_{By: Amanda Guarragi}

There are documentaries that have highlighted many different stories, some of them have been slightly altered, and others have been true stories. The ones that turn out to be true stories will most likely leave viewers a bit shaken because of the possibility that there are people like Dr. Donald Cline in Our Father that actually exists. It is an interesting expose because of the current conversation surrounding women’s rights in the United States. Director Lucie Jordan addresses the meaning of consent and the many ways that consent can be violated without anyone realizing it. This story is disturbing and emotional for those involved in this case.

The true story is about one woman whose at-home DNA test reveals multiple half-siblings. She then discovers a shocking scheme involving donor sperm and the popular and controversial fertility specialist Doctor Donald Cline. Besides the fact that they show the extensive relation to multiple people within the same grid, the viewer feels the same sense of dread while watching all of this unfold. Instead of imagining this situation happening to you, you’re re-living it with the victims through this documentary. It’s a difficult watch because it is a Doctor breaking consent and administering his specimen in place of the woman’s actual choice. We see these women who have struggled to even admit that they were violated by a medical professional in a female-based field where it’s necessary to understand women’s bodies.

To see these women break their silence and carry so much pain with them is heartbreaking to see. Their children have a different biological father and we see how the children process their history with the father who raised them. After all this time, finding out that the man you grew up with and idolized for so many tears isn’t your biological father is a horrible feeling. There is a wide range of emotions when watching this documentary because of how each family processes this information. It’s so unethical and inhumane for a doctor to even switch out the semen for his own. Was the benefit to keep your practice afloat, to rise to fame as the one medical clinic that has a guarantee of women being pregnant so they can finally have a child?

Many questions will swirl around in your head while watching Our Father. Women should have the right to know exactly what is happening with their bodies at all times and have full control of their bodies. Is it even safe to have men in the medical field practicing these procedures on women after finding this out? Women feel much safer when discussing anything about the female reproductive system with other women. More women need to be in the medical field, so situations such as this one never occur again. This documentary is not for everyone, but it is so important for everyone to watch given the current state of women’s rights.