"12th & Delaware" (2010 release; 81 min.) is a documentary delving into the opposing sides of abortion providers. As the movie opens, we are reminded it is "Fort Pierce, FL, 5 AM", and we see a woman walking around with a big sign "Thou Shall Not Kill". It's not long before we understand that on opposing corners in the intersection at 12th & Delaware, there is an abortion clinic on one corner, and a pro-life pregnancy care center on the other corner. The film makers follow the coming and goings at these places. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from co-writers and co-directors Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing. These ladies have built an outstanding reputation (and track record) when it comes to documentaries. Here they pursue the moral aspects of what each side is doing. For the pro-lifers, that means shaming, intimidating, deceiving, confusing, and outright lying to unsuspecting women who think they have walked into an abortion clinic. When asked, for the pro-lifers this is a completely justifiable means to get to the end result they seek, namely preventing abortions, period. It isn't until the second half of the movie that we get the other side's perspective: why do abortion clinic service providers do what they do? Regardless how you feel about the issue, your heart can't help but go out to the (mostly young and mostly African-American and Hispanic) women who time and again find themselves in an impossible situation. Check out the movie's last extended scene where a Hispanic woman, already a mother 6 (!) times over, approaches the abortion clinic... Just jaw-dropping.I had heard of this movie, but didn't get a chance to see it until I recently stumbled on it in the documentary section of HBO on Demand. Glad I checked it out. The film makers do an excellent job in "12th & Delaware", walking a moral minefield without detonating any of the mines. "12th & Delaware" is definitely worth checking out.

I went into this film somewhat expecting to be subliminally persuaded into one side of the issue or the other... I was very pleasantly surprised that it was almost sympathetic to both sides. There is no narration whatsoever, which allows the viewer to listen to both viewpoints only through the voices of the advocates on each side. I have always struggled with the issue of abortion personally, and I think this film does a great job of showing that there is a very real human element on both ends of the debate... No matter what the previous reviewers say. And by the way, I don't see any problem with a woman hearing both options before ending a pregnancy... There's no changing your mind after abortion, so I believe that taking a moment to hear alternatives is not wasted time. Very well done film making

I saw this at the Traverse City Film Festival and again this week on HBO. The first half of the film shows the workings and methodology of the Pregnancy Care Center, a primarily Catholic Church supported "clinic" for pregnant women located directly across the street from the local abortion clinic on 12th & Delaware in Fort Pierce, Florida. The second half mainly takes a similar but opposite view from inside the abortion clinic. Neither side talks to each other. The purpose of the Pregnancy Care Center is to persuade women to not have an abortion. If women mistakenly (or not) wander into their building thinking it is the abortion clinic, they hide the fact that they cannot get an abortion there and do an ultrasound and show women the size and appearance of the fetus they are thinking about aborting. And for those that go to the correct corner to get their abortion, the Pregnancy Care Center and their supporters picket in front of the abortion clinic trying to convince (harass?) women who are going into the abortion center to change their minds. They promise the women financial and emotional support if they keep their pregnancies.The view from the abortion clinic is one of vigilant watchfulness and shuttered privacy. Run for profit by a husband and wife team, their hired physician is brought in by the owners in a souped up Mustang (much to the aggravation of the protesters) with a sheet over the head of the abortionist. There is a lot of looking at security cameras and peeking out of blinds at the Pregnancy Care Center across the street.Multiple people are interviewed including the protesters, the women seeking abortions (some who go through with it and some who do not), and one of the owners of the abortion clinic (the wife) and the priest and main female volunteer in the Pregnancy Care Center. This is done with almost no commentary letting their words speak for their very different viewpoints.There are crazy and scary people among the demonstrators as well as sympathetic people who deeply believe in the side they have chosen. In a Q&A after the showing at Traverse City, co-director Heidi Ewing was present and she is obviously pro-choice. Yet this documentary is surprisingly sympathetic to people on both sides. Certainly the Pregnancy Care Center is seen to be deceptive in their practices, but the abortion clinic ends up looking like a seedy and darkly hidden business. The motivation for the Pregnancy Care Center is their faith and that of the abortion clinic appears to pretty much be making a buck. As a physician of Christian faith who has attempted to help women with the very difficult choice of whether to carry a pregnancy or end it, and who has left the final choice to them and then helped them regardless of their decision, I appreciate how balanced the documentary is. It is too bad the two sides do not ever talk or attempt find common ground. This is a moving and thought-provoking documentary. You will not regret the time spent watching. 8/10

Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady did a great job on Jesus Camp, where they showed the indoctrination of young evangelicals. Maybe too good a job, as they came out as caricatures instead of believable people.Here they take a softer approach. The battle for and against abortion rages on today decades after Roe v Wade established the right to privacy. This film focuses on the anti-abortion forces right across the street from a clinic in Ft. Pierce, Florida.This was an eye-opening look at the tactics used by the so-called "pregnancy care centers," who use all means available to try and stop people from exercising their right to choose.It was an excellent treatment of a sensitive subject.