And how they are designed, to maintain the white-supremacist patriarchy, means that they will continue to harm and criminalize women, queer and trans and racially marginalized people no matter what the law says. DEL BARCO: Posting the phone number on bulletin boards and underground newspapers, the Janes set up a clandestine system. This story was originally published by Idaho Reports on March 3, 2023. Roewas egregiously wrong from the start, Alito wrote in his draft, which also takes aim at the 1992 Supreme Court rulingPlanned Parenthood v. Casey. The law cannot and should not stop people from seeking out life-saving health care. The Abortion Divide | FRONTLINE Where is the money? Senator Bob Graham. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Panel sends 'abortion trafficking' bill to the floor Nearly 50 years later, Roe v. Wade could be overturned. Not all materials collected were included in the resulting new documentary about the Johns Committee. The Dobbs ruling pushed the US even further out of line with its human rights obligations, including its obligation to ensure access to abortion and to eliminate structural racism and discrimination, said Annerieke Smaak Daniel, womens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. Access to safe and legal abortion: Urgent call for United - OHCHR This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Wade.' How the Supreme Courts Conservative Majority Came to Be. Word spread, and by 1968 Booth realized she needed more help to continue her referral service. In fall 2011, professors Robert Cassanello and Lisa Mills taught an Advanced Documentary Workshop class at the University of Central Florida. Of course it felt complicated, Peaches, a white woman in the collective, observed. Two new films tell the story. Debating an amendment on Tuesday in the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) graphically described what a partial-birth abortion is, and talk-radio host Mark Levin played the clip and commented that the media will never show Americans the procedure, adding that it is "Mengele-like" and that the Democrat Party fully supports such barbarism. These Documentaries Show How We Got Here. That was it. The film will debut on HBO on Wednesday, June 8 and will then be available to stream on HBO Max. When a draft opinion from the Supreme Court leaked last month, suggesting the court could be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the directors of underground abortion network documentary The Janes . Abortions happened long before Roe v. Wade, and they will continue to happen long after its apparently imminent demise. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Emma Peldes. The . Merrick Garland grilled on anti-Catholic, pro-abortion bias during For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Copyright 2022 NPR. The American Abortion War - Top Documentary Films Released in 2018, Just after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, Reversing Roe examines how the abortion debate became more heated than ever before. Natasha Hellerich According to the media gossip platform Def Noodles, the video received more than 33,000. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, outgoing chair of the USCCB's Committee on Pro-Life Activities, presents pro-life initiative Walking with Moms in Need to the U.S. bishops in . (617) 923-1216, Ext 24, PO Box 400175, Cambridge, MA 02140info@whatisessential.org The Supreme Court Has Overturned 'Roe v. Pregnant women seeking abortions in Chicago had few options before 1973, when the Supreme Court codified the right to have an abortion in Roe v. Wade. Investigative journalist Ellie Flynn follows the story of Ireland's landmark vote to legalise abortion. Rather, to invoke Ijeoma Oluo, they are working according to their design. Beginning in the late 1960s, signs hung up around the city and advertisements in underground newspapers offered a vague alternative: Pregnant? later, the body is removed and disposed of as medical waste. The film's stories of women's desperation are haunting . / 54m. But months before her passing, Nick Sweeneys documentary examines how McCorvey overcame poverty, neglect and abuse all while being positioned as the symbol in one of Americas most contentious modern debates. An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. Legislation across the U.S. indicates that states are bracing for the potential of a post-Roe world. Documentary filmmaker and video producer Aaron Hos, representing the UCF Center for Distributed Learning (CDL), was brought onto the project as Producer and Supervising Editor. These norms must be deployed against the state here at home as well. Prior to the Roe v. Wade case, the so-called "Janes" built the underground organization and assisted an estimated 11,000 women. The film points out that Black women and Latinas suffered the most from the criminalization of abortion in Chicago and nationally because they often could not afford to travel abroad or to other states that legalized abortions beginning in 1970. ACOG Committee Opinion No. So we thought, we can be of use. The Idaho House State Affairs Committee moved forward a bill on Friday that would make it a felony crime to transport or recruit a minor for an abortion without parental consent. The assurance, the trust, the respect I got when I tell you they changed my life, they changed my life., She added, holding back tears, When I saw women caring about women it was a whole new world for me., The Jane Collective is estimated to have provided around 11,000 abortions from 1969 to 1973. Her first book, "Breaking Free," will be published on September 5, 2023. Tel : 617-923-1216 No women whom Jane served are known to have died from their abortions. But when youre talking about people and their hopes to better themselves economically, you can tell some wonderful stories., Drawing a parallel to the U.S. House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, Himes said, They radically changed the way a congressional committee communicates with the American public and we did the same thing with this documentary.. The constant threat of not just being arrested for getting an abortion but for even talking about one which was a felony. It chronicles the real-life story of a group of women who helped those seeking abortions in Chicago more than 50 years ago. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The Janes meets our political moment and reinforces the message of people power and that when people organize, they can change the world. Vessel | Home We tried to do it with as much respect and understanding as we could.. Abortion Documentary 'The Janes' Directors on Roe v. Wade Overturned Beginning in June 2016, the film will be broadcast on more than 70 local public television stations through the American Public Television Exchange, via presenting station WUSF-TV. Through contacts made at those hearings, the committee identified about 150 families whose stories they explored for the documentary. The law was rendered unconstitutional after the passage of Proposal 3 in November. TIA LESSIN: There's audacious women who outmaneuvered the Chicago Police and the Catholic Church and the Chicago mob to help other women in need. Prior to the Roe v. Wade case, the so-called Janes built the underground organization and assisted an estimated 11,000 women. I asked if you thought it was OK. Almost daily, the Reproductive Health Services clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, receives several versions of the same call: Are yall still doing abortions?". But for those who remained, as Jane member Judith Arcana put it, if he could do it, we could do it medical degree be damned. The US government just took two big steps on abortion. The documentary provides a somewhat chronological account of their work, ending with the public arrest of several of its members, the threat of long prison sentences, and the interventions of their attorney. The House State Affairs Committee passed a bill making it illegal for an adult to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion, with the intent to conceal it from the parents or guardians . Although these doctors are followed by constant threats of violence, these providers compassionately assist women who have to make the decision to terminate advanced, and often wanted, pregnancies. They are joined by a broader coalition of groups and individual advocates for human rights and racial and economic justice. The institutions that serve us are not broken they are working according to their design. 1970. The films stories of womens desperation are haunting and ominous. O n the day Angela Saini talks to me from her book-lined study in New York, the patriarchy is hard at work all over the world. In 1994, John Salvi, a radical young abortion opponent, opened fire on two clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, and killed two women: Shannon Lowney, a receptionist at Planned Parenthood, and Lee Ann Nichols, who worked as a receptionist at PreTerm, the clinic down the street. We'd love to read your comments. It also details cases of several patients who had to travel out of state for an abortion after being refused care for an ectopic pregnancy, and others who were denied chemotherapy care due to pregnancy. Fifty years ago, Floridas Legislative Investigative Committee, led by Senator Charley Johns sought to remove homosexuals from Florida's state universities. Won an Emmy award for his abortion documentary "The Committee" in 1971 only one year after he left his advertising business and established Cusack Productions. On June 1, 2016 the film will be released to more than 70 local public television stations via APT. A decade after Roe v. Wade, FRONTLINE visited an abortion clinic in Pennsylvania, covering the conflict over reproductive rights like never before on American television. The film tracked abortion opponents actions: lobbying state legislatures, looking to see where courts drew the line on what constituted an undue burden, then seeking to incrementally restrict abortion access within those evolving parameters. Get in the bathroom. Lie back and do as I tell you. The film, which premieres on HBO and HBO Max tonight (June 8) at 9 p.m., tells the story of a group of women who ranand were. (The reason, he alludes to on camera, is that the Mafia was closing in on him.). SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, Photo from The New York Times, July 2, 1969. After Tiller documents how four remaining third-trimester providers have continued carrying Tillers legacy. Revisit the documentaries below to understand how America reached this moment. Judith Arcana was one of them. Anne Fowler (top row, left) is anEpiscopal priestand outspoken pro-choice advocate who served as theRector of St. John's Church in Jamaica Plain, MA, on the board of directors for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, and on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Explore FRONTLINEs collected and ongoing reporting on Russia's war on Ukraine. These courageous leaders risked their personal safety and professional livesto meet secretly for six years under the guidance of Essential Partners co-founder Laura R. Chasin and mediator Susan Podziba. How Roe v. Wade Came Under Attack Before | The Last Abortion Clinic The documentary serves as a cautionary tale, with its release just weeks after a leak from the U.S. Supreme Court suggested the landmark 1973 ruling that established abortion rights nationwide . In 1965, Heather Booth received that call for help a friends sister was suicidal for want of an abortion. Capitol Police removed a pro-Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) protester from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday after the woman interrupted a line of questioning from Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. DEL BARCO: The Janes hired an attorney who had represented the Black Panthers. BOOTH: A friend of mine said that his sister was pregnant, nearly suicidal, not prepared to have a child. South Carolina introduces bill to punish women who have an abortion by Abortion clinics crossing state borders not always welcome YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. Since Planned Parenthoods decision to remove itself from Title X, the federal program that provides reproductive care for nearly 4 million low-income Americans, thousands of health care workers and administrators have been scrambling. Signatories in the letter list prior actions from the UN Human Rights Committees over abortion access in countries such as Ireland and El Salvador, arguing for similar scrutiny of the US. UCF Office of Instructional Resources Himes said various members of the committee have plans in the works to screen the movie in their districts, and theyre promoting it at universities. Abortion: Stories Women Tell directed by Tracy Droz Tragos, documents what women at an Illinois abortion clinic were experiencing when Missouri legislators passed the extreme law mandating anin-person informed consent process and a mandatory72-hourwaiting period between the time you sign your consent and your procedure. As media typically displays and argues abortion is for careless young women, this documentary depicts how those in need of abortion range in age, race, motivation and marital status. Lessin said the group treated women with care and concern leading up to and during their appointments and stayed in contact with them after their procedures, in contrast to many back-alley male doctors, the worst of whom performed abortions while drunk and sometimes sexually assaulted their patients. COMMANDER MICHAEL CALDERIN AND THE Both projects wrapped up this month. HBO Max's new abortion doc 'The Janes' is timely, but hopeful - NBC News The abortion clinic is less than a mile from Texas, where abortion is illegal. Levin: TV Never Shows a 'Partial-Birth Abortion,' a 'Mengele-like And all of a sudden, they were gone. I agree with TheWrap's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and provide my consent to receive marketing communications from them. Efforts to revise the ending of the film began shortly thereafter and WUSF-TV in Tampa agreed to pitch the film to the American Public Television Exchange for national distribution. South Carolina introduces bill to punish women who have an abortion by The students who made the film graduated, but stayed in touch with Cassanello and Mills about the films success. So we had about over 100 counts of felony homicide against us, each of us. We came together to do something at a time when it was most needed, collective member Laura Kaplan said at the documentarys conclusion. And The Janes offers a template for organized feminist action. Copyright Laws of the United States, With intimate access, The Abortion Divide featured interviews with women with unplanned pregnancies, doctors and nurses who provided abortions, and those who counseled women against the procedure. KATHRYN PAULSON Rev. Barron says someone in the Chicago mob took her to a seedy motel with another young, pregnant woman. That is, until May 1972, when two women went to the police to report the collective, after attending a counseling appointment with their sister-in-law, who was seeking an abortion. Abortion reversal laws are based on contested science but states keep passing them. He explained exactly what he was doing. Dont want to be? EMMA PILDES: They want people to feel like they could do this, too. There has been an absolute calamity in terms of public health, human rights, and the response has been middling to poor, Ryan said. I cried with her: the diary of a doctor navigating a total abortion ban. How American Politics Reached This Fraught Moment: 12 Documentaries to Watch Ahead of the Midterms, How the Supreme Courts Conservative Majority Came to Be, Mass Shootings, a Supreme Court Ruling, Bipartisan Legislation: How America Reached This Moment on Guns, From the Archives: How the World's Deadliest Ebola Outbreak Unfolded, Russias Invasion of Ukraine, One Year Later, War Crimes Watch Ukraine: More Than 650 Documented Events, From the Archives: How the U.N. & World Failed Darfur Amid "the 21st Century's First Genocide". FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. After a Supreme Court draft opinion was leaked last month indicating that the justices are likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, it felt like the time for us to come together to give women a platform to talk about what it looks like when abortion is criminalized, Pildes said. Since its first season in 1983, FRONTLINE has been covering the battle over abortion at both the national and state levels. Michigan House repeals 1931 abortion ban following passage of Proposal 3 Seven Janes were arrested, along with the clientele in the apartment. ET June 8), takes you inside an underground network of women providing access to affordable, safe and illegal abortions in Chicago, in the 1960s and 1970s. "Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa': A Wake-Up Call to Unseen Harms of They drove women to and from appointments, explained how the process would unfold and babysat their children while they underwent the procedure. HBO's 'The Janes' Doc Revisits Underground Abortions as Roe - Newsweek MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: The. Lets hope that incites us to action, and not to despair. Film Program in the School of Visual Arts and Design The leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court signaling an intention to overturn Roe v. Wade makes HBO's upcoming documentary "The Janes" extremely timely. Students were required to read And They Were Wonderful Teachers, a book by Karen Graves, Ph.D., about the Johns Committees persecution of public school teachers. DEL BARCO: Booth gathered an underground collective of women who called themselves Jane. daniel@whatisessential.org These Documentaries Show How We Got Here. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Finally the filmmakers took out a newspaper ad in The Chicago Reader. Excellent, important, timely, urgent, and needs to be seen and discussed widely., Peter Coleman, expert and author of The Way Out. Documenting evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine. The documentary also reported on the increase in clinic invasions and threats. It was updated to reflect the correct year. Screenings come with free resources, including the official ABORTION TALKS dialogue guide by Essential Partners. UCF Center for Distributed Learning, 2015 - University of Central Florida (Amy Davis) Sullivan, a . Emphasized again and again is the message that we cannot rely on antiquated laws propping up white-supremacist patriarchal institutions to support or care for us. Before Roe v. Wade, a secret group provided abortions. But now, without having to pay Mike, they remodeled their payment service by reducing the price from $500 to $100 and offering a pay-what-you-can option. U.S. lawmakers began a wide-ranging two-year investigation into U.S. strategic competition with China Tuesday night, with testimony from Chinese human rights activists and former U.S. national . We knew that some would be injured, some would die, former member Judith Arcana says in the film. FRONTLINEs latest documentary, "The Abortion Divide," paints a portrait of the complicated, personal issues surrounding abortion. 5 Essential Documentaries About Abortion to Stream Right Now SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE. GEOR, IOWA, KAET, KBDI, KCET, KCPT, KCTS, KENT, KENW, KLRU, KLVX, KNME, KOOD, KPBS, KQED, KQEH, KRCB, KRMA, KRSU, KTOO, KTWU, KVCR, KWSU, NDAK, NEWH, NEWJ, OREG, SDAK, WCET, WCFE, WCVE, WEDU, WFSU, WGBY, WGCU, WILL, WITF, WJCT, WKAR, WLIW, WMHT, WMVS, WNED, WNIN, WNIT, WNMU, WNPT, WOUB, WPBA, WPBT, WPTD, WPTO, WQED, WQPT, WSRE, WTIU, WTVI, WUCF, WUSF, WXXI. ARCANA: When abortion is not health care, it's felony homicide. Charges were dropped after Roe v. Wade was decided the following year. Photos taken by Flip Schulke Flip Schulke Watch 6 Docs on Abortion, as Leak Signals End of Roe v. Wade - FRONTLINE - Ben Brotemarkle, Executive Director, Florida HistoricalSociety, - Stacy Braukman, author of Communists and Perverts under the Palms: The Johns Committee in Florida,1956-1965. The U.S. Supreme Court intends to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a draft majority opinion Politico obtained and published May 2. South Carolina introduces bill to punish women who have an abortion by executing them Taking the lead in the red state race to make The Handmaid's Tale a documentary, South Carolina Republicans have introduced a bill that would impose boingboing.net - Mark Frauenfelder 17h Read more on boingboing.net Abortion South Carolina Reproductive Rights