This article attempts to provide insight on the different approaches of cinema to a socially controversial topic such as abortion, and on the impact these different approaches might have on the viewer. Two films are analysed for this purpose: A Story of Women (1988) by Claude Chabrol and Vera Drake (2004) by Michael Leigh. Special attention has been paid to the analysis of the role of women as active agents in abortion services and their influences in the medicalization of such practices.