Press Play with Madeleine Brand
In ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always,’ Pennsylvania teen goes to New York to seek abortion
Director Eliaz Hattman did on-the-ground research for the film. “I went into some local pregnancy centers, and I took a test, and I sat with women who counsel at these centers, and had very similar conversations,” she says.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min read“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” is a movie you can watch at home on demand. It was supposed to be released in theaters last month, when the Supreme Court was hearing an abortion case out of Louisiana.
The film follows 17-year-old Autumn, who goes to a small clinic in a small Pennsylvania town when she discovers she’s pregnant.
The staff there tell her, “This is your beautiful baby. You are about 10 weeks along. Hard to say precisely, but everything looks pretty normal. And this is the most magical sound you’ll ever hear.”
They play the baby’s heartbeat. Autumn doesn’t think it’s magical, and she wants an abortion.
But she’s at a crisis pregnancy center that’s run by an anti-abortion group.
So she scrapes together some money and gets on a Greyhound bus bound for New York, where she can end her pregnancy.
Director Eliaz Hattman did on-the-ground research for the film. “I went into some local pregnancy centers, and I took a test, and I sat with women who counsel at these centers, and had very similar conversations,” she says.
