The Cervix Pass

1973 saw the creation of the MLAC (Movement for Abortion and Contraception Freedom) in France. Some abortive medical procedures that were still illegal and secrete were sometimes filmed for information and training purposes. In The Cervix Pass, actress and director Marie Bottois documents the insertion of an intrauterine device inside her own body. With both humour and aesthetic precision, she follows the lead of militant and feminist films like Y’a qu’à pas baiser (Carole Roussoupolos, 1971). Her film becomes both a piece of evidence and a piece of history, at a time when women’s sexual and reproductive rights are under attack all around the world.