When Abortion was Illegal
Bullfrog Films • 27m
Directed by Dorothy Fadiman • Documentary • 1993 • 28 minutes
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short
The era of illegal abortion, roughly the period between the turn of the century and the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, has been a sealed chapter in women's history.
The profound aura of shame and fear surrounding unwanted pregnancies and abortions before Roe v. Wade kept most women from ever admitting that they had had illegal abortions. Women suffering complications from back alley or self-induced abortions risked arrest if they admitted what they had done, as did their husbands and doctors if they acknowledged compliance and aid.
WHEN ABORTION WAS ILLEGAL illuminates this largely undocumented era and reveals the physical, emotional and legal consequences of having an abortion when it was a criminal act.
"Its tone is quietly eloquent, never hysterical... a picture of long-remembered fear and last ditch desperation." —Little Rock Free Press
Up Next in Bullfrog Films
-
Rosita
Directed by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater • Documentary • 2005 • 58 minutes
ROSITA, a documentary by award-winning filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, traces a young girl's journey from innocent victim to unwitting victor.
When a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl becomes pregnant as ...
-
Orchestrating Change
Directed by Margie Friedman, Barbara Multer-Wellin • Documentary • 2021 • 85 minutes
ORCHESTRATING CHANGE is the feature- length documentary film that tells the inspiring story of Me2/Orchestra, the only orchestra in the world created by and for people living with mental illness and those who su...
-
The Dirty War on the National Health ...
Directed by John Pilger • Documentary • 2019 • 106 minutes
Britain's National Health Service, the NHS, was the world's first universal public health service. Designed to give millions of people "freedom from fear" following World War II, the NHS today is under threat of being sold off and conver...
