A message to the mushy middle

Before 2016, filmmaker Tracy Robinson wouldn’t have called herself a pro-choice Christian, but that’s basically what she was: personally pro-life, not one to interfere with other people’s choices. Then she heard logical arguments against “abortion choice” and about the humanity of unborn babies.

In her new documentary, The Matter of Life, Robinson targets professing Christians in the mushy middle she once inhabited. The roughly 100-minute film shows, sometimes with graphic detail, the scientific, philosophical, and historical reasons why people should stay away from the “pro-choice” stance.

In many ways, the documentary attempts things that have already been done: It gives the science of when life begins, describes brutal abortion procedures, covers the history of abortion in America. And, like other abortion documentaries, it tries to cover too much ground in too little time.

But the film has its victories. In telling America’s abortion history, it artfully incorporates an archive of historical photos, audio, and newspaper clippings that capture important political and societal developments. It tackles a hard question: Why show graphic images of aborted babies? And it gets personal, allowing people affected by abortion to tell their stories in a way that emphasizes abortion isn’t simply a political issue but a matter of life and death.