The Coat Hanger Project
The Coat Hanger Project is a documentary film about abortion and the current state of the reproductive justice/pro-choice movement. Before the legalization of abortion in 1973 in the United States, thousands of women died from complications resulting from botched illegal abortions. Filmmaker Angie Young walks the viewer through the personal stories and images of women who died from illegal abortion, women who were forced to use bent-wire coat hangers (the universal symbol for the pro-choice movement), sewing needles, or bike pumps when they couldnÂ’t access legal abortions. The movie is positive, too, ending with a focus on the activism of the younger generation: among others, the Feminist Outlawz of Atlanta, who unite abortion rights activism with gender, racial and ethnic equality, and LGBTQ rights in their Planned Parenthood counter-protests.