Film Screening and Discussion: Abandoned gives voice to women denied legal abortion

Abandoned tells the stories of women who suffered or even died after being refused a legal abortion for reasons of conscientious objection. Collecting the voices of women and their families, the film traces their often heartbreaking fates in the forms of interviews, images, memories.

The screening is followed by a discussion with the director Dr. Patricia Josefine Marchart, an award-winning filmmaker and media scholar. Having travelled across Europe to conduct interviews and collect footage for Abandoned, Marchart will talk about her motivation and unique approach to the topic, but also the process of finding a visual language able to represent the personal fates of the women and families. All participants are furthermore invited to address their own question in an open Q&A session.

Taking place in the run-up to the International Women’s Day 2020, the event seeks to engage the complex questions of morality and responsibility, women’s rights and self-determination that accompany legal and social discourses of abortion. Especially in light of the highly controversial §219a StGB in Germany, these questions take on increasing relevance in contemporary society, nationally as well as internationally. The topic will thus be further contextualised in a welcoming address by Kristina Hänel, a Gießen-based physician who achieved national recognition when she successfully appealed against her sentence for the advertisement of abortion. 

The event is supported by the International Graduate Centre fo the Study of Culture (GCSC) of JLU Gießen, the Gießen FrauenKulturZentrum and Pro Choice Gießen. Tickets are available for 6,50€ (5,50€ reduced fee). Admission to the Kinocenter, Bahnhofstraße 34, 35390 Gießen, opens at 7pm, the event starts at 7.30 pm. The main language for the screening and discussion is German; questions may be asked in German or English.