Life Matters (2000)

In an era when women could not get legal abortions there were only a handful of courageous doctors who risked imprisonment, loss of license, and their future in order to provide safe abortions to women. The filmmaker's father, Dr. Curtis Boyd, was one such individual. A one-time Pentecostal preacher, Dr. Boyd was influenced by the social changes of the Sixties. As a small town physician he performed thousands of abortions to desperate women. Ironically, it was only after abortion became legal in 1973 that Dr. Boyd became subject to the most severe harassment. Despite this, he continues to provide abortion services because he believes abortion is not only a fundamental women's rights issue, but that it is a human rights issue as well. As he puts it, "by providing abortion services we are in fact helping to make the world a better place."