FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. In a letter shared in advance with the Guardian and sent on Thursday by nearly 200 organizations and experts, the authors detail how, since the overturning of the federal constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, some 22 million women and girls of reproductive age live in states where abortion access is now either banned or inaccessible. DEL BARCO: The Janes say their clients included wives and girlfriends of police officers. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has this report. Editor's note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Ultimately, just three were included. 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. And for too long, the US has been able to avoid that type of international scrutiny, she said. Both projects wrapped up this month. 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. 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 the death penalty on women who get abortions. 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. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. They are joined by a broader coalition of groups and individual advocates for human rights and racial and economic justice. Gasparilla International Film Festival 2012. Rep. Barbara . While most of the Janes were white, middle-class women, most of those they served were low-income Latinas and Black women. There has been an absolute calamity in terms of public health, human rights, and the response has been middling to poor, Ryan said. Through contacts made at those hearings, the committee identified about 150 families whose stories they explored for the documentary. They just left. And all of a sudden, they were gone. Vessel premiered at SXSW Film Festival in 2014, winning the Audience Award for Documentary in Competition and a Special Jury Award for Political Courage. Booth tells her story in "The Janes." 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. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. RICHARD HARRISON These developments follow a decades-long effort by U.S. As a result of the Johns Committees efforts, more than 200 gay and lesbian students and teachers were expelled or fired. Its pretty hard to tell stories and to be evocative about tax policy, Himes said. We'll help you. Explore FRONTLINEs collected and ongoing reporting on Russia's war on Ukraine. 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. Arcana was married to Pildes father, Michael, so she was familiar with the history of Jane, Pildes said. 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. Abortion reversal laws are based on contested science but states keep passing them. Check your local listings for air dates and times. Judith Arcana was one of them. FRONTLINE goes inside the fight over abortion, told through the stories of women struggling with unplanned pregnancies. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE. Suncoast Emmy Award Nomination - Editor BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE The broadcast version also updates viewers on same-sex marriage in Florida. 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. DEL BARCO: "The Janes" airs on HBO next month. For decades, underground networksaround the world from El Salvador to Poland to Mexico to right here in the United States have been and are assisting pregnant people obtain the abortion care that they need. The procedure is done by a licensed healthcare professional.. House Bill 4006 repeals the 1931 law, which states it's illegal for any individual, mainly doctors, to assist . 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. After Tiller is an essential watch to understand the emotional and misunderstood elements of the late-term abortion debate. 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. Jane was born first as a continuation of Booths referral service, and then as a counseling service. 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 . The film was released theatrically in New York . In 1963, 280 deaths were recorded in the U.S. from induced abortions, and in 1965, they dropped to 235, according to Pew Research, which indicated that the numbers fell to single digits or zero every year after Roe v. Wade was decided. Will they matter? Photos taken by Flip Schulke Flip Schulke The institutions that serve us are not broken they are working according to their design. Access to postabortion contraception. Kaplan, stopped doing them under pressure from organized crime. The law cannot and should not stop people from seeking out life-saving health care. 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. Wheres the doctor? Columbia/SONY, Inc. Anita Bryant Orange Juice Advertisement ELIZABETH JENSEN-FORBELL, LOGAN KRIETE The US must be castigated on the world stage for its treatment of women, girls and others who can become pregnant the scale and intensity of human rights violations that the US is inflicting on its population are near unfathomable at this point, said Christine Ryan, legal director of the Global Justice Center, in a phone interview. "The Janes" is streaming on HBO Max. BOOTH: And word spread, and someone else called. She reached out to women at various activist meetings and, quickly, dozens of women joined her. Overriding nearly five decades of legal precedent, the Supreme Courthas overturnedRoe v. Wade, the landmark1973 ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S. In the spring of 2012, the film began screening in film festivals in Florida and over the next two years it screened in festivals all over the world, winning many competitions, prizes, and awards. A new documentary series warns about the dangers of chemical abortions, as the Biden Administration has recently removed restrictions on the abortion pill . Could I help her find someone to arrange for an abortion? While serving as an usher at his Wichita, Kansas, church, Dr. Tiller was killed by an anti-abortion extremist. BOOTH: I'm hoping that it's actually a call to action. If you do not see your local station listed here, we urge you to contact them and ask them to air this film. 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. 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. Susan Geiger Rarely has a documentary been quite so timely as The Janes. You know, Netflix or HBO isnt going to distribute it, but were hoping that there will be continued interest in showing it around the country., Jim Himes-led committee releases documentary on economic disparity, Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media, 2023 Hearst Media Services Connecticut, LLC, New Milford aids The Silo nonprofit with $107K facilities upgrade, Stratford resident stunned by earthquake destruction in Turkey, In Photos: African-based food tasting event held in New Canaan, Greenwich parking an obstacle to outdoor dining's return, Arming guidance counselors? Essential Partners DEL BARCO: Booth, who is 76 years old, has been fighting for women's reproductive rights since she was a 19-year-old college student. 3 min read The Supreme Court's Dobbs decision has successfully overturned a woman's federal. So goodbye Jane.. Essential Partners is a 501(c)3 organization, 2016-2023 Essential Partners |Site Credits. 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 afloat during COVID. Her first book, "Breaking Free," will be published on September 5, 2023. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: For the women coming through, they were putting their trust in somebody who was breaking the law. Do you understand that? The committee was tasked with producing a report with policy recommendations, but Himes wanted to go further than that. Try some deep breathing - very reassuring. We must help everyone no one was turned away for lack of funds. 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. Though illegal under Illinois law, the Janes, as they called . Drawing on a landmark FRONTLINE film from the 1980s, the documentary. Legislation across the U.S. indicates that states are bracing for the potential of a post-Roe world. The development of medication abortion has vastly changed the landscape. JOHN TILESTON 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. Abortions happened long before Roe v. Wade, and they will continue to happen long after its apparently imminent demise. From left: Martha Scott, Jeanne Galatzer-Levy, Abby Parisers, Sheila Smith and Madeline Schwenk. Watch documentaries chronicling Americas abortion battle and the transformation of the U.S. Supreme Court. 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. None of the participants would change their minds, but the dialogues changed their lives. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. The groups in the letter claim that overturning the constitutional right to abortion contravenes the USs international obligations as a UN member organization. On June 1, 2016 the film will be released to more than 70 local public television stations via APT. 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. 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". Here is a partial list of stations that will air The Committee. Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2013 An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. Especially now. 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 Cassanello, Mills, Hos and their former students launched a fundraising campaign to cover the cost of licensing images and music in the film. Her civil rights activism also introduced her to Dr. T.R.M. Lets hope that incites us to action, and not to despair. In 1965, Heather Booth received that call for help a friends sister was suicidal for want of an abortion. One of the reasons we get screwed up in Washington is we stop thinking about real people and we start thinking about stereotypes That destroys your ability, destroys the empathy that is required to be thoughtful about trying to help real people.. The US government just took two big steps on abortion. The USs role as a leader on the world stage does not exempt the country from these obligations in fact, it should require them to do more, said a representative from the Global Justice Center, which is one of the signatories. DORRIE BARRON: I was petrified. A doctor hugs a patient at an abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on 13 January 2023. And many documentary filmmakers have used their medium over the years to reflect on what led to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and what historical and political developments have led to the continued debate over a womans right to choose. But for what it's worth, I didn't ask how often or when at all it might happen. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker narrates the piece, acknowledging briefly in the introduction that her own family faced financial difficulties during her childhood. 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. FRONTLINE has been documenting the fight over abortion for several decades. Similar laws are passed in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington state. Nobody wants to spend an hour on [Interstate] 95. Click here to download the complete press kit. DEL BARCO: The Janes hired an attorney who had represented the Black Panthers. 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. There is no moral or economic argument for taxing working people at average rates that are higher than people who are collecting dividends. 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. To prepare for the Supreme Court's current term, we recommend brushing up on the issues with six FRONTLINE documentaries. Mississippi residents might get back the ability to enact public policy through statewide ballot initiatives. Film Program in the School of Visual Arts and Design JUDITH POUCHER The organizing principle of the collectives work is care that all health care, fundamentally, should be based on compassionate care. I agree with TheWrap's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and provide my consent to receive marketing communications from them.