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After Tiller

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Women's History Month 2026 • 1h 27m

Directed by Martha Shane & Lana Wilson • Documentary • 2014 • 88 minutes

Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas in May 2009, there are only four American doctors left who openly provide third-trimester abortions. AFTER TILLER paints a complex, compassionate portrait of these physicians — Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Dr. Warren Hern, Dr. Susan Robinson and Dr. Shelley Sella — who have become the new number-one targets of the anti-abortion movement, yet continue to risk their lives every day to do work that many believe is murder, but which they believe is profoundly important for their patients' lives.

The film weaves together revealing, in-depth interviews with the doctors with intimate verite scenes from their lives and inside their clinics, where they counsel and care for their anxious, vulnerable patients at an important crossroads in their lives. By sharing the moving stories of several of these patients, AFTER TILLER illuminates the experiences of women who seek late abortions and the reasons why they do so.

“A rare feat...a calm, humanist documentary about a hot-button topic." —Alissa Simon, Variety

"Whether one is pro-life, pro-choice or without an opinion on the issue, After Tiller provides personal insight into a heart-wrenching, complex reality. The film does not pretend to be an answer to the abortion controversy but rather a presentation of the people who are demonized, correctly or incorrectly, for their actions.” —The Hollywood Reporter

"Intimate and heartfelt...Brings an emotional clarity to an issue in which every nuanced turn of phrase has been made politically complicated.” —The Los Angeles Times

Sundance Film Festival
HotDocs
Human Rights Award, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

Tags
abortion, abortion debate, abortion doctors, after tiller, albuquerque, american studies, americas, anthropology and archaeology, anti-abortion movement, anti-abortion protestors, assassination, banning abortions after 20 weeks, bellevue, boulder, bullfrog films, civil rights, co, criminal justice, critical thinking and ethics, crossroads, difficult moral dilemmas, dr. george tiller, dr. leroy carhart, dr. shelley sella, dr. susan robinson, dr. warren hern, ethics, expository, gender studies, germantown, health, healthcare, healthcare1, human rights, kansas, late abortions, law and legal studies, maternal and child health, md, medical anthropology, medical ethics, medical procedures, medicine and nursing, midwife, nebraska, nebraska state legislature, new law, nm, oscilloscope, ovid, patients, philosophy, psychology and mental health, reasons for late abortions, religion and spirituality, reproductive rights, roe v. wade, s_0028, s_0043, s_0099, s_0150, s_0189, s_0192, s_0244, s_0246, s_0260, s_0263, s_0290, s_0306, s_0672, seeking late abortions, social issues, social psychology, sociology, targets, the, third-trimester abortions, title_a, title_abc, united states, womandirector, women's studies, world regions

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