‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’
Over the past week, millions of Americans have been contending with the fact that we may well soon live in a country in which abortion is no longer a legal right. Of course, thanks to Republican lawmakers—who have been steadily chipping away at abortion rights over the last 20 years—too many are already living that reality. Eliza Hittman’s quiet 2020 drama, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, tells just one story from this bleak new world. 17-year-old Autumn Callahan (Sidney Flanigan) takes a bus from Pennslyvania to New York City to get an abortion without parental consent. She spends an uncomfortable night in the city with her cousin—effectively homeless. It’s a harrowing reminder of the dangerous lengths already being taken by those who will seek out this procedure at all costs, no matter what the Supreme Court says.