By Christine de Kock
THE SBS is producing a documentary about the struggle people have when deciding to abort a baby and are calling for documentary participants from the City of Maribyrnong.
The project, Abortion Stories, aims to get behind the often politicised debate about abortion and reach the “the real human stories”.
Independent filmmaker Don Parham said he was looking for both men and women from an ethnic background to share the reasons and challenges they faced when deciding whether to have an abortion.
“We are looking for people who have gone through the process or who are going through the process at the moment,” he said.
“They might have decided to have an abortion or decided against it.”
Mr Parham said the documentary would focus on the emotional aspect of abortion rather than politics.
“Abortion has come around again as a controversial issue … what we would argue is: there needs to be an actual conversation about what abortion is, without politics and just the emotion.”
He said abortion was a complex issue that needed to be discussed on many levels.
“It is more complex than having two people talk about wrongs and rights. When men and women wrestle with it, it has a life context.”
Mr Parham said he was interested in people from different backgrounds being part of the documentary as he wanted to discuss different cultural views towards abortion, priorities, values and belief systems.
“Choice is a key theme at the centre of abortion and discussion about what influences people as they make their choice is important.”
Mr Parham has written, produced and directed 10 distinctive documentary films for Australian television.
Most of his films have focused on relationships between men and women and the struggles they face.
Abortion Stories will be filmed in the following months and screened later this year.
For further information, contact 9318 1467.