Three young women wake up, confused and terrified, in a room that looks like a cross between a normal hospital room and the creepy underground lair of some mad scientist from a horror movie. A video screen flickers on and a creepy older man, looking a bit like Academy-award-nominee Robert Loggia, appears on it, telling the women that heās their ājailer.ā The women, you see, had all been getting abortions when their jailerās shadowy accomplices kidnapped them and brought them to this strange prison, where they will be forced to live for the next seven months until they gave birth. “You were all on the operating table, all ready to commit murder,ā announces a mysterious doctor. āYour babies will be given life just as God planned.”
This is the premise of a new horror film called The Life Zone, which recently had its world premiere at the prestigious, er, Hoboken International Film Festival, a festival that was, perhaps not coincidentally, founded and chaired by the filmās writer and producer, Kenneth del Vecchio. In case you think Iām making all this up, hereās the filmās trailer, which makes The Life Zone look a bit like an equal-parts mixture of Saw, Human Centipede, and The Handmaidās Tale, with Robert Loggia in the role of Jigsaw/Dr. Heiter/The Commander:
Now, if you thought that something seemed really ā¦ off about that trailer, well, youāre not alone. For the film is not, as you might have assumed from my description, a warning against the fanatical misogyny of many in the anti-abortion movement.
No, the film ā produced by a pro-life former judge, crime thriller author, and Republican New Jersey state senate candidate ā is meant as pro-life propaganda. As the offical press release for the filmās premiere put it:
The film, which appears to cut right down the middle [of the abortion debate], examining the topic from both sides, offers a powerful, anti-abortion climactic twist. Del Vecchio and the cast invite pro-lifers to come to this historic event.Ā
During the months the three women are held in captivity, you see, they are exposed to a barrage of films and books intended to, er, educate them about abortion āwhat their attending obstetrician Dr. Wise describes as āan abortion think tank.ā Two of the captive women do indeed convert to the pro-life side; apparently we in the audience are supposed to develop Stockholm Syndrome along with them. The third, as we see in the trailer, tries to induce a miscarriage, which doesnāt go quite as planned.
And this sets us up for the final twist, which Iām just going to go ahead and reveal: once all three women have given birth, Dr. Wise tells them sheās going to sew them all, mouth-to-vagina, into a Human Abortion-pede!
Actually no: the twist is that the ālife zoneā the three women in has actually been ā¦ purgatory! All three ācaptives,ā you see, had died on the operating table while getting their abortions. (Apparently they went to the world’s worst abortion clinic, asĀ first-trimester abortions don’t involve anything more surgically invasive than the insertion of a suction tube; the risk of death from a legal surgical abortion is 0.0006%, one in 160,000 cases, making the procedure many times safer than childbirth itself.)Ā Their time in the ālife zoneā was a test: the two women who changed their minds were whisked up to heaven, while their miscarriage-attempting, stubbornly pro-choice companion is sent straight to H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. Dr. Wise, despite being on the right side of the abortion question, also goes to hell for committing suicide. And, oh yeah, their jailer ā Loggia ā was Satan. Why Satan and a hell-bound doctor were the ones trying to convert the abortion ladies to the pro-life side I canāt tell you; del Vecchioās theology is evidently more sophisticated than I am.
The real twist here? As Jersey Journal writer Alan Robb notes:
The Life Zone went viral across the internet [last] Friday after blogs The Frisky and Talking Points Memo picked up on the film’s trailer. ā¦ But despite garnering more than 20,000 hits on YouTube in the last four days, only fifty people – including the film’s cast and producers – attended this weekend’s screening, and even those who starred in the movie didn’t know how to interpret its twist ending.
Itās impossible to tell from the trailer if the film is bad in a so-bad-itās-good way, or if itās just plain awful. I will try to get hold of it when it hits video, and will report back with my results.
In the meantime, if youāre looking for a good horror film set in a creepy hospital, try renting Infection, a Japanese film from 2005. Or, if youāve got a longer attention span, try Lars Von Trierās supernatural soap opera The Kingdom, a darkly comic miniseries which takes place in what one might call, paraphrasing Bill Murrayās character in Tootsie, āone nutty hospital.ā Both are conveniently available on Netflix instant watch, so you don’t even have to leave your pregnancy dungeon to see them.
EDITED: Added some info on the minimal dangers of abortion procedures.
Kes, that is one thing that drives me batty about those who also believe in God-“it’s God’s Will that we do nothing.” No it is not. God gave us free will and brains. Use them.
Do you know anyone who has had an abortion MRAL? No? Then shut up about how they feel. Honestly.
I have never understood the appeal of a religious movement based on the idea of God as this terribly capricious entity who doesn’t spell out his rules, doesn’t give hints of his existence, and then condemns to eternal suffering anyone who didn’t pick up on the secret hidden rules.
Even if I did believe in a God like that, I still wouldn’t be very fond of him.
I’m so surprised to hear that you think that! Do you have any sources, any at all, that have studied why women get abortions? How many? I’m waiting for the cites, please.
In the meantime, how about I cite some information of my own?
“Age: Most abortions are done on women under the age of 25.
Marital status: Most women seeking abortions are unmarried; many other are separated from their spouse.
Economic status: Many are poor and feel that they cannot afford to raise a child.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_why.htm
“Social Reasons (given as primary reason)
– Feels unready for child/responsibility 25%
– Feels she can’t afford baby 23%
– Has all the children she wants/Other family responsibilities 19%
– Relationship problem/Single motherhood 8%
– Feels she isn’t mature enough 7%
– Interference with education/career plans 4%
– Parents/Partner wants abortion <1%
– Other reasons <6.5%"
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/reasonsabortions.html
"MYTH: Women have abortions for selfish or frivolous reasons.
The decision to have an abortion is rarely simple. Most women base their decision on several factors, the most common being lack of money and/or unreadiness to start or expand their families due to existing responsibilities. Many feel that the most responsible course of action is to wait until their situation is more suited to childrearing; 66% plan to have children when they are older, financially able to provide necessities for them, and/or in a supportive relationship with a partner so their children will have two parents. Others wanted to get pregnant but developed serious medical problems, learned that the fetus had severe abnormalities, or experienced some other personal crisis. About 13,000 women each year have abortions because they have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest."
http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/women_who.html
"The most common reasons women consider abortion are:
Birth control (contraceptive) failure. Over half of all women who have an abortion used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant.2
Inability to support or care for a child.
To end an unwanted pregnancy.
To prevent the birth of a child with birth defects or severe medical problems. Such defects are often unknown until routine second-trimester tests are done.
Pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.
Physical or mental conditions that endanger the woman's health if the pregnancy is continued."
http://women.webmd.com/tc/abortion-reasons-women-choose-abortion
Well Poster, I think the statistics and the many fymynyst assholes who love to talk about how getting an abortion is like getting a checkup, proves my point for me.
If you view women as simply a means to an end… whether it’s as a vessel for having babies, or a tool for sexual gratification, or a means for gaining social status… then the forced birth position does look reasonable. If women are just objects for those purposes, what do their own desires, rights and agency count for? OTOH, people who do view women as full human beings tend to be pro-abortion rights. It ain’t that complicated.
Let me reiterate again that I am pro-choice, I just think the fymynysts handle the issue poorly.
“I will say I do think that a lot of women get abortions at the drop of a hat.”
What absolute drivel.
Would you for the bloody love of fuzzy baby chicks say “feminist”? We went through the etymology before.
And the funny thing is, MRAL, as so often happens, I agree with you. I think abortions should be safe, legal, and rare… but I understand that only “safe” and “legal” are any of my business, and someone’s reasons for her abortion and her reaction to it are her own to deal with.
“the many fymynyst assholes who love to talk about how getting an abortion is like getting a checkup, proves my point for me.”
Citation, if you please?
I also think, while we’re on the subject, that the number one best way to reduce the number of abortions in this country is to improve sex education and the availability of multiple methods of contraception.
“Please point me to a post in which I stated that the fetus was alive, because I donāt think it is.”
You don’t? Then you’re very, very stupid. Unless you’re only talking about dead fetuses. I don’t think anyone’s ever seriously argued that fetuses aren’t alive. Only that a fetus is not a human being, or a person. (Living) fetuses are clearly alive — in the same way that cervical cancer is, I mean.
This biology lesson brought to you by … someone who intentionally* failed biology.
*I swear! I meant to do it!
Yeah I was gonna say, we shouldn’t assume everything MRAL says is gonna be on the opposite of what we believe. o_O The fact that he kept saying fetus is a big tip off….
but then he has to somehow take a dig at women >_>;;
I also dun think we can know whether or not women think enuf before doing it, much less most, since we’re not mind readers, but from the exps that I’ve heard, (and women talking about the possibility if it were them, like in another thread here) each person has said that they knew what they were doing and what they wanted and needed, and I dun think nebody makes it flippantly or by tossing darts at a wall. š And I am completely w/ Holly also š I’m for free choice, and that means each individual makes their choice :] (and I understand that all choices can be affected by all sorts of things including culture and situation and etc) And if all those choices add up, that’s how it goes. It’s not concerted effort by the feminist conspiracy to raise abortion rates cuz it’s like points on a scoreboard or something xD
Oh, wow, I watched that trailer, and it seems to have some serious problems characterizing the women as human beings. When the woman said “I have a constitutional right to…” I thought she was going to say “due process” or “a lawyer,” but nope, she’s still on the abortion thing as if that’s the most pressing issue when you’re being held in a dungeon for months.
Bet you dollars to donuts the movie doesn’t give any of the women “huh, she really was in a tough spot there” reasons that they were getting abortions, and bet you dollars to… dust particles that it talks as if sex always leads to pregnancy and abstinence is the only contraception ever invented.
Of course fetuses are alive. But MRAL, in his ultimate wisdom, thinks feminists should spread an OBVIOUS LIE to promote their cause. How stupid would we look going around saying, “Of course it’s okay to get an abortion, the fetus isn’t alive!” The fetus is clearly alive. The relevant question is, “Is it a legal person,” and “Does a legal person have the right to compel another person to donate her blood and body organs to that person for nine months, despite not being sentient?”
That, my friends, is a classic example of concern trolling.
Fuck off MRAL. Or stick around if you want to be insulted some more. I’m definitely up for a little MRAL mockery.
To clarify for literal-minded MRAs, I didn’t really fail any of the biology courses I’ve taken.
I also never actually took biology, per se. It was one segment of this giant class I signed up for, called “Learnin’.”
Also, I find it hilarious that I have been asking this question in internet debates for, like, years now:
Okay, so you think abortion should be illegal. What concrete proposals do you have to make that a reality? Are we going to lock pregnant women up until they give birth? Will there be a government abortion panel to make sure women claiming rape or incest or life-threatening complications (ALL pregnancies are life-threatening to a certain extent, but never mind that, it’s just reality) aren’t lying? If a woman manages to obtain an illegal abortion, what is the appropriate prison sentence? Should a baby-killing woman do less time than a regular murderer? More time than a rapist? What?
The only person who ever gave me a straight answer was a Catholic extremist who said that women who get abortions should get the death penalty.
And then there’s this film.
Which pretty much confirms to me my impressions of conservatives and Christians: the foundation of their ideologies is a failure to think through the effects of their policies. The only ones who are capable of thinking things all the way through are the ones who aren’t shy about hating women. Or black, immigrants, gays, whoever.
Hmmm I need to fix up that last post XD
“and I dun think nebody makes it flippantly or by tossing darts at a wall.” should be “any of those ppl”
and I know that’s anecdata, but so far I haven’t met nebody who have said that it’s something flip o_O and even if it’s not a huge giant deal to them (as I said everybody is different) it doesn’t mean they haven’t thought about it or know what they want… those are different things xD
That movie btw is o_o;; I think it’s Satan at the end b/c it just has to be : Cuz he’s still torturing and being awful and even the creators know that, so they can’t make him an Angel or something… (that would be mean to us Angels! xD )
It’s also kind of a weird way to get your point across. If it turned out to be real life and after released the women realize the error of their ways and love their children now and regret ever wanting to abort, I mean… I think all the torture would prolly make the audience wonder if that’s just cuz of the abuse they’ve faced that’ve broken them… but at least, that would be a msg…. instead, as far as I can tell, the msg is just “if you abort you go to hell, if you don’t you go to heaven, it doesn’t matter nething else” o_O Even if you don’t abort b/c some asshole is torturing you and holding you against your will, it makes you a good person and you go to heaven? o_O;;
Assuming these ppl believe in the concept of heaven or hell, and that abortion is murder doesn’t that mean if somebody is lucky enuf (or unlucky enuf xD ) to have their murder plot fail, then they just ATTEMPTED murder (as I said, since THESE creators believe that abortion is murder) and that’s okay and not a sin or makes them a bad person and they go to heaven? xD
Kind of a bad way to sell your ideology… even to your own believers…. xD
Whoa. I read more about this film, and the punishment for the woman who tries to re-abort isn’t just that she goes to hell.
The punishment is that she goes to hell, where she will spend eternity in a permanent cycle of pregnancy and birth.
Jesus.
Hey, speaking of that guy…” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
I don’t see any “or if you don’t agree with all the political viewpoints of people claiming to be his followers, then you totally shall perish no matter what, ha ha sucker.”
@Holly yeah it’s hard to be persuasive when they don’t even care to understand their opposition or even figure out what their opposition even stands for (or who the ppl that they are using as poker chips, in this case women who might get abortions, are LIKE or the reasons behind what they do) xD I mean that’s the problem : Ppl who alrdy see reality the way they do will prolly “get” the msg, but if they intend to get the msg out to everybody else… you kinda at least need to know the motivations of your opposition to attack them xD Right now they’re attacking the wall behind us… flailing away going “TAKE THAT AND THAT AND THAT” while we stand there going o_O
xD
Also, I have had an abortion, and it is NOT like a checkup. It was incredibly painful. I hear that other women don’t experience so much pain but for me it was the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced. Thankfully the pain lasted less than a minute. Definitely not the sort of thing you do at the drop of a hat… but then NEITHER IS HAVING A CHILD!! But to Christian fundamentalists, any reason for having a baby is a good reason, because that’s the only thing women are good for: making babies.
Oh, I can’t finish reading this thread. I got to MRAL’s comments and it’s just making me so mad. Abortion rights make me almost as mad as rape stuff.
Abortion, and other female reproductive right’s issues are the one place where I feel cis-gendered men’s opinion honestly matters less. They can not conceive, and they will never be in the position of having to decide about abortion. It’s just a very thoroughly women and other uterus haver’s issue!
And a fetus, even if it is a human being, because it’s clearly alive, is just not as important as the person carrying it. Everything done to the fetus must first be done to the mother. She has every right to bodily autonomy. No matter what. Even if you think her reasons are silly or shallow. Furthermore, putting another unwanted child into this world is a terrible crime. And there always, always needs to be room for people to make mistakes. Because people make so many of them.
And on an unrelated topic that I really want to vent about, and I think you guys will probably care, my date last night turned out to be kind of an ass.
Everything was going well, and we were talking about Harry Potter and having a good time, and he told me that he didn’t put out on the first date. I told him I usually did, but it was fine that he didn’t. As the evening progresses we are having such a good time that we make plans for tomorrow night (which is now tonight). And then we start making out in the car, and things start getting hot and heavy. He asks if I want to go somewhere more private. Of course I do! So we drive somewhere a little isolated. He puts his hand up my skirt. He pulls his cock out, unasked. So, of course, I go down on him. And I have sucked enough dick to know I did a very good job, and he really enjoyed himself. And he promises me some more fun times tomorrow in the privacy of his home.
Then today I get a message from him saying that he dosen’t want to see me anymore because I seduced him and pushed him too hard past his boundaries! What the fuck man. What the fuck. Take responsibility for your actions. And don’t promise a girl oral if you aren’t going to put out. I feel led on. =[
Guys, I don’t mean “alive” as in the vein of “bacteria” or “cells”. Stop with the trolling, please.
I HATE men who demand oral, and then don’t reciprocate. I’ve hooked up with two guys who got blow jobs and didn’t even *try* to go down on me. I even asked one, and he just looked surprised and said he wasn’t up for it. Fuck those dudes, I never give them a second chance.
Oh, BTW, I don’t really care if you think my opinion matters, less, because it doesn’t and, much as the fymynysts would like it otherwise, we like in a democracy where everyone’s opinions matter equally, not a female supremacist fascist though police Hitler state.