A border separates what is allowed from what is forbidden. Scarleth is a 29-year-old
Brazilian, and mother of three. With her mother Margarete, Scarleth crosses the border
between Brazil and Argentina in search of a safe and legal abortion. The two women
encountered the courage of generations of Argentinian women defending democracy and
life.

"a common woman" is a documentary about a story of abortion, but also about the courage of generations of anonymous women who have defied authoritarian political regimes. The motivation with this documentary was to offer a biography of this unknown familiarity that is abortion in Brazil. It's a film about a common event of a common Brazilian woman fleeing the punishment and stigma of abortion in her own country, interwoven with the past democratic struggle of Argentine women for rights, truth, and citizenship.

Women traveling across borders is a recent phenomenon in the history of abortion in Brazil. Abortion was legalized in Argentina in 2020, and little is known about this transit between countries. At a time of intense political transformations in Brazil and Argentina, the film locates Scarleth's story in a longer-lasting chapter of the democratic struggles for women's rights: the white scarves of the mothers and grandmothers of Plaza Mayo in the 1970s; and the green scarves of the girls, women and all the people of Maré Verde in the 2020s.

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A Common Woman