Impact on the training of the future generation of doctors

“We know what to do medically, but we don’t know what we can do based on the law.” - Nisha Verma MD

Dr. Erica Werner wrote an article that frames the medical urgency of the issue: I’m a high-risk OB-GYN: Abortion helps me save lives 

Approximately 44% of medical residencies, medical graduates in clinical training, are in states that will ban abortion, meaning those residents will lack abortion training, according to the journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. This means that a huge proportion of doctors will not have adequate training to perform high risk, life-saving terminations and evacuations of pregnancies. It means that those doctors can not fulfill their Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm.”

These scenarios are the margin cases that highlight the extreme thinking that prioritizes a fetus -- even a dead fetus, as in the case with Debbie Reynolds and countless other women -- over the life of a woman. But there are other reasons to condemn the fall of Roe v Wade removing federal protections for reproductive healthcare. There’s the right to privacy, there’s equal protection under the law, and there’s the fact that we value women and we trust women to make the right choice.

Women’s stories - around healthcare and around all other rights - must continue to be heard. The act of being seen and heard is in itself an act of self-preservation, and WIFSFBA continues to promote the voices of women and all those who identify with she/her pronouns and our allies. 

For a list of films about abortion, see below. 

-Amy Harrison

Source: Obstetrics & Gynecology: April 27, 2022 - Volume - Issue - 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004832 doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004832

As an emerging screenwriter, at first I thought, I can just sit by myself and write - the script will speak for itself! Far from it. As a writer or writer/director, one has to engage with others to get them excited about your story and yourself through the process of pitching. 

Pitching can be super intimidating, especially to introvert writers, but practicing makes it less so.

In our WIF Script Incubator, we thought about this essential skill that all writers need and thought it would be great to get some advice from people who hear pitches all the time. Pitches can differ based on who you are pitching to, the amount of time you have, what type of meeting or competition you are in, and what project you are actually pitching. A lot of the time, you might be pitching yourself as a writer, director, or producer as well as your work.

So come join us at our pitch practice panel where we’ll get advice from an esteemed panel of experts who will demystify pitching and get us to feel comfortable talking about ourselves and our stories!

- Nil Unerdem

Register: On our registration page

When: July 18, 7-9pm

Where: Virtual on Zoom

Cost: FREE to WIFSFBA members; non-members $5

Join Women in Film SF Bay Area for a Pitch Practice Event! Each panelist will give advice on pitching a feature or TV series! If you are a writer, writer/director, or writer/producer, come prepared with a 2 to 3-minute verbal pitch that includes your logline. After the panelists speak, we will go into breakout rooms where participants can practice pitching to a panelist and each other in a small group, vote for the best one, then reconvene and pitch the chosen projects for advice from all the panelists.

***For your protection, we always recommend registering your work with the WGA. Please note that this session is purely for educational purposes and is not an official pitch to WIFSBA or the panelists.

Participant acknowledges that some of the panelists are in the business of creating and developing videos and receive various proposals relating to potential projects, ideas and concepts. Panelists may be independently developing programs substantially similar and even identical to the submission. Therefore, any similarity between a submission and any element in any current, future, or existing panelists’ project, creative work would be purely coincidental. Panelists will not, and have no obligation to, treat any submissions as confidential or proprietary, and will incur no liability with respect to the submission. ***

You're invited to the public premiere of the witty and poignant new film, "How to Successfully Fail in Hollywood," a female-led indie filmed in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Directed, produced, written and edited by WIFSFBA member C.M. Conway. Inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ and BIOPOC communities, the film is an ode to struggling artists trying to make it against all odds on their terms... while navigating truth, fantasy and identity in outrageous Tinseltown.

Synopsis: Ellie (C.M. Conway) is a bottom-feeder actress at the end of her rope in Hollywood, when a life-changing event happens with her gay, Latinx friend, Ben (Adrian Gilbert). A surreal twist unfolds with comedic results, blurring the lines of fantasy and reality, as she unwittingly becomes the key to a new take on Tinseltown where failure is the star.

Where: Summerfield Cinemas, 551 Summerfield Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95405.

When: Saturday, July 16, 2022 at 6:00 pm. Informal audience Q&A with filmmaker C.M. Conway (she/her) at 5:30 pm. Take a picture with the adorable 'dog' in the film too!

ADVANCE TICKETS ADVISED, SPECIAL Q&A FOR EARLY TICKET HOLDERS, ONLY AVAILABLE AT: FunnyFailureFilm.com

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