In real life, there aren't superheroes who save us from doom or injustice.
Instead, we look to Hollywood directors like Joss Whedon to transform those comic book fantasies into a spectacle for the small screen (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or large screen (The Avengers).
But now Whedon is tackling a real-life threat that could endanger millions of Americans. On Wednesday, he debuted a short film illustrating what might happen if Planned Parenthood shutters clinics across the country.
It would sound far-fetched if the House hadn't recently passed a healthcare bill that proposes revoking Planned Parenthood's federal funding for one year. If that provision becomes law, it would mean low-income women couldn't use Medicaid to access routine services from Planned Parenthood — and it would be a devastating financial blow to the nonprofit health care provider.
Whedon's three-minute film imagines what women's lives, and their families' lives, would look like without access to birth control, cancer and STD screenings, and sex education. While the fictional storylines can be confusing as they follow the fate of three women, the bottom line is that the future is pretty damn bleak. Research shows that's not an exaggeration.
Whedon didn't hold back in a statement about the project: "For so many, there’s an obvious tipping point between hope and despair," he said. "Planned Parenthood is a beacon of hope, and anyone trying to shut it down is committing an act of evil."
Leave it to Joss Whedon to draw the battle lines between good and malevolent forces.
Topics Gender Social Good
