Scarlet Girls brings together the testimonies of women whose stories are intertwined through the irrevocable trauma that follows a clandestine abortion procedure. Wanda (27) was given away by her parents at the age of five and suffered multiple types of abuse. Carla (21) talks of the excruciating pain she experienced during a curettage after a failed home abortion, where she was not anaesthetised. Amelia (23) was against abortion, until she had to live through it with a bitter root tea. Leti (76) remembers interrupting her pregnancy during her teenage years. Rosa (54) is the mother of Esperancita, a sixteen year old girl who passed away after doctors refused to terminate her pregnancy despite being diagnosed with leukaemia. As the testimonies from different women are heard, we are taken on a sensorial journey in which women of different ages and backgrounds perform daily rituals which seem to be normal, but feel heavy. How do these actions relate to what we are hearing? How do we, as a collective, talk about what cannot be talked about?

Scarlet Girls is a film about young girls and women across the Dominican Republic. By telling their stories, too long silenced due to social stigma, we want to create a culture shift to recognize the moral obligation to make abortion safe and accessible.