LOVE, LABOR, LOSS is a documentary film which aims to "challenge the global apathy towards women's reproductive rights by profiling a special group of women who live with obstetric fistula - the most debilitating and ostracizing childbearing disorder affecting over 2 million women in the developing world. Filmed on location in Niger, West Africa, LOVE, LABOR, LOSS follows women who live at the Niamey National Hospital with the hope of having their fistulas repaired. The hospital, situated in the capital of this landlocked nation, has become a meeting ground for committed Western and local doctors who work side-by-side to address the shortage of surgical expertise and resources to cure this affliction and to give fistula-affected women a second chance at normalcy.

As the stories of these women unfold in the film, the picture of their personal tragedy transforms into a larger portrait of the challenges to eradicate fistula in Niger. A country where women are being forced into marriage at an early age (as young as 9), becoming pregnant shortly after without access to appropriate prenatal and emergency obstetric care and who are unable to make their own choices about their reproductive health, Niger's strong commitment to alleviating women of fistula is met by tremendous social hurdles, implying a need for concerted efforts into truly recognizing, reshaping and reinvesting in women's reproductive rights throughout the world.

In order to bring a personal perspective to the reality of childbearing trauma, the testimonies of Nigerien women like Zeinabou, Kaltumi, Mariama, Amina and Takia ask the question, "Is safe motherhood a human right?"

This film will be distributed for ICPD +10 (the term used to refer to the 10-year anniversary/review of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994).

Click here for more information on this film.

The full length film will be released on International Women’s Day (March 8, 2005.)