The Abortion Talks is a documentary film about the secret dialogues that took place between pro-life and pro-choice leaders in the Boston area, in the wake of shootings that left employees dead at two clinics. Disillusioned by the rhetoric and postering from both sides, three pro-life and three pro-choice leaders meet secretly to see if together they could fix their broken worlds.   

As the timely, relevant title indicates, on one level this film is about the complex topic of abortion. But on a much deeper level, what this film is really about is showcasing the power of dialogue to replace dangerous and divisive stereotypes, strategies, and rhetoric with empathy, tolerance, and genuine friendship. Directed by Sarah Perkins and Josh Sabey, whose 2019 film American Tragedy won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival, it's a powerful, true, and timely story of six women and how their brave decision to meet changed their lives.   

Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Perkins and Sabey about the story behind the covert meetings, the abortion debate then and now, and finding common ground across our deepest divides. 

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About the Guests 

Josh Sabey and Sarah Perkins are a husband-and-wife filmmaking team; their organization is J&S Ltd. They have overseen the entirety of The Abortion Talks project from development to post-production as co-directors, co-editors, and camera operators. Their previous film, American Tragedy, won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival. It was one of three films selected to premiere opening night alongside Taika Waititi’s Jo Jo Rabbit and Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life. It has since been screened around the country at festivals in Heartland, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and others. It was acquired by Gravitas Ventures and has been viewed over a million times. It is regularly the best performing documentary for their distributor and has ranked in the top 20 most watched documentaries on Amazon.   

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. Gracecathedral.org/the-forum.