The World Is Grim, But Lizz Winstead Insists Abortion Rights Activism Doesn't Have to Be

Molly Gaebe, a writer for Abortion Access Front, protests in front of the Supreme Court in a scene from the documentary. Photo: Courtesy No One Asked You  Derenda Hancock, a longtime abortion clinic escort at the Jackson Women's Health Organization, is sprawled across a blue hospital gurney, the brim of her cowboy hat shading her eyes. “This is how you party with abortion people,” Lizz Winstead, the co-creator of the Daily Show and founder of Abortion Access Front (AAF), says in a voiceover before the cameras zoom out to reveal a nearly empty, nondescript parking lot. “They bring out a gurney and they use it as a bar!” Winstead continues, as we watch Hancock and her coworkers—all seemingly celebrating a birthday—lounge on stretchers and clink their glasses. This spirit—bubbly drinks and gallows humor—is at the heart of the new documentary No One Asked You, the only abortion doc that’ll make you laugh as much as it’ll make you want to cry. It’s an increasingly dark time for reproductive rights but the doc, directed by Ruth Leitman, insists that just because our world is grim doesn’t mean our activism has to be. Often sobering but never sober, No One Asked You—which is titled after a particularly cathartic chant Winstead, Hancock, and co throw back at anti-abortion extremists—spans six years in time, with the bulk of it filmed prior to the 2022 court decision heard ‘round the world. While Winstead, the AAF, and her 2017 multi-comedian roving abortion-stand-up extravaganza (playfully named the Vagical Mystery Tour) serve as the documentary’s core, Leitman spends a lot of the runtime giving a much-needed human face to abortion providers and clinics across the nation—including Mississippi’s Jackson Women's Health Organization, lovingly known as "Pink House," which was rocketed to the forefront of the abortion debate as the plaintiff in the notorious Dobbs case.  On June 24th, to “honor” the Supreme Court’s atrocious 2022 Dobbs decision, the doc’s producers, Rachel Rozycki & Andrea Raby, organized simultaneous screenings in select cities as a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the day they’ve dubbed the Overturniversary. As Winstead recently told Vanity Fair’s Chris Smith, the screenings were specifically held “in states where abortion has effectively become illegal or will be on the ballot this fall.” Because I’m unlucky enough to live under the cruel, pudding-covered hand of Governor Ron DeSantis, I got to attend the screening in Tallahassee, Florida. In November, the state will vote on a proposed amendment to the state Constitution (Amendment 4) that would secure bodily autonomy and reproductive rights for Floridians. Its importance cannot be understated, especially considering that Florida enacted a near-total abortion ban on May 1.    View this post on Instagram   A post shared by InMaat Foundation (@inmaatfoundation) When I walked through the double doors of the Proof Brewing Company on the 24th, I was prepared to spend the night mourning Roe. But instead of a funeral, I found a celebration. Two women with glittery uterus tattoos stenciled onto their cheeks guided me to a popcorn buffet, which featured over two dozen flavors of popcorn I had no idea existed and a well-stocked array of movie candy. A mini disco ball hung from the ceiling, dangling above the nearly 100 guests mingling on couches and grabbing drinks from the bar. Informative booths sold bracelets in support of the Yes on 4 campaign and handed out free emergency contraception, which, in DeSantis’ territory, is definitely radical. I spotted a pair of elderly women wrapped in fuzzy, star-covered blankets cuddled up on a couch; a six-foot-something pilot in full uniform leaning on the bar; and a state Representative chatting…