All Sides of Abortion in ‘Critical Choices’

The divisive issue of abortion surfaces Sunday in Showtime’s “Critical Choices,” less than two months after the airing of HBO’s abortion drama “If These Walls Could Talk.”

And, once again, despite the title, no solutions are offered in this compelling dramatic picture. What emerges, instead, in the story’s complicated layers of emotions, in its physical and social confrontations, is yet another dramatic restatement of the growing dilemma that abortion represents in American society.

“Critical Choices” follows four women whose lives intersect around an abortion clinic in Milwaukee. Dr. Ludlow (Betty Buckley) is the doctor who performs the procedures, despite repeated demonstrations and threats. Diana Johnson (Diana Scarwid) is an activist whose fervent support of the abortion rights movement undercuts her professional and private lives.

On the other side, Arlene Dickens (Pamela Reed), a deeply religious mother of four, sustains her anti-abortion beliefs by participating in rallies with her children. Caught somewhere in the middle, Amy Pitzer (Liisa Repo-Martel) must reluctantly make a decision about an unwanted pregnancy.

Writers Robin Green, Susan Cuscuna and Mitchell Burgess perceive each of these women trapped in their own roles. Dr. Ludlow is driven, despite the risks, to furnish what she views as a necessary healing service. Diana and Arlene are locked in single-minded certainty about the validity of their beliefs. And Amy sees abortion as the only way to move forward with her life.

So it remains, ironically, for the men in the story--Arlene’s out-of-work husband, Lloyd (Terry Kinney), and a zealous activist, Bobby Ray Flood (Brian Kerwin)--to trigger the events that drive the action toward its tragic climax. And it is a measure of comfort, if not a solution, that the circumstances surrounding that climax provide a small epiphany for each of the four women. * “Critical Choices” airs 8-9:30 p.m. Sunday on Showtime.