Vicenta

A film as necessary as it is beautiful, Vicenta explores the struggle for the right to a legal, safe, and free abortion.Through small clay figurines and live-action news clips, the documentary narrates the real human rights story of Vicenta, an illiterate working-class woman who cleans houses for a living. During a visit to the doctor, Vicenta discovered that her teenage daughter Laura, who is mentally and physically disabled, had been raped by her uncle and is now pregnant. The law is clear: Laura can have an abortion. But the system put all kinds of obstacles in her way to prevent her from exercising her right.With few resources and alone in her fight, Vicenta attempted to navigate a political and medical system that refused to help. Desperate, she took her story to the media. As mass pro-choice and anti-abortion demonstrations ensued, three women joined in her fight and helped Laura terminate the pregnancy.Despite the positive outcome, Vicenta took her case to international courts to prevent other people from going through what she did. In 2011, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled in her favor, condemning the Argentine State for violating the right to legal abortion.