Where Are My Children?

Written and directed by Lois Weber, Where Are My Children? – a dramatization of the moral and legal dilemmas associated with contraception and abortion – is said to have been inspired by birth control advocate Margaret Sanger and her 1914 indictment for obscenity. Though Weber's style may appear heavy-handed and stilted by modern standards, she creates a thought-provoking film that forthrightly addresses an assortment of taboo subjects that rankled censors. Such "message dramas" were not uncommon at this point in the evolution of silent film, nor were women directors and writers, and Weber was among the most popular and commercially astute.

Where Are My Children? was added to the National Film Registry in 1993.

Watch it on Wikimedia Commons.

''Note: Even a century after this film was made, the movie's core topic remains controversial. Please keep in mind the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment when adding tropes to this page.''