(CNN) This month's Supreme Court confirmation hearings have highlighted deeply held fears that abortion rights are in danger. Netflix's beyond-timely documentary "Reversing Roe," about the decision at the heart of that controversy, feels flummoxed in its attempt to soberly condense a half-century of heated politics surrounding the ruling into a 90-some-odd minute film.

The tale of Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Texas case -- actually works best here as a quick history lesson, illustrating how the issue of abortion became so heavily politicized. Directors Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern begin several years before Roe, when abortion was illegal but wealthy women were generally able to secure "therapeutic" procedures, while less privileged classes were forced to pursue more dangerous options.

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As the film notes, at the time Republicans embraced the concept of individual liberty, and largely echoed the argument that the decision to terminate a pregnancy was one best left to a woman and her doctor. That changed, however, as Roe became a rallying cry for evangelicals, who in turn became increasingly pivotal to the electoral fortunes of GOP candidates, starting with Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The result has been a decades-long campaign to overturn Roe, which conservative voices featured within the film readily acknowledge. Linda Greenhouse, an abortion historian who covered the Supreme Court for the New York Times, points out, "It took years of cultivation by very smart Republican strategists" to establish the current state of play, from coining "partial-birth abortion" (a political term, it's noted, not a medical one) to maneuvering the Republican Party -- and politicians like George H.W. Bush -- to shift in its direction.

"If you're running in Texas as a Republican, you have to claim to agree with pro-life principles," says John Seago of Texas Right to Life.

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