I watch a fair amount of advocacy documentaries that exist as extended journalistic primers on a hot topic. These aren’t extended treatises on human nature or the world at large, but about whatever the topic is, how it is good/bad, and what is happening with the topic as of the date of the film. They’re documentaries as information delivery services, and if I decide I’m interested enough, I can learn more.

Trapped is an advocacy doc as information delivery, this time about the new wave of anti-abortion laws posing as “abortion clinic regulations” with the intent of shutting down the clinics without violating Roe v. Wade. Originally aired on PBS two weeks ago, Trapped felt like it was only confirmation of everything we know to be happening. Women’s health clinics are picketed and boycotted by large groups of people, new regulations effectively restrict clinics out of existence, poor people suffer as a result. And, as we all know, its far more heartbreaking to watch a doctor paint an affirming welcoming sign with little smiley faces because the patients have to drive through a wall of religious protesters than it is to read about it.

But,  Trapped is also a primer several southern women’s health clinics including Texas’ Whole Women’s Health, the clinic that brought a lawsuit against Texas for its new regulations. If you’ve been following the American news lately, the Supreme Court delivered a ruling on Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstadt in favor of the clinic, citing the laws were unconstitutional. Trapped uses WWH, and a pair of women’s health clinics in Alabama and Mississippi, to illustrate the damning effects of these laws and why they matter.

To her credit, Dawn Porter knows that the story isn’t just the laws that have restricted the clinics, but also the human toll those restrictions take, from the emotional and financial investments of the head doctors to the energy and emotional tolls of the female patients. At times, Trapped gets repetitive/redundant, or feels like it has a bit of filler, but some of the small moments remind that these are humans and not theoreticals (my favorite is the receptionist who has control of her lawn sprinkler system). It’s not a perfect doc and could have used another round of editing. Around that, it works as an information delivery system that effectively conveys the issue.

Trapped streams on PBS’ Independent Lens through July 21.