Ethan and Emma are high school students. Both are responsible teenagers who work hard in class and in their extracurricular activities, be it sports or theater. After meeting and liking each other, they will start dating, and as a result of this relationship, Emma will become pregnant. Soon the dilemma of what to do with this new life will come into play: abort, or move on.
Through a sober but forceful opening, A question of rights introduces with a flashback one of the main themes of the film: an excerpt from the case that opened the doors to abortion in the US, Roe vs Wadein which we can listen to a conversation according to which the fate of the unborn child is marked by not being considered a person -in which case it would be protected by the fourteenth amendment-. However, he then states that there are cases in which the life inside the pregnant woman does count for legal purposes. Grasping at this burning nail, Ethan will begin a legal battle for the recognition of his son, and his rights as a father, which would introduce another of the important themes of the film: to make visible the figure of the father, which in these cases is usually irrelevant for almost all purposes.
We are faced with a work that follows the canons of legalistic cinema, which fails to create tension but clearly exposes the arguments presented to us, both in and out of the trial (special mention to the cameo of the grandniece of Martin Luther King, Alveda c. King, who was about to be aborted). The work moves away from passion and emotionality, showing a film with content, but somewhat weak in form. However, the range of characters on both sides of the process makes us empathize with them and feel involved in the story.
The director's first work on the big screen, A question of rights is a cinematographically sober film, with acceptable performances and with no pretensions other than to tell a story and provide facts and arguments against abortion. Through a prism that avoids antagonizing anyone, the film shows the double standards when judging a new life as such.
