VIDEO

AUDIO

Janes trailer olay

Upsot protest

VO In the 1960s, ordinary Americans risked jail to help women have abortions

They called themselves the Janes

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Heather: (01:13:36)
those women would have faced collectively over a hundred years in prison. And while they were waiting, trial, Roe was approved by the Supreme court.

Upsot protest

VO: 5 decades later, Roe v Wade, the case guaranteeing women the constitutional right to an abortion, is struck down

Upsot 00:12 – 00:15 evangelicals celebrate

RTV 00:54 UPSOT "It's disgusting. Women are not incubators, you cannot force someone to give birth."

VO: Tonight, we travel to the Republican stronghold of Alabama to witness the reality of America’s abortion ban.

Kathy: (02:30:33)
women are gonna get hurt. Women are gonna die

And meet the new generation of Americans risking everything to provide women access to abortions…

Ireland: (17:53)
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes mandatory and we are the resistance.

CUT TO BLACK

STORY TITLE:

PLAN B: ABORTION IN AMERICA

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Huntsville Drone – flags

00:00:26

UPSOT: Nat, sound – traffic, pedestrians, cicadas etc.

00:11:20

2019 Alabama GVs

Plus rushes provided by Will

Can also use 2022 Alabama GVs

VO: Home to 2.5 million women, Alabama is considered by many as the heart of America’s deep south.

VO: But it’s the country’s fifth poorest state and has one of the nation’s highest infant mortality rates.

VO: On the same day Roe V. Wade was overturned, Alabama enacted the Human Life Protection Act, banning abortions. 

CAL PTC DRIVING

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00:21:40

On the day the Supreme Court handed down its ruling, countless women were in clinics right across America waiting for an abortion. I want to speak to people who witnessed first hand the moment 50 years of abortion rights were suddenly extinguished.

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Actuality

Ext Cal meets Kathy in parking lot, chat and walk into clinic

Upsot 01:58:00

Cal and Kathy greetings

Cal: (01:58:04)
So how different is this place right now?

Kathy: (01:58:07)
Fridays, this parking lot used to be full, probably 15, 20 cars and the grass over there. And it's nothing today.

Clinic GVs

VO: The Alabama Women’s Centre in Huntsville was one of only three clinics operating in the state when abortions were still legal

As a result, it became a hotbed for anti-abortion protesters

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Cal and Kathy walk into clinic

VO For the last 10 years, Kathy Zentner has escorted women past the very vocal demonstrators into the clinic

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Actuality

Int Cal and Kathy inside clinic waiting room

Cal: (02:01:24)
Wow. So this is completely empty right now.

BUTT TO Kathy: (02:02:33)
On very busy days. Every chair would've been filled. And on the last day, every chair was filled

Cal: (02:03:22)
How many women would've been in here on that day?

Kathy: (02:03:25)
I think there were 35 patients scheduled that day.

Kathy and Cal go into the next part of the clinic, lights are switched off, no staff around

02:05:30

THOUGHT TRACK

Kathy: (02:02:47)
I'm sad for the women that can't get the medical care they need. I'm sad for the staff that can't do the job they're trained to do.

Kathy shows Cal around

02:06:24 – 02:07:30

As Kathy shows me around the shuttered clinic… it’s incredible to think that these quiet, empty spaces were once bustling with activity

In situ IV with Kathy

Can thought track some of this… also cut with empty clinic olay

Kathy and Cal go into the next part of the clinic, lights are switched off, no staff around

02:05:30

Kathy: (02:19:14)
We had a woman here from Louisiana that arrived at the clinic at 3.30 in the morning … they had started medicating her in the morning. So she had to have her abortion that day. And it was about four o'clock in the afternoon when she was finished ... So I walked up to her, put my arm around her … and said, you know, you were the last person in Alabama to get a legal abortion. And she goes, I know, and I am so grateful.

VO: Kathy says, on busy days, as many as 45 women would come through the clinic doors

Now that this centre, and Alabama’s two other clinics, are closed, it’s estimated almost one million women of reproductive age no longer have access to an abortion

Kathy introduces Cal to Sanithia, who’s sitting behind a desk in the main room

WIDE 01:25:40

REVERSAL 01:27:50

TIGHT 01:28:35

Cal: (01:25:50)
Hi. Hello. Lovely to meet you.

Sanithia: hello

Extra olay

01:39:26 Sanithia chat with employee

Kathy introduces me to Dr Sanithia Williams who was working here on the last day abortions were legal.

IV with Sanithia at desk

Sanithia: (34:09)

we, to be honest with you kind of took a moment to gather ourselves. Um, I personally was pretty upset. Um, once I, you know, got the message from our lawyers, that we were not gonna be able to continue care. Um, I, I took a moment to cry a little bit, to be honest with you.

Sanithia: (50:20)
Yeah. Um, it's really, it's really tough. I'll be honest with you. Um, (CHOKES UP)

01:33:55 – 01:34:20

Sanithia cleaning up ultrasound thingy, closing lid, switching off light

01:35:00 reversal of sequence

THOUGHT TRACK

Sanithia: (01:18:40)
this is really dangerous for people, right. People are going to die. Um, because of these decisions

ALT INTRO 1 01:23:30

ALT INTRO 2 01:24:22

Dr Williams continues to provide general reproductive care to women at the clinic – and they still receive phone calls from those seeking abortions.

Actuality

01:40:10 - 01:40:42

ALT 01:41:17 reversal, tight on phone

ALT 2 01:43:00

01:53:40 chat cutaways

Upsot receptionist answers phone

“Good afternoon, AWC how can I help you?...No I’m sorry, abortions are illegal in Alabama now… I can’t help you with that, I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do, you have to do your research, it’s illegal for me to help you… I’m sorry, you’re welcome.. bye bye”

In situ IV with receptionist

Cal: (01:48:31) (reversal)
How many calls are you getting like that a day?

Receptionist: (01:46:55)
Right now? That's a lot. It's the majority of the calls, we're getting a good, I don't know, 30 calls a day.

Cal: (01:47:03)
30 calls a day!

Receptionist: (01:47:04)
Yeah. I would say at least. Yeah.

Cal: (01:48:38) (reversal)
How do women react when you tell them that they can't come here for an abortion?

Receptionist: (01:47:10)
Kinda astonished. Actually, they're just surprised some of em are angry.

In situ IV with Sanithia

Can also use GVs below to cover

06:14 - space between recipients and Sanithia.

Int clinic 00:28:00 – 00:31:00

Women chatting

Ovaries painting on wall

CCTV screen

Receptionist and nurse at front desk

THOUGHT TRACK

Sanithia: (35:57)
I think the overarching thing was shock. Um, and some desperation

Cal: (36:29)
Were they trying desperately to, to convince you to go ahead?

Sanithia: (36:32)
There was one person who said, well can I just come next week instead?

Sanithia: (36:56)
there was one person who was like, I can, I can give you extra money and like really just trying to bargain to figure out if she could get care.

In situ IV with Sanithia

GVs Sanithia at desk in her own office

01:36:30 – 01:39:20

Sanithia: (40:18)
here in Alabama, we have one of the worst restrictions. Um, we have a total abortion ban with attached criminal penalties. So penalty of a felony conviction with punishment up to 99 years in prison. And so I think that’s really scary.

Clinic GVs

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02:48:00 – 02:55:10

Dr Williams says it’s Alabama’s poorest women who will be most affected

75% of women requesting abortion in the US are in poverty or in the low income bracket.

VISION BREATH

In situ IV with Sanithia

Sanithia: (54:51)
I know for a fact that black women, um, and other women of color are gonna be the most, the most impacted

Sanithia: (55:21)
and it's only going to get worse with this.

Kathy in situ Qs

THOUGHT TRACK

Kathy: (02:30:25)
Women are gonna get hurt. Women are gonna die again from illegal abortion, but they're also going to die from carrying pregnancies and maternal mortality rate in this country is despicable. And they're gonna force women who can't handle pregnancy into carrying one.

Cal: (02:26:13)
what do you fear is the next evolution for anti-abortion activists and evangelicals?

Kathy: (02:26:20)
Well, they like to say that, uh, uh, birth control pills cause abortion, they say that IUDs cause abortion and they're going after those next

ROE V WADE EXPLAINER

Reproductive rights have been under attack in America for the past 50 years.

Abortion was mostly illegal until 1973 when Jane Roe, an unmarried pregnant woman challenged laws in Texas which criminalised abortion.

The Supreme Court decided the right to privacy protected the right to an abortion.

VO: It energised conservative forces – who lobbied state lawmakers to pass their own rules and challenge Roe V. Wade in the supreme court.

VO: After 5 decades, Roe Versus Wade was finally overturned by the republican- nominated justices

Giving the states the power to write their own abortion laws.

ERIC JOHNSTON

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The victorious conservatives, why, and what comes next?

Breather

Birmingham establishing shots

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00:00:00 – 00:10:00

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PTC 01:50:35

ALT 01:51:37

Cal walks up to the offices of Eric Johnston

I’ve come to the city of Birmingham to meet a man who’s been working towards this moment his entire life

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Cal walks down hallway, greeted by Eric

Cal: (01:15:22)
Hi, Eric. How are you?

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Cal and Eric walkies

Eric Johnston was a republican candidate for the Alabama Supreme Court in 2010 and is now an attorney

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Main IV with Eric

Cal: (01:10:59)
How does it feel personally to see the Dobbs decision handed down?

Eric: Well, do you enjoy winning? (smiles)

BUTT TO

Eric: (01:11:10)
It's always good when you, for, for a lawyer engaged in law practice to do what your client needs you to do.

BUTT TO

THOUGHT TRACK

Eric: (01:38:06)
I feel like that justice was done not only to the unborn child, but to the constitution.

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Eric and Cal sitting at a desk looking at old photos

01:32:16 – 01:43:56

Religious plaque 01:46:01

For 30 years, Eric has spearheaded anti-abortion advocacy in Alabama.

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Eric and Cal sitting at a desk looking at old photos

Eric: (01:40:13)
These are photos that were taken in 1991 of a pro-life rally at the Alabama state house

Eric: (01:35:56)
It's been a continuous effort

Eric: (01:34:20)
I mean, it's, it took over a hundred years to get rid of slavery. And so 50 years is about half that time for, to deal with the abortion issue.

Archive 90s pro-life rally

Credit: ABCWNT / NEWS1

FAIR DEALING

Eric and other anti-abortion activists hit the streets as anger parked in evangelical communities

Upsot reporter: “it is now the tactic of choice in the war against abortion. Blocking the entrance of a clinic, attempting to shut it down (SINGING)

This footage from 1989 shows the lengths activists went to ..to prevent clinics from providing abortions

The following year, Eric founded the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition

He began drawing up legal challenges and pushing for law reform, which saw abortions slowly decrease and clinics close in Alabama

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Main Eric IV and Cal reversals

THOUGHT TRACK

00:19:34:10 - 00:19:58:07

Eric

Basically what we were doing through the nineties and into the 2000 because we knew the Supreme Court would not reverse Roe. So we were just trying to establish laws that again protected the health care of women and would reduce the number of abortions. And so we were basically chipping away at the Roe opinion

Cal: (17:54)
How many abortion laws do you think you've passed or drafted in that time?

Eric: (18:37)
probably be 20 or more

Angry Dem senators argue in debate

CREDIT: PBS/ALABAMA PUBLIC TELEVISION

FAIR DEALING

ALSO STILL WAITING TO HEAR FROM PBS ABOUT LICENSING

In 2019, Eric helped write what’s been called America’s harshest anti-abortion bill - stripping exceptions for rape and incest

Upsot angry Alabama senate debate on 2019

Loud shouting in Senate “No no no there was no motion there was no motion?!?!?!”

As this footage shows, it sparked furious reactions from Democrats in Alabama’s senate at the time

It became law the day Roe v Wade was overturned

Main Eric IV and Cal reversals

Eric: (34:46)
we wanted to make it very clear that this is a clean bill. This is very strict to the point of what viability doesn't matter. It's an unborn child.

00:35:30:10 - 00:35:37:22

Calli

Can you understand why the lack of any exception for rape or incest is morally repugnant to a lot of people?

00:27:06:16 - 00:27:38:13

Eric

They make that as a big argument. But probably about 1% of rapes result in conception where abortions are done in about a half a percent on incest.

Cal: (36:59)
But I mean, those they're real people, um, whether they are a small percentage or not, I mean, don't, they matter?

Eric: But you have a great potential for abuse. How do you determine if it was rape or incest? You know.

Calli: There's a legal system that can establish that.

Eric: It's very difficult for the legal system to determine if someone says, well, I was raped, but you got to prove you were raped

Office GVs

Eric says he’ll fight any future debate allowing abortions for victims of rape or incest in Alabama and will go after anyone caught helping women access abortion pills in the state

Main IV with Eric

Eric: (52:24)
If the drug is supplied by someone in the United States, they could be indicted and tried for felony murder in Alabama for having provided that drug to the woman here. 

Cal: (52:59)
you will be fighting that and you will be enforcing, you know, that in terms of the medical abortion issue?
Eric: (53:05)
Oh yeah.

Main Eric IV and Cal reversals

Cal: (55:29)
what is the ultimate goal of the anti-abortion movement and lawmakers like yourself?

Eric: (55:36)
Well, I think the, the ultimate goal is to stop or minimize abortions, even if they're done in California and Illinois and New York or wherever

Eric: (46:22)
It's not mission accomplished.

Eric: (01:06:24)
now the fight that's coming ahead is, is gonna be different.

GFX US ABORTION

We highlight the states that will now ban abortion through GFX

After Roe v Wade was overturned, 14 states immediately criminalised abortions…

And in total, 26 states are expected to ban or heavily restrict the procedure.

Like Alabama, many of these states only allow abortions in cases of medical emergency or severe foetal abnormality but no exceptions are made for victims of rape or incest.

Prayer GVs

RTV 01:29 pro-lifer points to sky

Upsot pro-lifers cheering

With America now divided between abortion and non-abortion states, I want to know if this is the new conservatism in modern America – or has it become something else?

CONSERVATIVE BUT PRO-CHOICE

How did the Republican party swing away from Pro-choice to Pro-life?

BREATHE

WASHINGTON LOCATION CARD

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Cal driving shots, gets out of car at SC

00:41:00 – 00:46:15

So I’ve come to the Supreme Court in Washington DC to meet someone who’s spent her life serving the Republican Party

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Ann and Cal outside SC

Ann and Cal walk and talk – other angle @ 2.34 and 4.07

Upsot hellos Ann and Cal (other angle 00:36)

Cal: (00:00)
Hi, Anne. Hi. How are you?

Ann: (00:03)
Wonderful. Glad to meet you.

Cal: (01:24)
So this is looking very different.

Ann: (01:26)
Yes. Soon as the decision came down, the walls went up really the violence and threats of violence from both sides, actually more coming from my side this time. Uh, it's just amazing

Cal: (02:43)
why have they put these fences up here at the Supreme court,

Ann: (02:45)
Protect the justices … the justices have been personally threatened

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Ann and Cal walkies

00:03:30 – 00:05:45

STILLS

Ann Stone couldn’t be more Republican if she tried.

She’s pro-guns, she founded the Women for Trump group, is a practising Christian.. and her ex-husband even worked for Donald Trump when he was President

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Main Iv with Ann

Walking to iv spot from 27.01 and 27.22

Wide angle of interview from 24.09 and 25.30 and 26.42

Cal: (25:51) (reversal)
So in many ways you are, you know, what many would say is a classic Republican and yet you differ when it comes to the issue of abortion?

Ann: (09:00)
They're totally opposite of me. I'm the consistent Republican, not them. I'm the one that reason, individual rights in the bedroom, as well as the boardroom. So I'm actually much more consistent in our philosophy

BUTT TO Ann: (09:18)
My views on abortion is that abortion is the right to control one's body has to be first and foremost. Uh, if women are gonna have rights and be equal before the law with men, they have to be able to control their body.

Ann Stone C-SPAN File/archive

Toward the end of the Reagan administration, Ann founded a lobby group ..to rally support in the party

But getting that message through to the Republican establishment became an increasingly difficult task

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Main IV with Ann

THOUGHT TRACK SOME OF THIS TO C-SPAN

Ann: (14:51)
The rise of the evangelicals in the Republican party really started to coalesce in the mid seventies to the end of the seventies, and obviously spiking very much with the election of, of Ronald Reagan. That's when this issue became much more important electorally in the platform for Republicans

Cal: (28:02)
Many Australians looking in on this debate from the outside would see the Republican's platform right now and argue that it isn't conservatism it's actually extremism. Would you agree with that?

Ann: (28:13)
I wouldn't call it extremism. I'd call it authoritarian.

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Main IV with Ann

Ann: (15:34)
the pro-life side evangelicals became so committed. They made it family events to go to rallies, family events, to go to conventions and caucuses to make sure that this issue was preeminent in the Republican party. The pro-choice side never had that kind of dedication. Um, and now obviously we've paid the price

Cal: (13:41)
So what, what does the fight look like moving forward for the pro-choice?

Ann: (13:45)
Well, unfortunately instead of one fight, we now on the federal level we have 50

BUTT TO Ann: (14:26)
It means money being wasted on a fight that could be going to help women and children. And that's the thing that just irritates me more than anything. It's just such a waste.

THE JANE COLLECTIVE

What measures did women go to for an abortion pre-Roe?

LOCATION CARD:

WASHINGTON D.C.

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01:08:45 obelisk

01:12:41 plane in background

01:16:28 guy proselytising

01:19:55 Lincoln statue

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00:02:59 US flag on Capitol

VO With millions of American women now unable to easily access an abortion – there are fears of a return to the pre-Roe days

When backyard abortions risked lives

Cal PTC at National Monument

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01:07:45 V1

01:08:04 V2

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01:44:53 CAL DRIVING ALT

01:38:04 Cal walking in house

I want to know what that world could look like

So I’m on the way to meet someone who was instrumental in the underground fight when abortion was illegal decades ago

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House GVs

THOUGHT TRACK

Heather: (01:02:13)
If you were pregnant and not ready to have a child, women went to great lengths to figure out what they could do.

Heather: (01:02:36)

some did damage to themselves, stories of women taking lie or using coat hangers or knitting needles, often creating, uh, infections and doing other internal damage.

STILL

COURTESY HEATHER BOOTH

CREDIT: Photograph by Wallace Roberts, 1964, courtesy The Roberts Family

In 1965, Heather Booth was a Chicago college student – whose life was about to change

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Heather: (57:46)
in 1965, when I was in college, a friend of mine told me that his sister was pregnant and nearly suicidal, and she wanted an abortion. Could I help her?

Heather: (58:24)
And I found a doctor, Dr. TRM Howard.

Heather: (58:47)
I spoke to him by phone. He made the arrangement. I told my friend about it and I thought that was it. I thought it would be a one time good deed (laughs)

Stills – zoom on Heather, front row second from left

CREDIT: HEATHER BOOTH

But word spread .. and Heather found herself at the centre of a growing network

Still

Talking to rights management about this still

CREDIT: PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Heather: (01:00:26)
because three people talking about providing an abortion in Chicago in 1965 through 73 was a conspiracy to commit a felony, rather than give out a name. We said, ask for Jane.

APPROVED BY HBO/BINGE

CREDIT: HBO/BINGE ‘The Janes’

And so the Janes set about growing their network and reaching as many women as they could

Upsot Jane doco – we were ordinary women trying to save women’s lives…

This year Heather featured in a timely HBO documentary telling their story, which has since become legendary

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Heather showing Cal some pics on the wall

Heather: (01:31:48)
Here's a poster that recognizes the work of Jane and mentions that between 1969 and 73, the women of Jane performed 11,000 abortions.

Cal: (01:34:28)
What do you think when you look at those pictures now?

Heather: (01:34:34)
I think that there's an enduring lesson that if you organize, you can change the world and we need to

Still – mugshot of women arrested

CREDIT: HBO/BINGE

But great risks were always present

In 1972, the Chicago homicide squad was tipped off about the Janes and raided their headquarters, arresting seven women

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Main IV with Heather

Heather: (01:13:36)
those women facing the arrests who were part of the Jane network would have faced collectively over a hundred years in prison. And while they were waiting, trial, Roe was approved by the Supreme court. And so the cases were dropped

Cal: (01:14:19)
The work you were doing, you were trying to build a new world. And in many ways you did achieve that. Have you, do you feel like some in some way that world has come crumbling down a little bit this year with the Supreme court's ruling?

Heather: (01:14:34)
Right now, I think we are in a knife's edge between democracy and tyranny

Cal: (01:26:01)
do we need a new generation of Janes?

Heather: (01:19:59)
I applaud the work of those who are standing up to illegitimate authority. I applaud the work of those who are organizing. I applaud the work who of those who every day are doing the support for people making this most intimate decision of our lives of when or whether, or with whom we'll have a child. And this represents the forces of the future.

THE NEW JANES

What comes next? The next evolution of this fight?

These forces of the future, have already begun to muster

Some are already risking prison to help women get access to an abortion.

THOUGHT TRACK

Ireland: (17:53)
There's a saying that I use a lot within our group, when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes mandatory.

Ireland: (12:05)
Several months ago, I watched a documentary on HBO called the Janes and it had always stuck with me just seeing these women that came together for a cause … It saved so many lives. And I said, I don't know how I'm gonna do this yet, but I'm gonna do it.

The day Roe v Wade was overturned – Ireland made the decision to risk everything – and subvert this red state’s ban on abortion

Ireland: (09:57)
I think it was emotional for me in an overwhelming sense. And the only thing I kept thinking about was my daughter now has fewer rights than I've had

Ireland: (38:20)
This is 2022, not the 17 hundreds.

Cal: (15:12)
So how exactly are you procuring the medications and supplying them to women, given that this is illegal now in this state?

Ireland: (40:54)

We get a request. The request is evaluated. We send their information to one of our medical teams, a person on the medical team makes contact with the individual.

Ireland: (42:16)
We have doctors, physicians, assistants, nurses

Ireland: (16:00)
We source the medications from out of the country. They are then sent to us in one of our safe Harbor states. From there, they are forwarded to a number of different places before they finally make it into our hands where we redistribute it and send it back out so that it gets to where it needs to be.

Ireland says their network consists of dozens of women across the country who began as a social media group

Now, she says, they communicate offline via encrypted chats and VPNs to protect their identities

Cal: (22:08)
So what exactly are the medications that you are providing?

Ireland: (22:11)
So the medications are, what's known as RU-486, which is the misoprostol and the methotrexate. Um, it's a two medication combo. You take one and then two days later you take the other four tablets.

Cal: (16:29)
That is a felony right now in this state. I mean, how do you feel about that?

Ireland: (16:36)
It's terrifying. It's scary. I have my own family … But I have to do it. (CHOKES UP)

Ireland: (16:56)
We cannot put women back in a place where they're resorting to coat hangers, knitting needles, bleach, turpentine, chemicals, women are going to die. And if I can save or help just one woman, it's completely worth it. And I will do it again over and over and over.

Ireland: (29:34)
This whole clandestine operation … what other option is there? There is no other option right now

RTV 00:16 – 00:57

Protesters singing song outside Supreme Court

By returning abortion law to the states to decide, the Supreme Court has set the stage for bitter divisions, and legal and political battles, for decades to come

Can we use this song as a music track that sees out the film – to play underneath remaing grabs?

Eric: (48:20)
we're far from the end

Eric: (46:36)
In the coming months and the next year, there's gonna be a lot of developments, not only in Alabama, but other states

RTV protest vision

Upsot RTV soulful singing outside SC

For both sides, it’s clear the end of Roe is not the end of this story

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Kathy in situ

Kathy: (02:29:34)
So we fought this in the seventies for ourselves. It was in the nineties for our daughters and I'm fighting for my granddaughters now.

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Heather main IV

Heather: (01:15:30)
There's a contest for the future … We need to recruit people and get them engaged … We need to say these words to our friends, to our neighbours publicly … We need to raise money … We need to show up and show both our anger and our love for each other. As we try and build what we called in the civil rights movement a beloved community.

NWT

Next week on Dateline

Banned from playing sport. We meet the female athletes desperate to flee Afghanistan