7 min read. The documentary also reported on the increase in clinic invasions and threats. Anti-abortion protestors are getting ready to march on the Supreme . FLORIDA MOVING IMAGE ARCHIVES, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, SMATHERS LIBRARY SPECIAL AND AREA STUDIES COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA The institutions that serve us are not broken they are working according to their design. The film traces the committee's origins in the era of McCarthyism and anti-gay propaganda while detailing the personal stories of those intimately involved with its activities. 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. CHUCK WOODS Both projects wrapped up this month. The abortion clinic is less than a mile from Texas, where abortion is illegal. Feel free to share it around. It was updated to reflect the correct year. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. AMY SIMPSON, UCF College of Arts & Humanities Web Team, LOU ELLEN KRAMER They were unable to fathom that the women could do the work themselves. the committee documentary abortionthe renaissance apartments chicago. 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. 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. 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. LEARNING INSTITUTE FOR ELDERS (L.I.F.E.) 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. ET Wednesday, featuring the voices of more than a dozen former members of the group, informally known as Jane, who recount their experiences helping women get access to abortions when they were illegal. Served with the US Army in the Philippines in World War II. Drawing on a landmark FRONTLINE film from the 1980s, the documentary takes a look at both sides of the abortion divide in a community still embroiled in the conflict. Nearly 50 years later, Roe v. Wade could be overturned. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has this report. Around this time, too, abortion became legal in New York state and Washington, D.C., which meant that a large demographic of their clientele middle- and upper-class white women could travel to obtain a legal abortion (abortion was still illegal in Illinois). Many people around them, including children that they already had, would suffer. This documentary tells the story of a young doctor named Rebecca Gomperts. He explained exactly what he was doing. The actions she took on became known as Women on Waves. Two new films tell the story. The description of the arrest of seven Janes is almost comical. Click here to find a screening in your area. BOOTH: A friend of mine said that his sister was pregnant, nearly suicidal, not prepared to have a child. Copyright Laws of the United States, Check your local listings for air dates and times. 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. There has been an absolute calamity in terms of public health, human rights, and the response has been middling to poor, Ryan said. Almost daily, the Reproductive Health Services clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, receives several versions of the same call: Are yall still doing abortions?". Among the signatories are the Global Justice Center, Pregnancy Justice, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Any exceptions allowing abortion in very narrow circumstances for example, where an abortion is necessary to save the life of the pregnant persons life, or when the pregnancy is the result of rape are practically unworkable, the signatories write. A doctor hugs a patient at an abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on 13 January 2023. . 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. 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. 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. The US government just took two big steps on abortion. Find out in the 2015 documentary Outbreak, newly available to stream on FRONTLINEs YouTube channel. Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, and Rep. Kevin Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, presented the . & Sepp Seitz Sepp Seitz. 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. RICHARD HARRISON But for what it's worth, I didn't ask how often or when at all it might happen. After Tiller is streaming on Amazon Prime. That also means empowering through education, via practices designed explicitly to provide information. Some women left the collective because they felt both personally betrayed and that they had betrayed the women they counseled. Her civil rights activism also introduced her to Dr. T.R.M. Abortion reversal laws are based on contested science but states keep passing them. 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. ! they shouted, going from room to room looking for a male physician. This historical context, now made contemporary in light of the Supreme Courts leaked draft opinion, has set the stage for The Janes, a new documentary premiering on HBO on Wednesday, June 8. Directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, this film spotlights the Chicago-based underground abortion network called The Jane Collective. We'd love to read your comments. Now, the American Medical Association is fighting back. Top human rights organizations are calling on the United Nations to intervene over the destruction of abortion rights in the US. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. DEL BARCO: The film shows how the Jane Collective was different. As the day nears that the Supreme Court might overturn Roe v. Wade, the directors said they hoped viewers would draw inspiration from the former Janes.. The fight for contraception, abortion rights, and bodily autonomy has always been hard-fought and tense, but in the last few years, it's become a life or death battle for many. The films stories of womens desperation are haunting and ominous. 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. And while showing how the collective was informed by the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the documentary misses an opportunity to situate the Janes work within both a historical and global context. The film's stories of women's desperation are haunting . Three of the Janes - Heather Booth, Judith Arcana and Marie Lerner - say they hope their story inspires others. 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. All rights reserved. Gasparilla International Film Festival 2012. 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. DEL BARCO: Booth gathered an underground collective of women who called themselves Jane. Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. Even before last year's Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade, a recent international surge in films about abortion rights and the endangerment thereof from period pieces like . But doing so gave them a real understanding of what they were capable of at a time when a lot of women were told they werent capable of much, Pildes said. 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. Do you understand that? These abuses lie firmly at the Biden administrations door, added Ryan from the Global Justice Center. Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. How the Supreme Courts Conservative Majority Came to Be. Shout Gladi Gladi. A new documentary series warns about the dangers of chemical abortions, as the Biden Administration has recently removed restrictions on the abortion pill . 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. The committee was tasked with producing a report with policy recommendations, but Himes wanted to go further than that. She reached out to women at various activist meetings and, quickly, dozens of women joined her. So we thought, we can be of use. 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. 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. Lee. Frances X. Hogan (bottom row, right) is an accomplished legal professional who has served in leadership roles for numerous pro-life and Catholic organizations, includingWomen Affirming Life and the Pro-Life Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. DEL BARCO: Then they'd move to another Jane's home, what they called the place. DAVID MORAN January 28, 20223:00 PM ET. This interdisciplinary seminar was a cooperative effort between the History Department and the film program in the School of Visual Arts and Design. In 2009, one of the very few remaining providers of third-trimester abortions in the country, Dr. George Tiller, was shot to death. Anybody can be a catalyst for change. Signatories in the letter list prior actions from the UN Human Rights Committee's over abortion . I asked if you thought it was OK. These documentaries offer context on how America reached this moment. Rev. Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2013 Seven of the women were arrested in a police raid with charges of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion in 1972, just before the historic Supreme Court decision. IE 11 is not supported. Finally the filmmakers took out a newspaper ad in The Chicago Reader. These norms must be deployed against the state here at home as well. THE ABORTION TALKS follows the crimes, trial, and murder of John Salviand the story of six women, all of them leaders in the pro-life and pro-choice movements, who sought to ensure that it would never happen again. by removing unnecessary regulations on certain drugs. The documentary and supporting materials serve as a perfect springboard to have healthier, deeper, more connective conversations about abortion in your context. None of the participants would change their minds, but the dialogues changed their lives. 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 . 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. (Amy Davis) Sullivan, a . BOB GRAHAM 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. 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. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Member states are obliged to protect and uphold the rights to life, health, privacy, liberty and security, along with freedoms from torture and inhumane, cruel or degrading treatment. Same-sex marriage became legal in Florida in January, 2015. (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images). Booth had the previous year participated in the Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi, and says she learned "that sometimes you have to stand up to illegitimate authority, and sometimes there are unjust laws that need to be challenged.. The Committee recalls that unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. Film Program in the School of Visual Arts and Design The organizing principle of the collectives work is care that all health care, fundamentally, should be based on compassionate care. JUDITH ARCANA: Women did awful things out of fear and desperation. Abortion had been illegal in Illinois since the early 19th century, and few doctors were willing to defy the law. Abortion restrictions compound economic, social, and geographic barriers to healthcare, including contraception, disproportionately impacting Black womens ability to access the care we need.. Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. 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. That said, Himes is committed to shaping policy that evens the playing field. Susan Geiger University of Central Florida College of Arts & Humanities. 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. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The following people and organizations have made the public television broadcast of our film possible through their generous contributions. EMMA PILDES: They want people to feel like they could do this, too. Wade.' Roewas egregiously wrong from the start, Alito wrote in his draft, which also takes aim at the 1992 Supreme Court rulingPlanned Parenthood v. Casey. Access to postabortion contraception. Call this number, and ask for Jane. The abortion debate has long dominated political discourse on Capitol Hill, particularly in recent years. Prior to the Roe v. Wade case, the so-called Janes built the underground organization and assisted an estimated 11,000 women. Revisit the documentaries below to understand how America reached this moment. 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 . Screenings come with free resources, including the official ABORTION TALKS dialogue guide by Essential Partners. The documentary featured the perspectives of women with unplanned pregnancies, as well as people who worked inside the clinic and members of the community who protested outside. Interviews with former members and with women who sought their services are interwoven in the documentary with archival footage from septic abortion wards in Chicago hospitals, where women who had illegal abortions or tried to induce their own often wound up with infections and sometimes took their last breaths alone. Home Video DVDs of The Abortion Divideare available from ShopPBS. 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. Several decades after Roe v. Wade, the anti-abortion movement had successfully spearheaded campaigns in multiple states, passing laws that limited access to abortion including in Mississippi, where a single facility performing abortions remained. It chronicles the real-life story of a group of women who helped those seeking abortions in Chicago more than 50 years ago. They note that the UN committee has already established that denial of abortion can cause physical and mental suffering so severe in pain and intensity as to amount to torture. FRONTLINEs latest documentary, "The Abortion Divide," paints a portrait of the complicated, personal issues surrounding abortion. 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. So weve got to address those things.. Used by permission, Cover From Newsweek, June 6,1977, IBT MEDIA KAREN GRAVES Washington D.C., Jun 23, 2021 / 09:00 am. In fall 2011, professors Robert Cassanello and Lisa Mills taught an Advanced Documentary Workshop class at the University of Central Florida. Excellent, important, timely, urgent, and needs to be seen and discussed widely., Peter Coleman, expert and author of The Way Out. 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. They were so detailed in care, said Doris, whose second abortion with the collective was remarkably different from her first one, via the Mafia. ARCANA: I think that folks who watch this film will be prompted to ask themselves, what would I do? Before there was Roe V. Wade, there was Jane, and the HBO documentary The Janes (on Crave in Canada at 9:00 p.m. Enlarge this image. As far as I can tell, theres a huge commonality of interests between radically different levels of affluence, he said. Rarely has a documentary been quite so timely as The Janes. The constant threat of not just being arrested for getting an abortion but for even talking about one which was a felony. Some were anti-war activists or women's lib members, some were homemakers and at least one was a nun. Kaplan, stopped doing them under pressure from organized crime. 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. FRONTLINE goes inside the fight over abortion, told through the stories of women struggling with unplanned pregnancies. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. KATHRYN PAULSON Get in the bathroom. MONICA MONTICELLO, MONICA MONTICELLO 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. 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. 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. It was successful in either firing or expelling more than 200 suspected gay Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes wish their new HBO documentary, The Janes about a group of Chicago women who covertly helped thousands safely obtain abortions in the late . Lawmakers may have the power to legislate which actions are legal and which are not, but they cannot simply end 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. 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. Weve seen consistent lip service from the Biden-Harris administration, but not enough action, she said. 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 zone around abortion clinics that would be struck downby the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014. Essential Partners is a 501(c)3 organization, 2016-2023 Essential Partners |Site Credits. 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. snoopy happy dance emoji 8959 norma pl west hollywood ca 90069 8959 norma pl west hollywood ca 90069 Call Jane.. That is when labor is induced, the babies path is blocked in the vagina, and the babies brain is sucked out if its skull.