Dawn Porter's Trapped is a sobering look at the impact of anti-abortion legislation in the South, emphasizing people like Reproductive Health Services owner-directorJune Ayers, and doctors such as Dalton Johnson and Willie J. Parker, American heroes who are keeping the lights on in spite of intense legal and social pressures. The picture frames the modern abortion debate as an issue of class, showing how the laws and regulations make it well-nigh impossible for women of limited means to receive the care they need. Uncommented in the film upon but impossible to miss is the fact that, at least in the South, it's white men leading the legal charge against abortion. Indeed, the question of skin color is only ever brought up by astonishingly condescending white people lecturing black people, accusing them of "killing your own race," while a very old white woman attempts to be timely: "All black lives matter! All lives matter!" (Which, just, no.) Trapped recovers the abortion issue from Christianity; Dr. Parker in particular is an active Christian who also provides abortions because he knows it›s the right thing to do, particularly since so many of his patients have been raped. Whatever else Jesus would do, he wouldn't force a rape victim to resort to a coat hanger.
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