The Next One

"About men without men..."

The place is Czechoslovakia, the year 1989. When she enters an abortion clinic, a lost, troubled young girl realizes that she has forgotten to bring socks, without which her gynecologist and nurses will not perform the procedure.

In 1957 has been approved a law on the legalization of induced abortions in Czechoslovakia. Contraception was unavailable. There were abortion commissions or so-called ethics commissions. Originally, they were established as professional counseling organizations, in which doctors had to discuss the suitability of abortion with the patient. However, over time the commissions became more and more politicized. Abortion commissions allowed abortion only for health reasons and for reasons such as old age, more children in the household, poor economic conditions, loss of husband or conception outside of marriage. None of these reasons, however, were a guarantee that the woman would invoke her right to abortion. In practice, the woman was seated before a panel of several strangers, and in front of them she had to publicly discuss her most personal problems in order to convince them that she needed an abortion. Attempts were often made to bribe members of the commission. These commissions were a humiliating experience for women, and the commission often ruled against a woman's will because of the demographic curve. These commissions were abolished, just before the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the number of abortions increased dramatically. With these high numbers of interventions, the conditions and practices of medical staff in hospitals were often inhumane. In 1989 was recorded the highest number of abortions in Czechoslovakia.