A Brazilian mother with Zika faces the difficult decision to abort her unborn child with microcephaly.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU DISCOVERED YOUR UNBORN CHILD HAD MICROCEPHALY?
“VIVENDO COM ZIKA” A NEW SHORT FILM ABOUT THE ZIKA VIRUS EXPLORES THE ARDUOUS CHOICE MOTHER’S ARE FACING.

With Zika awareness growing globally and new cases being discovered in the United States daily,  “Vivendo com Zika” (Living with Zika) a new short film explores the difficult decision for a mother to keep or abort her unborn child after she discovers that he has Microcephaly.

Director Matthew Arnold-Ladensack takes us into the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and although abortion is illegal in Brazil, some doctors suggest that mothers induce to deliver early — ultimately terminating their pregnancy. This is happening increasingly in cases of Microcephaly coupled with other impairing conditions. “The take home message is that we need to wake up and understand that it’s past our wake up call, we need to take action and also educate ourselves more about the dangers of Zika. We also need to ask ourselves, what would we do in a mother’s situation and offer all the support possible.” says Arnold-Ladensack.

In the United States many politicians are starting to weigh in on their thoughts about abortion in the case of Zika. Chiming into the debate recently is Sen. Marco Rubio who recently stated he doesn’t’ believe a pregnant woman infected with Zika should have the right to an abortion — even if she had reason to believe the child would be born with severe microcephaly. Rubio told POLITICO.
Currently congress has failed to pass the Zika-relief bill because of ties with Planned Parenthood. CNN has reported in early August that there were more than 422 cases of Zika in Florida alone. Due to the links with Zika and microcephaly, a condition where babies heads are much smaller than normal, both sides can agree — we must support our pregnant women.
“Vivendo com Zika” is a US/Brazil co-production shot in Portuguese and filmed in both Los Angeles and Brazil. Director Arnold-Ladensack’s goal was preserve the authenticity and realness by filming in the native language, Portuguese, with native born Brazilian actors who have moved to the US.

Screened at the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, US, 2016.

IMDB PAGE https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5974340/

FACEBOOK PAGE https://www.facebook.com/vivendocomzika/