New Documentary Profiles Texas Abortion Plaintiffs

As Election Day gets closer and closer, audiences in Texas and around the country have been raving about a documentary that puts a human face on abortion bans, and the men and women working every day to try and reverse them.

Zurawski v Texas, from independent filmmakers Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August. Since then it has screened at several other festivals and earned rave reviews from Variety and The Los Angeles Times.

The film charts in real time the case Zurawski v. Texas, where plaintiffs sued the state to clarify the medical exemptions to the abortion ban in the state. The principal figures in the film are three of the plaintiffs, Amanda Zurawski, Samantha Casiano, and Austin Dennard (who previously spoke with Texas Signal), as well as attorney Molly Duane from the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Texas Signal spoke with one of the directors, Maisie Crow, about the documentary and the important screenings happening in Texas. Crow gave birth in October 2020 just around the time Senate Bill 8 was making its way through the Texas legislature. SB 8 would take effect in September 2021, months before Roe v. Wade was overturned and effectively putting the state of Texas under a near-total abortion ban. 

Crow, who lives in Marfa, had previously made a documentary about the last abortion clinic in Mississippi so this was a space she had worked in. As she listened to the oral arguments of the Dobbs case before the Supreme Court, she felt a palpable sense of frustration. “I remember being really disappointed,” she said.  

By the time Dobbs was decided in the summer of 2022 she knew she wanted to tell the story of the abortion bans happening in places like Texas. From there she and Perrault connected with the women in Texas, which itself was heartening. “There was still some hope and people willing to fight back.”

There are several poignant scenes in the film, including when Amanda Zurawski visits her family, who had always voted for Republicans. It’s clear that what Zurawski endured changed them. In 2022 Zurawski’s much-wanted pregnancy became life threatening, and she was denied an abortion, which ultimately resulted in her going into septic shock. “It was really powerful to be able to film that and we were so grateful that they allowed us to [do] that,” said Crow about that moment in the film.

Crow hopes that this documentary can be a catalyst for conversations like the one in the film between Zurawski and her family. “I think every audience that we share this film [with] leaves very motivated to do something and wants to find a way to share it.” After their Telluride screening, Crow met a high school student who was eager to show the film to her father. Sure enough that same student did bring her father to a screening in Mill Valley, California.   

Over the weekend there were virtual watch parties for the documentary that took place all over the country. And this week the documentary is screening at several theaters throughout Texas including Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso.

As audiences experience the film, Crow believes that there are some key takeaways, namely that abortion should not be a political issue. “It was made political, and it really needs to go back to being healthcare,” said Crow.