Sundance doc sheds light on 3rd-trimester abortion

(AP) Sundance doc sheds light on 3rd-trimester abortion
By SANDY COHEN
AP Entertainment Writer
PARK CITY, Utah
Third-trimester abortions _ those done beyond the 28th week of pregnancy _ account for less than 1 percent of all abortions performed in the United States each year. Only four doctors nationwide offer the procedure.

Their stories and those of their patients are told in “After Tiller,” a documentary in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

Filmmakers Lana Wilson and Martha Shane were inspired to examine the issue of third-trimester abortions after the 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller, a colleague of the doctors featured in the film.

The filmmakers acknowledge that even those who favor abortion rights often don’t support or understand the procedure, and they hope their film humanizes the doctors and offers a sense of “the wide-ranging circumstances” that motivate women to choose third-trimester abortions.