion care now. Technically, it has never been more accessible with the advent of the abortion pill. But with restrictions on discussing it, it may become less easily attainable or perilous to seek it out.
“Part of the difficulty is that information is also being censored,” Tragos said. “Even though this is an option that exists that makes it very, very accessible for all, not enough people still know about it.
“And the other issue, of course, is that although it's safe and effective medically, there is still the risk of criminalization, depending on where you live and who you are, and who you tell.”
Tragos also documents the problems associated with social media, which can be unfair to abortion providers by limiting their expression or banning their accounts.
“That's a real real problem,” Tragos said. “It's happening for a lot of these organizations that are simply sharing information, which should be protected but is not.”
The film delves a little into how the antiabortion movement has adjusted so far to the new frontier in abortion care. They have created fake sites that aim to dissuade women who want to get reproductive treatment.
Many of the providers’ names were shielded. The doctors were doing things in spite of fear.
“I hope no harm comes to them. Certainly. It hasn't happened yet,” Tragos said. “That's not to say that there aren't bad actors who will do what they do.”
Tragos is still seeking to secure a deal with a streaming service to distribute it widely. Her goal is to have it widely available to see this summer. For more on the film, visit its website.