This fascinating political look at a little-known chapter in women's history tells the story of "Jane", the Chicago-based women's health group who performed nearly 12,000 safe illegal abortions between 1969 and 1973 with no formal medical training. As Jane members describe finding feminism and clients describe finding Jane, archival footage and recreations mingle to depict how the repression of the early sixties and social movements of the late sixties influenced this unique group. Both vital knowledge and meditation on the process of empowerment, Jane: An Abortion Service showcases the importance of preserving women's knowledge in the face of revisionist history. JANE: AN ABORTION SERVICE was funded by the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg now 84, and still inspired by the lawyers who defended free speech during the Red Scare, Ginsburg refuses to relinquish her passionate duty, steadily fighting for equal rights for all citizens under the law. Through intimate interviews and unprecedented access to Ginsburg’s life outside the court, RBG tells the electric story of Ginsburg’s consuming love affairs with both the Constitution and her beloved husband Marty—and of a life’s work that led her to become an icon of justice in the highest court in the land.
Gloria Allred overcame trauma and personal setbacks to become one of the nation’s most famous women’s rights attorneys. Now the feminist firebrand takes on two of the biggest adversaries of her career, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump, as sexual violence allegations grip the nation and keep her in the spotlight.
"Renee" tells the story of Renee Richards' battle to enter the 1977 U.S. Open as the first transgender tennis player. Simultaneously, it follows her today as she struggles to cope with a life of contradictions and personal conflict. Through interviews with tennis legends, family, friends and experts from the transgender field, a story of perseverance, breakthrough and hardship unfolds.
This documentary film tells the dramatic story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple living in Virginia in the 1950s, and their landmark Supreme Court Case, Loving v. Virginia, that changed history.
Interviews from women involved in the 70's and 80's rock music industry. An examination of the people taking advantage of underage fans and calling for a "Me too" movement in the music world
"Clandestinas" is a documentary about the abortion situation in Brazil. Women share their experiences interrupting a pregnancy and actresses interpret that actual reports.
Documentary that delves deep into the history of abortion law, revealing the contradictory ways in which women's bodies have been used to further political and ideological agendas.
Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary follows families of those affected by the 2013 legislation stripping citizenship from Dominicans of Haitian descent, uncovering the complex history and present-day politics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the grassroots electoral campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris.
Defying the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of “Jane” risked their personal and professional lives to support women with unwanted pregnancies. In the pre-Roe v. Wade era — a time when abortion was a crime in most states and even circulating information about abortion was a felony in Illinois — the Janes provided low-cost and free abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.
Nineteen-year-old Tzalah is faced with an unwanted pregnancy, which prompts her to re-examine her co-dependent relationship with her mother, Bella.
In the fall of 2009, Lindsay Ellis, a 26-year old graduate student, went through the painful process of having an abortion. “The A-Word” follows Ellis as she opens up to her family and organizations from both sides of the debate, in search of healing. This is not a film about the protests and debates wrapped up in religious views and political agenda, but rather a personal journey about one woman’s struggle to shed the stigma attached to the A-word in hopes of starting a dialogue.
Both cautionary tale and rallying cry, Shouting Down Midnight recounts how the Wendy Davis filibuster of 2013 galvanized a new generation of activists and reveals what is at stake for us all in the struggle for reproductive freedom.
The story of The Satanic Temple, a controversial movement that combines religion and activism with the apparent purpose of questioning the basic foundations of US society.
By the end of his illustrious career, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves may well have been the preeminent lawman of the Old West. He brought upwards of 3,000 outlaws to justice and served in law enforcement for 32 years during Reconstruction after the Civil War. His story is one of an escape to freedom and the dangers of the West for a former slave who rose to become a legend of the law. Join us as we go in search of Bass Reeves.
A thought-provoking look at the subject of abortion today, told through the stories of women struggling with unplanned pregnancies, abortion providers and clinic staff and activists on both sides of this contentious debate.
In this documentary, 6 protagonists tell their personal experiences of abortion and sterilization, from unplanned pregnancy to a happy mother and vice versa from the wanted child to regretting motherhood.
Set in a speakeasy in Atlanta, “Twenty” is a feature documentary about fifteen young people making it through 2020. The film is an observational time capsule that lays bare the raw reflections of a group of people surviving a year that will be seared into our generational memory.
The film begins by showing images of the Holocaust, and stating that Hitler sanctioned the killing of 11 million people. This is followed by Comfort interviewing people about Adolf Hitler; their responses indicate a lack of historical knowledge, although he also finds a neo-Nazi who claims to love Hitler. Comfort proposes a hypothetical situation to his interviewees, asking if they would kill Hitler if they had the opportunity at that time in history. He asks more hypotheticals dealing with what his interviewees might do in other circumstances related to the Holocaust. He then switches his topic to make similar comparisons to abortion within the United States and the right to life, personalizing his arguments to make comparisons between the Holocaust and abortion in order to place the interviewees on the spot. The documentary concludes with Comfort stating that over 50 million abortions have occurred to date; he calls this the "American Holocaust".
In Argentina, a woman dies every week as the result of illegal abortions. In 2018, for the seventh time, a motion supporting legal, secure and free abortion was presented to the national congress of Argentina. The project provoked a fierce debate, revealing a society divided more than ever between the pro-life and freedom to choose positions. Through an assemblage of passionate testimonies, Let It Be Law documents the determination of women fighting bravely to secure the right to physical self-determination, and bears witness to their massive mobilization in the streets of Buenos Aires.