INTRODUCTION

When abortion was illegal in the United States, women resorted to drastic measures and deaths from back-alley abortions were common. In 1973, when the Supreme Court reached its landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, casualties declined dramatically. In recent years, those opposed to abortion have been working to make it illegal once again. Through restrictive legislation and anti-abortion activism, access to abortion in the United States is being eroded. The result is a return to the fear and danger of the back-alleys.

PROVIDER CRISIS

The majority of Americans support choice. They believe that a woman has a right to make her own decision. However, since the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade ensuring a woman's right to abortion in most situations, access to abortion in the United States is being eroded. In what has become an embattled environment, fewer and fewer doctors are willing to provide abortion services. More than 80% of counties in the United States have no local provider. Many clinics, especially those in rural areas, are forced to fly doctors in from out of state. 

Before abortion was legal, many women died from self-induced abortions. Now, once again, hospital emergency rooms report treating women who resort to unsafe methods. Among the events documented in this film is a college student who died several years ago, because she did not seek medical care during a self-induced abortion. Her reluctance to go to a clinic was partly due to a humiliating encounter with demonstrators at a clinic during a wave of protests. Her friend remembers, "...she really wanted to go to somebody. If there'd been somebody for her to go to, she would still be alive."

• How might you feel if you went to a reproductive health clinic which was under siege by protesters? 
• Do you feel that providers have the right to be free from protesters at their places of work or homes? That protesters have the right to express their concerns by picketing doctors? Discuss your position using specific situations. 

In California, a group of medical students took a stand when they realized that abortion procedures were not being taught in most medical schools. A founding member of Medical Students for Choice speaks about the moral conviction of young doctors who "think that it would be irresponsible medicine to not include abortion training in obstetrics and gynecology programs."

• Do you think that restricting abortion training in medical schools is ethical? Justified? Why or why not?
• Many OB/GYNs have never learned safe, modern abortion techniques. Should they be required to?
• What does abortion being "legal" mean in reality, given that the availability of resources and providers is shrinking every year in the United States? What does the fact that abortion is legal mean if a woman is unable to find a provider? 

Spurred by religious conviction, opponents of abortion carry out their mission on two fronts: one is through legislation, where state by state, laws are being passed that create barriers for women seeking abortions. The other is through clinic protests, targeted harassment, and violence. Among the activists who have emerged are extremists who advocate violent disruption. A radical activist priest who supports the murders of abortion providers as "justifiable homicide," says: "God wants us to do what is right and, killing abortion doctors may be, for some people, what is right."

• Discuss using the justification of what God wants as a basis for violence or breaking the law.
• Propose alternatives to violence which could be used in order to express religious beliefs related to abortion. 
• Since tolerance cannot be legislated, suggest creative ways in which tolerance for differing opinions about abortion can be developed in communities.

The abortion-related domestic terrorism that has plagued the nation comes as a shock when it occurs in a small town to a family doctor who also provides abortions. After the fire gutted his office, one such doctor spoke out in support of the principles which he felt had been violated, "This attack shows disrespect for society, and for laws, for religious freedom, democracy, for the things that we stand for in our country."

• Do you agree with the doctor's statement on vandalism in general and the arson of his office in particular? Why or why not?
• What do you feel the difference is, if any, between the law-breakers who provided safe, illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade, and the law breakers who picket and harass abortion providers and vandalize clinics today? 
• How would you differentiate between civil disobedience and politically motivated disruption? 

To abortion rights advocates who fought to save women's lives by changing restrictive abortion laws, history seems to be repeating itself. Reported cases of self-induced abortions as a result of restrictive legislation are becoming more common. A clinic administrator recalls, "First Medicaid funding wasn't allowed for poor women, and then there was spousal consent, and then you couldn't provide services to unmarried minors, without parental notification or parental consent, so there's been a lot of chipping away at the Roe v. Wade decision."

• What role do you think legislators should play in decisions about medical care?
• In what ways can grassroots advocacy groups affect legislation? Discuss the different approaches of groups which strive to keep abortion legal, and the tactics of groups devoted to reducing access to abortion.
• What is the impact, value and/or potential complications in having laws about medical practice which vary from state to state? 

One of the major controversies about severe restrictions on abortions is that they do not take certain "high risk" pregnancies or those which involve major fetal deformities into account. One obstetrician/ gynecologist who is frustrated by the laws in her state comments, "There's a very passionate group in the state who are against abortion for any reason at all. There's nothing in this world that's that black and white. You're dealing with people who are not involved with the medical situation trying to make blanket decisions."

• What are some of the medical situations for which an abortion might be recommended as an appropriate procedure?

While some laws impact low-income families, others impact young women. In a series of decisions, starting in 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that states could require a minor to inform her parents before getting an abortion. Parental involvement laws are on the books, and strictly enforced in the majority of the United States. A teen counselor says, "One of the major problems in educating teenagers about their rights in terms of contraceptives or their right to abortion or adoption is the fact that there is legislation that specifically prohibits a teenager from making those choices on their own in many states."

• Do you think that legislation which requires a teenager get to permission from one or both parents before she can get an abortion is a wise law? Why or why not?
• What types of counseling should be available for teen-aged women? 
• Should birth control, dispensed in privacy, be legally available for teens? Why or why not?

If a poor woman has an unplanned pregnancy, her options are limited. Medicaid restrictions on abortion funding, combined with cuts in family planning and reduced welfare allocations, place a heavy burden on low income families. A midwife/nurse practitioner who works at a county hospital says, "If a woman goes to a clinic, it can be $300. That is a lot of money. If she goes to the county hospital, it can take two to three weeks to get an appointment. It can be three to four weeks before we can schedule her. So we are talking about women who are being pushed into second trimester abortions."

• If a woman chooses to have an abortion and cannot afford one, what challenges does she face? What are her alternatives? 
• Discuss whether or not you think abortions should be available in public facilities? 

Over the past 25 years, activists have been working to elect anti-abortion candidates to local, state and federal offices. An activist committed to Separation of Church and State says, "The idea that life begins at conception is a particular theological idea. We have states that are passing into their laws that religious belief. That means that the Fundamentalist churches now have their religious beliefs passed into civil law. For me, for other Protestants, for Jews, for Unitarians, for Atheists, for Buddhists, for Muslims, for the wide varieties of religious beliefs we have in this country, we now have an infringement on the idea of freedom of and from religion."

• Should religious beliefs ever be the basis for laws governing all people regardless of whether or not they adhere to that religion? 
• Give examples of state or federal laws which agree with or contradict particular religious beliefs.

Over the last decade, a religious minority has promoted a concept that equates being religious with being anti-abortion. In truth, people of many faiths support a woman's right to choose. A United Methodist minister, who works in the Los Angeles area, grew up in Mexico where he saw women die from illegal abortions. He believes, "The more you narrow the options, the less moral you are. I think freedom is absolutely essential for moral and ethical decisions to be made."

• In what areas, in addition to abortion, do you see the possibility of meaningful dialogue for people with differing religious beliefs on moral issues? (For example: prayer in school?)
• Discuss religious leaders who were or are now actively involved in social movements? (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.-civil rights, The Dalai Lama- freedom for Tibet, Mother Theresa- fighting poverty, Archbishop Romero of El Salvador-human rights, etc.). 

The members of a small Montana community rose above their differences to take a stand against the violence by forming a group dedicated to democratic discussion. The wife of a doctor who performs abortions comments on the group's guiding principles, "In our community there are certain values which we hold; they are the glue for us as a community. We may hold different beliefs, very strongly. But no matter that, as a community we will have discourse in a civil manner."

• How is the meaning of "community" affected when the members of that community are divided by opposing beliefs?
• How can communities work together to create a broader base of tolerance for different beliefs?

Abortion has, once again, become a topic which few people will discuss openly. A woman rabbi who gave a sermon on reproductive rights in rabbinical school recalls, "Afterwards other rabbinical students came to me and told me that they had had abortions and that they had felt that this was something that they could never, never talk about. By speaking it, we make a little safer for women to speak the truths of their lives."

• Do you feel comfortable discussing abortion? With your family, friends, in public? 
• Before you saw this film, were you aware that there was a crisis in access to abortion? How do you feel about your new understanding of this situation?
• Can you envision a way that the people of the United States could come, democratically, to a consensus on what might be a humane way to reconcile their different opinions about abortion?