Here are two documentaries that offer context to the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion. Directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, the film documents how even conservative presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush supported abortion rights, which changed by 2018 when Republican politicians continued to use anti-abortion as an organizing cause and voting incentive for citizens. Madeline McComish (top row, center), a retired chemist, is past president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. After her 1995 denouncement of Roe v. Wade, Jane Roe was seen as going to the other side. 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. One Jane would drive them to a home they called the front, where another Jane would counsel them. AMY SIMPSON, UCF College of Arts & Humanities Web Team, LOU ELLEN KRAMER Her civil rights activism also introduced her to Dr. T.R.M. 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. Trump documentary maker says he now has 2 armed guards for protection after he gave evidence to January 6 committee Joshua Zitser and Bethany Dawson Jul 2, 2022, 6:06 AM Documentary maker. We tried to do it with as much respect and understanding as we could.. MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Heather Booth was on vacation when she got the news that the Supreme Court may soon rule that abortion is once again illegal in the U.S. HEATHER BOOTH: I was horrified but not surprised. While most of the Janes were white, middle-class women, most of those they served were low-income Latinas and Black women. 7 min read. 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 . There has been an absolute calamity in terms of public health, human rights, and the response has been middling to poor, Ryan said. Overriding nearly five decades of legal precedent, the Supreme Courthas overturnedRoe v. Wade, the landmark1973 ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S. ACOG Committee Opinion No. Barbara Thorp (bottom row, left) wasdirector of the Catholic Archdiocese Pro-Life Office in Massachusetts at the time of the clinic shooting, and served on the executive boards of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, and Women Affirming Life. Rep. Barbara . In this short documentary, FRONTLINE followed a group of African American anti-abortion activists and their work inside the Black community. Rev. 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 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. Cassanello, Mills, Hos and their former students launched a fundraising campaign to cover the cost of licensing images and music in the film. FRONTLINE goes inside the fight over abortion, told through the stories of women struggling with unplanned pregnancies. He explained exactly what he was doing. These norms must be deployed against the state here at home as well. He would assist Dr. Cassanello and Dr. Mills in guiding the students through the various technical and creative facets of the film's post-production and marketing phases. Select screening events will also have an opportunity to host the filmmakers, an Essential Partners representative, and/or participants from The Abortion Talks for a post-screening Q&A or panel conversation. We'll help you. Rather, to invoke Ijeoma Oluo, they are working according to their design. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, Photo from The New York Times, July 2, 1969. Feel free to share it around. The constant threat of not just being arrested for getting an abortion but for even talking about one which was a felony. Natasha Hellerich Lesanne Brunswick. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News. As a new U.S. Supreme Court term begins, revisit FRONTLINE documentaries that show how conservatives gained a court majority and give context for last term's major decisions on abortion, guns & more. We would like to thank the following individuals without whose advice and assistance the broadcast version of this film could never have happened: Colleen Hamilton to meet secretly for six years under the guidance of Essential Partners co-founder Laura R. Chasin. The collectives origin story is not unlike the origin stories of other movements: A call for help catalyzes an action, which results in another related action, and another. Prior to the Roe v. Wade case, the so-called "Janes" built the underground organization and assisted an estimated 11,000 women. 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. These Documentaries Show How We Got Here. In private meetings across the country, many are asking the same question: what next? The ads were the work of an underground abortion network started by University of Chicago student Heather Booth that helped an estimated 11,000 Chicago women obtain safe and affordable abortions before Roe v. Wade was handed down. That is when such a situation arises. Vessel premiered at SXSW Film Festival in 2014, winning the Audience Award for Documentary in Competition and a Special Jury Award for Political Courage. In 2009, one of the very few remaining providers of third-trimester abortions in the country, Dr. George Tiller, was shot to death. A doctor hugs a patient at an abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on 13 January 2023. Lets hope it incites us to action, and not to despair. Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Emma Peldes. Almost daily, the Reproductive Health Services clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, receives several versions of the same call: Are yall still doing abortions?". FRED FEJES They say that between 1968 and 1973, they provided free or low-cost abortions to more than 11,000 women. What we must remember is that the institutions that serve us are not broken. Lie back and do as I tell you. The institutions that serve us are not broken they are working according to their design. For years, illegitimate authorities have been chipping away, state by state, rule by rule, impacting women's lives on the most intimate decision of our life. The documentary explores how the killings ignited a fierce debate about the intersection of free speech, abortion and religion and contributed to a Massachusetts law allowing a 35-foot buffer. With lower costs and more scheduling availability (they could sometimes perform up to two dozen abortions a day), women of color from the South Side and West Side of Chicago quickly became their main clients. Wade.' JUDITH ARCANA: Women did awful things out of fear and desperation. Abortions happened long before Roe v. Wade, and they will continue to happen long after its apparently imminent demise. Two members of the Chicago Police Departments homicide unit show up to the apartment where the abortions were being done that day and were baffled. Among the signatories are the Global Justice Center, Pregnancy Justice, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. They were so detailed in care, said Doris, whose second abortion with the collective was remarkably different from her first one, via the Mafia. daniel@whatisessential.org Since Roe was overturned, such local ordinances have been identified as a tool for officials to control where patients can get an abortion, advocates and legal experts say. Many former members told their stories publicly for the first time in The Janes, which premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. later, the body is removed and disposed of as medical waste. Students also interviewed Judith Poucher, Ph.D., who recently released her book State of Defiance: Challenging the Johns Committee's Assault on Civil Liberties. Their work dramatically changed when Mike the man who had been performing the procedures after Howard, and who, unbeknownst to some of the Janes, was not a medically licensed physician decided that he didnt want to do it anymore. It has become almost tragically ironic that the US government uses the language of human rights to condemn state abuses against citizens of other countries, be that in Iran, or Belarus. After the genocide in Rwanda and atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in the 1990s, the world vowed never again. Then came the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which began 20 years ago. Investigative journalist Ellie Flynn follows the story of Ireland's landmark vote to legalise abortion. Jennifer 8. MONICA MONTICELLO, MONICA MONTICELLO 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. These abuses lie firmly at the Biden administrations door, added Ryan from the Global Justice Center. Orlando Film Festival 2014 Abortion restrictions, the signatories write, deny womens decisional and bodily autonomy in a way that rejects the agency, dignity and equality of people who can become pregnant.. These developments follow a decades-long effort by U.S. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: We would try to have refreshments, talk to them, try to keep a pleasant atmosphere for people that were probably terrified out of their minds. Marcie Bianco is a writer and editor based in California. Vessel is Rebecca's story: one of a woman who heard and answered a calling, and transformed a wildly improbable idea into a global movement. No women whom Jane served are known to have died from their abortions. There is no moral or economic argument for taxing working people at average rates that are higher than people who are collecting dividends. Two new films tell the story. Editor's note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. I asked if you thought it was OK. The authors say the curtailment of abortion rights in the US is of a piece with the countrys history of devaluing the lives of Black women, who are hit worst by abortion restrictions. BOB GRAHAM - Ben Brotemarkle, Executive Director, Florida HistoricalSociety, - Stacy Braukman, author of Communists and Perverts under the Palms: The Johns Committee in Florida,1956-1965. 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. Documenting evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine. The movie focuses on the tale of a real person, Abby Johnson, a former director of Planned Parenthood, who claims she left the organization after witnessing a 13-week abortion on an ultrasound.. Explore FRONTLINEs collected and ongoing reporting on Russia's war on Ukraine. Footnote 1 The chair of the Republican National Committee, Mary Louise Smith, supported abortion rights, as did First Lady Betty Ford, who declared Roe v. Wade a "great, great decision." Likewise, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who had taken a leading role in the fight for abortion rights in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s . After helping organize Black voters in Mississippi, she turned her activism to women with unwanted pregnancies. Some would die. Kaplan, stopped doing them under pressure from organized crime. Others turned to Chicagos organized crime syndicate, but its services were expensive and often unsafe. Fifty years ago, Floridas Legislative Investigative Committee, led by Senator Charley Johns sought to remove homosexuals from Florida's state universities. The 8-5 vote along party lines in the House Judiciary Committee came shortly before a Senate Health Policy Committee also voted Wednesday to repeal longstanding Michigan abortion policies. Yet, amid this violence, a hopefulness shines through. Featuring two of the victims and one interrogator, the film exposes the committees subversive activities and how its effects are still felt today. You can always mobilize to help one another, you can organize, and ultimately thats what matters most, Pildes said. DEL BARCO: In 1972, police raided the operation and arrested seven of the Janes, including Arcana, who told NPR she was a nursing mother at the time. "We went old school to find one of the . This is the question viewers are left with when watching "Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa," a short documentary film offering a glimpse into the lives of five callers to an abortion fund hotline in Philadelphiaeach left with an unplanned pregnancy, no options, and everything to lose. Screenings come with free resources, including the official ABORTION TALKS dialogue guide by Essential Partners. On June 1, 2016 the film will be released to more than 70 local public television stations via APT. 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 . Especially now. And all of a sudden, they were gone. The Supreme Court Has Overturned 'Roe v. CHUCK WOODS Directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, this film spotlights the Chicago-based underground abortion network called The Jane Collective. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. So we had about over 100 counts of felony homicide against us, each of us. KAREN GRAVES The broadcast version of the film is significantly different from the film festival version, in that it highlights USFs role in bringing media attention to the Johns Committee, ultimately causing the committees downfall. Jane was born first as a continuation of Booths referral service, and then as a counseling service. Excellent, important, timely, urgent, and needs to be seen and discussed widely., Peter Coleman, expert and author of The Way Out. The system is tilted in favor of people who have already made it, and we need to be really serious about addressing that, he said. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. IE 11 is not supported. It was successful in either firing or expelling more than 200 suspected gay ARCANA: When abortion is not health care, it's felony homicide. The letter sent on Thursday was addressed to a number of UN agencies and officials, including the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls; the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy. In the 2020 documentary AKA Jane Roe, the original anonymous plaintiff of Roe v. Wade, now known to be Norma McCorvey, speaks out about her 1995 decision to condemn abortion. Two forthcoming films based on the collective Amazon Studios This Is Jane, starring Michelle Williams, and Roadside Attractions Call Jane, starring Elizabeth Banks, come out later this year in addition to the 2018 feature film Ask for Jane.. This renewed interest is of course not a coincidence. In 1965, Heather Booth received that call for help a friends sister was suicidal for want of an abortion. The 30-minute documentary, "Grit & Grace: The Fight for the American Dream," features three families facing varied economic challenges a North Carolina man grieving his parents while working to finish college, a family caring for twin sons with special needs in West Virginia and an immigrant mom in California who struggled to keep her business The Labrant family's YouTube documentary on abortion was met with immediate contempt on social media. The students who made the film graduated, but stayed in touch with Cassanello and Mills about the films success. I agree with TheWrap's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and provide my consent to receive marketing communications from them. In the letter, the signatories ask recipients to communicate with the US about these violations, to request an official visit to the US, and to ask the country to comply with its obligations under international law as a UN member state. Seven Janes were arrested, along with the clientele in the apartment. All rights reserved, WUSF Knowledge (16.4) Ultimately, just three were included. Yet its not goodbye. Her first book, "Breaking Free," will be published on September 5, 2023. They were unable to fathom that the women could do the work themselves. Some eventually began performing abortions themselves after the older man they previously relied on, who used the code name Dr. Three of the Janes - Heather Booth, Judith Arcana and Marie Lerner - say they hope their story inspires others. Copyright Laws of the United States, And for too long, the US has been able to avoid that type of international scrutiny, she said. The documentary and supporting materials serve as a perfect springboard to have healthier, deeper, more connective conversations about abortion in your context. The films stories of womens desperation are haunting and ominous. Washington D.C., Jun 23, 2021 / 09:00 am. Lee. Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2013 For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. As far as I can tell, theres a huge commonality of interests between radically different levels of affluence, he said. She reached out to women at various activist meetings and, quickly, dozens of women joined her. Jane filled the vacuum. The students, with backgrounds in English, accounting, journalism, computer engineering, art, and radio/TV production, were assigned into production teams where they would best be able to use their abilities. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. There's reason for people on opposing sides of abortion to talk, even if they disagree Kate Isaacs, Excellent, important, timely, urgent and needs to be seen and discussed widely Peter Coleman, Founding Executive Director of the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity (AC4) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and author of. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and conservative allies to secure an ideological majority on the Supreme Court a successful push FRONTLINE chronicled in the 2020 documentary Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court. I cried with her: the diary of a doctor navigating a total abortion ban. Inspired by Depression-era photographer Walker Evans whose iconic work documented rural poverty on behalf of the Interior and Agriculture departments the committee assigned itself some creative extra credit: producing a documentary movie. Abortion restrictions compound economic, social, and geographic barriers to healthcare, including contraception, disproportionately impacting Black womens ability to access the care we need.. Anita Bryant "I Believe" Album Cover Signatories in the letter list prior actions from the UN Human Rights Committee's over abortion . That said, Himes is committed to shaping policy that evens the playing field. The development of medication abortion has vastly changed the landscape. That context could have strengthened the documentarys larger political message about civil disobedience as an effective solution to institutional failure. And although they continued to disagree, together they successfully prevented future violence. This was a pivotal shift within the collective, not only in the services they provided but whom they provided them to: They never turned any woman away, no matter her financial situation. 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. Rebecca Hodges Some were anti-war activists or women's lib members, some were homemakers and at least one was a nun. We'd love to read your comments. 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. She delayed the case for months, and charges were dropped when the Supreme Court ruled abortion was legal in 1973. The organizing principle of the collectives work is care that all health care, fundamentally, should be based on compassionate care. Women dying in septic abortion wards from self-induced efforts (one OB-GYN interviewed recalls seeing a woman who used carbolic acid), and clandestine abortions gone wrong. The description of the arrest of seven Janes is almost comical. Interviews were conducted with members of the Florida public school system, survivors of the Johns Committee, a retired police officer who worked with the committee, and former Florida governor and retired U.S. The broadcast version also updates viewers on same-sex marriage in Florida. The limitations included performing abortions with no formal medical training. On Sept. 1, the state . University of Central Florida College of Arts & Humanities. The film will debut on HBO on Wednesday, June 8 and will then be available to stream on HBO Max. 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. We must care with compassion, and unlike in the male-dominated medical establishment, encourage collective care and knowledge. The couple said they wanted to send a message of being "pro-love" rather than "pro-choice" or "pro-life," but viewers have . A new documentary tells the story of "The Jane Collective," a group that helped women with nowhere else to turn for a safe abortion, in the days before Roe v. Wade. January 28, 20223:00 PM ET. Thirty-six years after FRONTLINE released 1983s Abortion Clinic, the documentarys producer returned to Pennsylvania to find a community more bitterly divided than ever. The Common Good: A Documentary (2010 Video) 21 min | Documentary, Short, Comedy Rate Two Catholic women who have reconciled their faith with their support of the right to choose travel across Wisconsin to spread their message. Used by permission, Cover From Newsweek, June 6,1977, IBT MEDIA 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. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The film was released theatrically in New York . Roe v. Wade Appears Poised to Fall. The experience would forever change how they speak to and about each other. June 8, 2022. FRONTLINEs latest documentary, "The Abortion Divide," paints a portrait of the complicated, personal issues surrounding abortion. When someone suggested Parker, Himes said, I was a little concerned initially that people would see it and say, What in the world is Carrie Bradshaw doing in this documentary? referring to her character in the long-running HBO series Sex and the City. But, he said, She does a wonderful job of telling her own story, and its a remarkable story.. Rarely has a documentary been quite so timely as The Janes. None of the participants would change their minds, but the dialogues changed their lives. WUCF-TV is now streaming The Committee for FREE on their website! DEL BARCO: Then they'd move to another Jane's home, what they called the place. 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. U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., speaks during the pro-abortion rights rally at the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge in downtown Westport, Conn. Sunday, May 8, 2022. Melissa Kogut (bottom row, center) wasExecutive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice MA at the time of the clinic shootings and throughout the six yearlong dialogues. Eventually, the Janes learned to perform the procedure themselves. Suncoast Emmy Awards 2014, Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts 2012, Atlanta's Out On Film LGBT Film Festival 2014 June: National Right to Life brings together state . But their lawyer, Jo-Ann Wolfson, had a plan to keep delaying the court proceedings because she knew that the Supreme Court was hearing a case about another Jane Roe v. Wade. 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. But The Janes is so much more than a mere history lesson. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: The person who was doing the abortion came in. Authored by Justice Samuel Alito in February, the draft opinion would override 50 years of legal precedent, striking down the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that determined women have a fundamental right to an abortion, and instead would grant individual states the full authority to regulate or prohibit abortion. ELIZABETH JENSEN-FORBELL, LOGAN KRIETE This interdisciplinary seminar was a cooperative effort between the History Department and the film program in the School of Visual Arts and Design. MARIE LERNER: We need to turn the anger, the fear, the concern we've got into protest. Members of the public gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on May 2, 2022, after a leaked draft majority opinion signaled the likely end of Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of abortion law. They felt compelled to do this even as they understood their own limitations.. Esposito, a web application developer for a tech company, presented emotional testimony before the committee in support of Senate Bill 798, which seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution, if approved by voters in 2024. Pervasive sexual assault by the men conducting abortions. This is going to hurt, but it won't hurt for long. Finally the filmmakers took out a newspaper ad in The Chicago Reader. The class also watched the only documentary previously made on the subject, Allyson Beutkes Behind Closed Doors: The Dark Legacy of the Johns Committee.