Sundance review: 'Plan C' chronicles the efforts to maintain legal access to abortion pills, with more tension than the average thriller
A documentary that plays like a thriller, Tracey Droz Tragos’ “Plan C” follows the people who are keep access to abortion pills available to those who need them.
Access to abortion pills is legal in the United States, if you can find a doctor who can, under the law, prescribe them to you. Some states bar doctors from prescribing them, or require the patient to see a doctor in person — something not required for drugs far more dangerous than these, the health care experts in the film say.
For every new law, though, there’s a workaround. One provider sets up an unmarked van as a mobile clinic, arranging meetups in public places — like the parking lot of a library or a post office. The van doesn’t stay in one place for too long, in case anti-abortion protesters learn of the location and come over to harass and threaten the medical professionals inside.
At the heart of the documentary is Francine Coeytaux, a veteran public-health worker who has made a career of making sure people who need it can get emergency contraception. Coeytaux co-founds a grassroots group, called Plan C, which sets up a hotline for women to call for information about how to legally get abortion pills. Unsurprisingly, the stories that come in the hotline are harrowing accounts of women who want to be “un-pregnant,” and can’t afford to, say, fly to a state where abortion is still legal.
The efforts of Plan C, the documentary points out, were underway long before last summer’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in all 50 states for nearly 50 years — on the weird notion that a woman and her doctor were more qualified to make such a decision than some state legislators. The inspiration was actually the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down women’s health clinics while making remote prescriptions more convenient for most every other form of pharmaceutical.
Dragos profiles the women who have banded together to keep access going, and the adjustments they must make every time a state tries to change the law. It’s a vital story, and need to be told now.
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‘Plan C’
★★★1/2
Playing in the Premieres section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Screens again Wednesday, Jan. 25, 3:45 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinemas, Salt Lake City; Friday, Jan. 27, 3 p.m., Redstone Cinemas, Park City; Saturday, Jan. 28, 9 a.m., Park Avenue Theatre, Park City; Sunday, Jan. 29, 2 p.m., Megaplex Theatres at The Gateway, Salt Lake City. Not rated, but probably PG-13 for descriptions of sexual assault and language. Running time: 99 minutes.