For 25 years now, filmmaker Ruth Leitman has been making powerful, evocative social justice documentaries. But her latest, “No One Asked You,” a film that follows repro rights activists as they navigate the fallout of Roe being overturned, feels unparalleled in its urgency and impact. The six-year road trip film chronicles the work of “The Daily Show” co-creator turned activist Lizz Winstead and the members of Abortion Access Front as they crisscross the country to support abortion clinic staff, all while dismantling stigma with humor. Comedy icons and Gen Z up-and-comers join forces on the Vagical Mystery Tour, where they deliver laughs and truth bombs to audiences as they draw attention to the ever-encroaching restrictive reproductive rights laws being passed across America. The first stop on the tour: Terminal West in Atlanta, the city where Leitman, now a Chicago resident and film professor, got her start as a photographer and filmmaker.

On Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at Atlanta’s Tara Theatre, Leitman will be on hand for the local premiere of “No One Asked You” and host a post-screening Q&A with Mamas 4 Kamala and Georgia Women For Harris-Walz’s Julie Rodin Zebrak. As the film tagline says, “get ready to resist through laughter.”

Between screenings of the film in New York City, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Carolina and Arizona, Leitman took a call with Eldredge ATL to discuss the origins of the film and the urgency of this moment.

Eldredge: When you started the journey to make this film after Trump was elected in 2016, I ‘m sure you had no idea you would be releasing it right now, two weeks before his possible re-election in the fall of 2024, right?

Leitman: In terms of abortion access, I knew this was going to be a terrible ride. We made the film about the people who were sounding the alarm that this is going to happen or this could happen. There are three really good reasons why Roe fell. And also one of the main ones is that the media under-reported about abortion and abortion access and what was happening in all of these different places for decades. When we were out pitching the film for funding, people would say, “Comedy? Abortion? Roe? Nothing’s gonna happen to Roe!” You don’t want to be Debbie Downer with comedy, running around saying “The sky is gonna fall.” Going out and trying to pitch this to a bunch of straight white male executives was fun.

Eldredge: Your cameras were rolling in 2022 when Roe fell. As a viewer, I thought, “Wow, what a great moment to capture” and simultaneously, “This is a completely devastating moment to film.”

Leitman: It was completely devastating. I always say “When bad things happen to your subjects, great things happen for your film.” There was also a bizarre personal thing happening on the day Roe fell. It was my daughter’s 22^nd birthday. That’s what I gave her. That’s what she inherited. I feel that our generation dealt Gen Zers a really terrible deal. We have to fix this before we’re gone. The connection to what’s happening around gay rights, trans rights and birth control is all the same. The copycat laws that were and are happening in these states around abortion, these are the same laws that are happening around bathrooms, trans rights and affirming care surgeries. I can’t wrap my head around it all. I don’t care if you’re a staunch conservative. Who wakes up in the morning and says “I don’t want to have control over my own life. I want someone else to.” No one.

Eldredge: One of the things I love about your film is it really puts the spotlight on the work of Lizz Winstead. In 2024, a lot of people only know her as this iconic name rolling by on the closing credits of “The Daily Show.” This film shows us why this work is so important to her and also how this work connects the two of you.

Leitman: After leaving “The Daily Show” Lizz dedicated her life to this. I met her in 2012 when she was out promoting her book of essays “Lizz Free Or Die” and in that book is her abortion essay. When I heard her read it, I was blown away. We’re the same age. I was having an abortion in Philadelphia while she was having one in Minnesota. We were both in abusive relationships. I always cite that experience as being the catalyst for my entire adult life. I wouldn’t have been a photographer or become a filmmaker or later become a mother if I hadn’t gotten out of that relationship. I don’t even think I’d be alive. We shouldn’t have to tell our abortion stories but we do. We need rally around that, especially two weeks before this election.

As time went on and I saw how much of [Roe] was being chipped away, I thought, “I have to fight for this.” I think white women especially have to fight for this for everyone. We have to really roll up our sleeves. Not only do we have to make this accessible but also affordable for everyone. People who are privileged will figure it out financially and pull some strings if they happen to live in a place like Montana. But not everyone will. So we need to change that. We’re looking at a time where donations to abortion funds are how low-income people are paying for abortions. You don’t have to do that if you need to have gall bladder surgery. You wouldn’t have to rely on a fund. Healthcare in this country is being funded through donations and that’s just crazy.

Eldredge: This film takes us into these clinics and it also exposes us to what those workers go through on a daily basis with the protesters outside. Not only is it frightening for the people who work there but as a filmmaker, did you feel at risk while getting this on film? A lot of these people aren’t going to be happy with cameras being pointed at them, especially when it’s women pointing the cameras at them.

Leitman: We definitely had a few different bouts of fear. I worried more about the patients, the doctors and the folks who run the center. But it was really a wake-up call when we went to Alabama. These people have Go Pros around their necks so they were filming the patients, the escorts and us. There were people on my crew who were former students who had recently graduated. I had a sick feeling in my stomach when some of my former students ended up on their Facebook pages, identifying us for the other antis around the country. That was scary. We also infiltrated some of their meetings because we wanted to show how these people operate. We got kicked out of a few of their meetings. That was actually fun. We tried to find the joy in exposing what they were doing.

Eldredge: There is an urgency to this film, especially now that we’re less than two weeks out from this election. When you get in front of the audience at the Tara Theatre next week in your former Georgia hometown in our current pivotal swing state, what’s your closing message using this film?

Leitman: I saw the political changes that were happening in Georgia because I stayed in touch with friends. I was mortified by all the laws coming down the pike in Georgia. I was furious and I wanted the film industry to do a lot more than what they did. There was never any strong unifying front from the industry that prevented these laws from happening. Along with the current tremendous divide, I still see tremendous hope and a lot of fight in Georgia. The take away I hope that happens is this: If we want to have bodily autonomy, if we want to have control over our bodies in the state of Georgia, everyone has to do something. That’s the moment we are in right now.

The Atlanta premiere of filmmaker Ruth Leitman’s latest documentary “No One Asked You” will screen Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at Atlanta’s Tara Theatre. Leitman will discuss the film and take questions during a post-screening Q&A with Mamas 4 Kamala and Georgia Women For Harris-Walz’s Julie Rodin Zebrak and other guests. For tickets, click here.

Richard L. Eldredge

Richard L. Eldredge is the founder and editor in chief of Eldredge ATL. As a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta magazine, he has covered Atlanta since 1990.