Transcripts For KQED Frontline 20240714

The people on both sides. This is literally a lifeordeath decision. And to ask a mother to think about it for 24 hours is very reasonable. He narrator and ttruggle over complex choices. Some patients are like, i dont want to be doing this, but it is the right only they know what they should do. Narrator tonight on frontline the abortion divide. Frontline is made psible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the cporation for public broadcasting. Major support is provided by tha john d. Anerine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verda and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org. The Ford Foundation working with visionaries on the frontlines of socialhange worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. Ad tional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. The pa foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. Th john and Helen Glessner family trust. Supporting trustworthy journalismhat informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. bells ringing in distance Mark Obenhaus 36 years ago,n i spent weeks hester, pennsylvania, making ailm about abortion for frontlines first season. It was ten years after roe v. Wade. Tonight, on frontline, for the rst time on American Television the experience of abortion. With this vacuum cleanertype tube, the baby is literallypa pulled and ripped to pieces. This is the story of ther anguish of fmen two who decide to have their babies, and two who choose to come here. The Abortion Clinic. Obenhaus the film revolved around the Reproductive Health and counseling center. Women who came to the Abortion Clinic oke about their decisions. Can you tell me why you chose this option, as opposed to the other ones . Do you know what they are . No. You dont know what your other options are . Well, keeping it, adoption. Mmhmm. But i know if i went through the nine months, i would have kept it. Mmhmm. And then it wouldnt have had the life. A good life, because i cant support myselft. Ye mmhmm. And i wouldnt be able to handle being a single parent on my own. Our father, who art in heaven. Obenhaus those in the community whsteadfastly opposed abortion and the clinics existence marched outside. Girls are coming here on saturday morning to have abortions. We pray for their babies and for them, and we also pray for the, for the abortionists. Realize what theyre dt give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive ose who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Obenhaus last year, i returned to pennsylvania, once again to a communityhat is today even more bitterly divided over abortion than it was 36 years ago. The conflict may be decadesold, but one thing has not changed women facing unplanned pregnancies still confront the same urgent and sometimes wrenching decision. car horn honks the origal clinic from the first film mergewith another clinic that now operat out of this unremarkable building ar horn honks a. Mercy have a heart obenhaus there areo signs for the clinic, but there are always protesters on the streets outside. Excuse me, maam . Killed here . How many babies are maam . whispers can i give this to you . Youd like to make an appointment . Obenhaus the philadelphia Womens Center began providing abortions in 1973. As many as 6,000 pregnanci a year are terminated here. Absolely nothing to eat, drink, or chew. And do you have any children . Six. Six . One, two, three, four. Nine, ten. Nine, ten. Mmhmm. Obenhaus dr. Rebecca mercier has been an abortion ovider for 11 years. Every kind of woman gets ung, women who are old, women of all races, women of all religions, womenho, its their first pregnancy, women with lots of children, um, women who never thought that they would be seeking an abortion. Obenhaus the clinic operates five days a week. On some of the days we were there, there were as many as 60 patients. Dr. Lisa perriera has been an Abortion Provider since 2003. The patients are so thankful and appreciative that they can come somewhere and be treated with dignity and rpect, because theyre making a choice that is theirs to make. Do you have any children . Yes, four. Four, okay. Any stillborns . No. Any miscarriage no. Have you ever had an abortion before . Mmhmm, one. Okay. Well, this my choice that im doing, because i dont want to bring another child into the world, and im not financially stable. Im already struggling with the four that i have. So i not sure what my other option wld be. But if this wasnt an option, then i know i would be struggling. Dominique. Im just going to take you upstairs, okay . Obenhaus most of the women we approached to be in the fil declined. Those who chose to speak, like shaharra and taryn, told us they wanted their stories to be heard. Id had unprotected sex jus one time with somee that i had been seeing, and i thought, well, you know, surely one time, you know, i would just get sort of a grace period on that. I had essentially talked myself t of the fact that i was pregnant. Have you ever had a vaginal ultrasound . I dont think so. Tl okay, a lbit of gel, a little bit of pressure, theres a camera on the tip, it gives me a ni, clean look inside the uterus. I already have two small children. I have a sixyearold and a fouryearold from a previous marriage, and im recently single. I have a corporate career. And so i decided that the best thing for me to do at this poinm life was going to be to terminate the pregnancy. So your ultrasound result i saw a multiple pregnancy, i saw twins. Wow. Re okay, i meaone at 5. 4, soive weeks and four days. And twin b at 5. 6. Okay . Okay. All right. So i going to do your blood pressure. W, does this change anything in your decision today . No. And it doesnt change anything on our end, as well. Okay. So everything stays just the same. Io this is not a posthat i ever thought i would be in. My initial thought was, i should tell no one about this, right, like, this should just be, you know, a secret that i, that i take to my, that i take to my grave, because itll change how people you know, seef damentally, or, or people will judge me for this. women speaking indistinctly okay. And you can set your things down, anywhere you like. O all right, im goingve you lay back right where you are and just open your pants for me. Okay. So the gels going to feel a little cold on your stomach, okay . Mmhmm. muttering im seeing something that, uh, resembleanother sac. Twins. Oh, my god. exhales so im going to do some. What does that mean . So like, like, is the procedure any different . No, its exactly the same, its no different. Why does it feel so different . Why does it feel different . My god, yeah. When she said that there were twins, i wasnt prepared for that at all. I didnt even consider the possibility. sniffles i dont know. Its not a rational thing. It felt. M e things a little different. Its a hard decision. It comptely does. You guys, youre six weeks right now, which means you have plenty of time. Do you feel like, if you guys went home and thought about it for, like, even, like, a few m days ae sure that this is what you want to do, like, thato d give you a little more time to think about it . Like, i want you to be certain that this is what you want to. It was, it was a double punch. Oh, yeah, for sure. It was, um. Were not taking this lighy at all. I want you guys to be confident, and you can always schedule and come back o tuesday, if you want. I appreciate that, and i, i. For, like. Our son couldnt do it. He is on the spectrum, nonspecific autism, more leaning towards aspergers. Oe he dt like to interact with humans, he doesnt like children. At all. I thk that this has a lot to do with noble. A lot to do with my son. Weve been married for five years, we have two children that were very planned, um. Ive. One is four and starting preschool, the other is two, just turned two. And, um, we found ourselves unexpectedly pregnant. Um. Yo know, motherhood is a huge part of my identity, and, uh. It wasnt an easy decision to come here today, but it definitely was necessary. J t bought a house, we are recovering financially fromat and this was just not the time, not a good time. I greup catholic, and, um, you know, they, they kind of teh you very young and i went to catholic school, too like, you know, this. Abortion is wrong, shouldnt do it, um, its a sin, all that, all that stuff. No ones going down to the corner store picking up an abortion like theyre picking up a pack of cigarettes. s its not, ot that easy. Youre going to have to lift your dress for me. The gels going to feel cold. Little pressure. Okay, six weeks and one day, okay . softly okay. Im going to wipe this off. You can sit up. What was that . Six weeks and one day. sniffling k yw, i wanted to look at the screen, but i didnt want to look, and. I dont know, i feel like being a, a parent already has made it kind of an even more difficult thing and even more reason, youn , for some that i shouldnt ouldnt talk about it, um. Th why do yok that is . Because im a mother. Im not ppose to be doing stuff like this, right . Um, you know, whats one more . , right . Its not that simple, though, u know. Al im a medicoctor, this is what your baby looks like. U i think ought to at least take it and look at it whileti youre sng there in the waiting room. Obenhaus dr. George isajiwa is the pennsylvarector of the catholic medical association. I first met dr. Isajiw on the sidewalk outside the clinic where we shot the firstye frontline film 36 ars ago. And this is a lifesize,de realsize moof a pregnantm uterus ten weeks fro conception. And as a matter of fact, you and i were once this se and even smaller. So thats the rst victim in abortion. My conviction is that life begins at nception. And every baby, by the time you even recognize that theres a pregnancy, is already an individual, unique human being that. Uh, and then heres where the religion comes in, who is not only unique, but the soul will survive the death. And the reason im explainin this to you is because. Obenhaus dr. Isajiws activism has always been rooted in the counseling of young women to reject abortion. W whfirst met, he was counseling as many as six women a week. This is the result of an abortion at about 11 weeks with this vacuum cleanertype tube. The baby is literally pulled apart and ripped to pieces and killed by that process. I dont see how anybody can do that. I know that when women find out what aboion really does, and what its all about, there are very few who really want to do that to their baby, okay . Here we have at 14 weeks. And now the main difference is, the baby is bigger, and the skin babys no longer as transparent. And thats what he looks right, thats what he looks like or she. What were your feelings when you found out thatou were pregnant . Oh, i could have hit the ceiling, really. I just wanted to forget about it, and i still do, in a way. Right, so you obvious were not planning this pregnancy. No, it was not planned at all. Sir, are you, are you the father of the baby, sir . If oure the father of the baby, you have a stake in this. I need you to stand over there without harassing anyone, without botheryone. Wait a minute, harassing is in the eyes of the beholder. Ar im not pr to go to jail. Ive been in jail over this, but, but. Okay, do you want toai go back to i dont think this would stand up in court. Would you like to go back to do you think this would stand up in court . Would you like to test that theory . Circumstances, i would. Obenhaus in 1986, dr. Isajiw waf arrested and convicted o felony for trespassing inside the clinic where the first film was shot. At this particular time, i dont have the time to getpe arrested and that time in court. Our father, who art in heavenhallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. Obenhaus the first thing you encounter when entering thepr clinic is the bullf glass separating the public areas fro. The clinic its door buzzing recent years have seenn increase in intimidation of patients and threats against doctors, like dr. Perriera, who was singled out online on a website run by the Group Operation rescue. Im not afraid of being b threatenthem, but it is framed in reality, there are people that are violent toward Abortion Providers. Yesterday was the annirsary of the murder of dr. George tiller, who was one of the idols in our community. And he was shot in his church while he was an usher on a sunday morning. At many of us think about sure, we think about tt. That can happen. Obenhaus the presence of protesters outside the clinic is a persistent reminder of the threat. Do you want your baby to die, maam . Theyre outside most days that im here, they walk up andd down thealk, they hold their signs. Youll live with this the rest of your life. They ye things at the patients. Ive never seen them become violent. But everyone who works in this community should be and is aware of the threat of ve. Obenhaus in 1982, when the first film was shot, security was light. The waiting room was relaxed and the staff wore street clothes. Then, the procedure rooms were spare, with a minimum of equipment. woman speaking on p. A. the clinic today has the look of a hospital. Antiabortion groups inhe pennsylvania and 23 states have pressed for the passage oft lat mandate Abortion Clinics operate as ambulatory surgical facilities. Pennsylvania implementede regulations under bulatory surgical facilities act that governs everything from the width of hallways, to where sinks are located, to the hvac systems, to the job descriptions. Abortion care providers have come into compliance with numerous regulations at great cost, at great financial cost to the women who need abortions, and also its limited the mber of Abortion Providers in this state. E d to spend over 500,000 on improvements, um, that did nothing to improve the health of our patients. Benhaus antiabortion activists see this as progress. Ourost recent bill on abortion facilities, uh, restricted supply. It said if you want to operate an abortion facility, you have to meet certn requirements, the same as any other ambulatory surgical facility. He and several ofdid not. We went from 22 freestanding abortion facilities down to 14. people talking in background ill get you all chked in. Hello, my name is dr. Mercier. Pennsylvania requires thate give you the following information before we see you for an abortion procedure. Obenhaus like many other states, pennsylvania now requires that doctors read a script to inform women of alternatives to abortion and the potential risks of the procedure. Infection, heavy bleeding, or clots in the uterus needing removal, problems with future pregnancie infertility, damage to the cervix, vagina, or uterus, or to her abdominal organs requiring hospitalization or additional surgery. For abortion, these risks are very low. Obenhaus pennsylnia was the first state to mandate the message be delivered 24 hours before a womans abortion. This is literally a lifeordeath decision. And we should be doing whatever we can to,ve mothers and children from abortion. To make women think about it. And we make no apologies for that. There is the sense that women simply cant make moral decisions on their own. The state has to intervene and, and tell them what to do. I think its pure hypocrisy. Okay. Now, as far as getting you scheduled, with that information rsession, there is a 24h waiting period. Were going to review your medical histor and we can get that appointment all set up. Do you remember the first day of your last normal mensual. Obenhaus the clinics call center is open seven days a week, and when we visited, there was a constant flow of incoming calls to schedule abortions. Are you looking to do the medical abortion by pill or the surgical procedure . A medical abortion procedure is very similar to inducing aag miscar um, it is safe for women to do up to about ten weeks of their pregnancy. So do u have any questions before we get you started here . No. A great procedure for women who want to feel like they have control over the procedure, who wants to just have everything happen in the privacy of their own home. S obenhhe drug mifepristone ru486 was approvedf by t in 2000. Well have you do the first pill. Medical abortions now account for roughly a third of all abortions in pennsylvania. This is the first pill youre ing to take. This is the one called the mifepristone. This is the stuff that makes the to unattach a little bit fromart the uterus. It gets the process started. Okay. At so you swallow own like a regular pill. Okay. 24 hours later, she takes anothepill called misoprostol that helps to induce the cramping and the bleeding that will actually help her body push the pregnancy tissue out of her uterus. This is the misoprostol medicine, gives you little bit of the miscarriage symptoms. Okay. Okay . Upd do you have your follo appointment made . I do. Okay, in a week or two . Yes. Okay. Thats reallyim rtant, because. What i hope i feel is a sense of peace not only with myself and in the decision that ive made, but also a sense of peace with these two beings that ive osen not to bring into t world. Thank you for choosing me, and im honored to be given th gift of life, and also i, i cant do it right now. I cant accept that mantle in terms of the other lives thate im taking c and im responsible for. m i thinklways going to feel a little bit of guilt, but we have to feel comfortable with the decision we made. In i know ill dely be sad, um, because if things had just been a little bit hifferent, you know, maybe wouldnt have happened today. But, you know, im confident in the decision we made. His is the medication abortion pill, the mifepristone, im going to have you swallow this with a small p of water. Or as much of a sip of water as you nt. Okay. S so thats the one thrts the abortion process. Holy mary, mother of god, ay for us sinners. Obenhaus dr. Monique ruberu is an obstetriciangynecologist who frequently protests on the streets outside the Womens Center. The destruction of any life is a definite affront to god. So when an abortion takes place, and an innocent life that has not done any harm to anybody is destroyed, i believe that that is one of the greatest sadnesses of god, but it pleases the devil. Im an obgyn physician, sir. O she deservesve options. I know she feels boxed in, i know you guys feel like you have to do this. He we can hel it used to be that people tried to be present on the killing days, the days when the surgical abortions were known to happen in the Abortion Centers. L but ru486 as completely changed the landscape of abortion. And it really necessitates that e somebody is present outs these Abortion Centers every single day, every hour that they are open. Sweetie, if you took the abortion pill,e can reverse it. You have 72 hours,oney. They dont want me to talk to you, but this is infortion that can help you. You deserve to know all of the options, okay . Obenhaus dr. Ruberu is part of a network of doctors who cite anecdotal evidence to support the controversial practice of prescribing the hormone progestene to reverse the effects of ru486. He i thinks only maybe three of us in this philadelphia area that volunteered for that hotline so far. So they callhe hotline, and then you get the, the womans history, and you dont even have to see her. You call into their pharmacy, and you get them these high doses of progesterone, which are easily available. The babies that are saved from the ru486 do awome, and they dont have any problems following, as far we know. We can help you. If you took the abortion pill, we c reverse it. And weve been so blessed. In my office alone, weve had three reversals. Eits so nice to see at t of the road, those moms are so grateful and, um, happy that they chose to reverse. And would you like to know how far you are today . Mmhm okay. Okay, im dating at nine weeks and one day. Okay. Im grateful that im getting this taken care of. If i wasnt, i would be at home, you know, ying to. Stressed out trying to figure out what my next move is or, what my next i pl so it is, it is a relief, because i was ressed out before i walked in the door this morning. Good morning. Im dr. Liveright, nice to meet you. You, too. Utny questions, concerns a anything today . No. About three minutes start to fish, okay . Mmhmm. This is the last part of the consent form the nurse already reviewed with you. I just need your signature and date here on the top line. Okay. Obenhaus shaharra chose to a to have a surgicalrtion under i. V. Sedation. Li you might feel a le warm feeling going through your i. V. Site, okay . Its normal, and it will go away. Obenhaus i. V. Sedation was not an option for patients at the clinic where the first film was shot. Easy does it. Just breathe nice and slow. Lots of cramps. Th obenhaus patient were awake, and the procedure was uncomfortable, even painful. Youre drifting off to sleep, okay . Take some nice, big, deep breaths. Obenhaus most patien opt to have a surgical procedure. Like shaharra, they want to leave the clinic with the abortion behind them. Surgical abortion is incredibly safe. The woman is in stirrups. We do a bimanual exam to feel ruthe positioning of the u i place the speculum, clean off the cervix, and then place a small clip on the top of the cervix to stighten out the uterine canal. The second part of the procedure is dilating the cervix, which is using instruments to gently open the entry into the uterus, and then removing the pregnancy tissue using suction. sucking, vacuum whirring it takes somewhere between two and five minutes. Complications are incredibly rare. people talking indistinctly one of the most importantco onents of safety with abortion procedures is making sure that all of the pregnancy tissue has been removed from the uterus. The tissue is taken to a special room within the clinic. It is rinsed off and its looked at in a special dish with a little backlight on it that lets us confirm that we are seeing all the tissue that would be expected for the gestational age of the pregnancy. And that ls us know that there werent any complications. Obenhaus the gestational age of this fetus was nine weeks and one day. Up to nine to ten weeks, its just a small little piece oft translucc tissue with nothing that loo recognizable as any kind of fetal parts. After that, you do see, um, recognizable as fetal tissue. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven. Bless us, oh, lord, hear our cry for justice bless us, oh, lord, our god give us this day our daily bread. Obenhaus dr. Isajiw introduced me to pat stanton. Pat comes from a family of prolife activists. He the 1980s, his late fat organized the protests that take place every saturday outside the phadelphia Womens Center. Om change your mind, were out here. Ar itsric to chop a baby up, put it in a little canister, take it out, and count the pieces. Thats what they have to do. Whos doing this . What kind of world have we hientered into where we doto our children . Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble predominantly, the protesters are older white males, and the patients are young women. Ol obenhaus lynner coordinates the volunteers who escort women into the clinic. I dont understand why older white men think its appropriate for them to be, um, standing at a clinic where young women come for health care, be talking to them, interacting with them, sometimes touching them. Please, dont do this. The babys heart is already beating. What sometimes happens is, the women will get there and freeze. Real help. And realize what it is thatey e walking into. The magnitude and the yelling can be very upsetting to them. Mercy i think its a spiritual batt, myself. Its between us and satan. Uh, and i think wh we, uh, do our best to follow our lord and the ten commandments, we wl conquer and, and bring others to our side in a loving mner. This is life, thats death. Were here to help you. Be aus stanton often tries to speak to the men who accompany women to the clinic. Pray for strength and prayr sdom. If theres any chance that this girl can come out of there, lord, let it happen, let it be a miracle. Let this baby grow up to be a great man. I i ask thyour name, jesus, amen. My girl just said the only way shes walking out of there is if she says that theyre twins, and im, like, whats the difference between one and two . Yeah, that doesnt make anygi l sense. But, i mean, what the hell, like, i just cant. I dont want to make it seem like im controlling her, like. Christian, sometimes all thef need is a wom you. They got to feel that the mans behind them 100 . How many kids you got . Nine. Nine . Id go in there and give it one more shot, and bring a couple of other women out, brothe obenhaus christian did go back into the clinic, but he told us later that his girlfriend went ahead with the abortion. So we know that we just have to stay the course. And re going to be beaten u and, and have many, uh, many failures. But we have to continue. So i would say perseverance has been airtue thats instilled by our faith. You cant be a parttimed christian ght a fulltime devil. Obenhaus the clearest symbol of todays antiabortione movement is isis pregancy center. There were only a few op. Ating in the early 1980s now there are thousands across the country. Theyre very wellconnected, and theyre very wellfunded. Their whole existence is to persuade women who go there not to have abortions. And, um, it,t ranges from gentle persuasion to fairly coercive persuasio obenhaus there are as many as 150 in pennsylvania, many located near Abortion Clinics. Li but Abortion Clinics, they are not required to be licensed by the state. The Crisis Pregnancy Center is a beautiful phase of the Prolife Movement that offers real help and hope for women inn crisis pcies. Uh, we realize, if were ever going to outlaw abtion, that we have to be able to help women who, who feel thats their only ternative. And weve provided an answer, no, thats not your only alternative. And it has literally saved thousands of lives every year in the philadelphia aa. Obenhaus amnion is a crisis pregnanccenter that caters to lowincome women. The mission of amnion is really to serve, um, abody in an unplanned pregnancy. If someone is calling to scdule an abortion, i will abortions here, because i wantm to be truthful with them right up front. Um, but i always say to them, but youve called the right place, because i want that we do have servict away, them. Obenhaus amnions approachof is tr counseling, parenting classes, clothing, diapers, and pregnancy testingr all fo. Thank you. You can have a seat. So have you already tested at home . To see if you were pregnant . Yeah, i did last, um, friday. Okay, what did you get . Oh, it was a negative, but period is late, so i dont know. Mmhmm. Weffer pregnancy testing, but we dont provide contraception here. We dont want people engaging in behavior thats risky to them emotionally, um, and physically. We want to encourage them to make better choices with their behavior. We realize that promiscuity drives abortion, so thereforeou part o our great cause is promoting the chastity message. Contraception taay a natural barrier to promiscuity, and promiscuity is what drives abortion. All right, so this paper is just saying you were here today for a pregnancy test, and itas negati, okay . Mmhmm. So either that means youre not pregnant, or you are pregnant, but its too early to tell. Now, you would still be pretty early. So if you havent gotten yourhe periodyou come back, well retest you. Andriana, come on back. Obenhaus andriana is 22 with an eightonthold daughter. Your test is coming up positive, congratulations. Tell me how youre feeling about im fine. Cy. Yeah . Were you trying to get pregnant . No. Okay. So it wasnt planned, but its okay. No, it wasnt planned. Your mom, what does she have to say about it . Is she happy for you . She was not happy. W as not happy, okay. We use ultrasound as a tool, uh, for helping our clients, uh, choose life. So youre going to be able to look up here and see everything were doing, okay . We set up a big screen up one ll, so that they can look up and see whats going on inside their uterus and how the babys growing. So we want to see the baby inside your uterus. fussing and then we want to measure and see how far along you are, okay . baby babbling now, did i do your ultrasound with her . Yeah. Shes talking to us. She says, thats my brother or sister. Okay, we have eight weeks, oney, da plus or minus six here. Andriana, this is your babyri t here, okay . This flickering here is the heart beating. You see that . That beating heart. Its hard then, you know, deny that theres, um, theres a baby. Its not, its not just tissue the. Its not something thats easily, um, disposed of. And im going to measure the body length again here. E women who are happy th theyre pregnant or on the fence, a lot of times theyre just really surprised. You can see in their face that there is a, a joyful reaction. Ay some women who are considering abortion are, are kind of, um. Not thrilled. You know, they might be looking, and it might bring ua lot of complex feelings for them. I have offered to pray with women, and will do that if i feel like theyre open to that. Um, and most of the time, theyve said yes. chuckles i have only had a couple of people who have said no. And heres your pictures. Thank you. Youre welcome. Thats really where we have an opportunity to form ala onship with a client, to show them that we care about vels. On all those differentle we care about you as a person, as a spiritual person, and as a person with an eternal soul, and we want to be able to really show you that youre loved here. fussing obeaus the staff at amnion counsels against abortion, based on their christian faith. We met one woman who was unpersuaded and came to the philadelphia Womens Center. Skye is 23 years old, and this is her first pregnancy. And i just need to confirm that youre here for Abortion Services today, obviously. Mhmm. Youre confident in your decision to terminate your pregnancy . Mmhmm. No one is forcing you to terminate your pregnancy today . Nope. I went to amnion pregnancy center. Um, s in upper darby. Just breathe normally. S the servicethat they provide are free. The nurse did, though, s to me, like, are you sure you dont want to just, you know,ti put it up for ad . You know what i mean . Like, she was kind of, like, prolife. Hu les listen, you know you can come back with your boyfriend. We can talk about different options. D we canother ultrasound again, and then he can look at the baby, as well, maybe change his mind with that im just, like, no, no, let me just g this over with. Ill, ill deal with the depression or sadness later. There you go. Thank you. Yourwelcome, and you can go ahead and swallow that. Im going to be upset about it for a little bit. Go ig to pray, probably every single night now. I just felt like i was a horrible person for deciding to actually go through with an abortion, to kill a human being, even though it was only, like, an embryo. I got to go back to work. , but obenhaus skye earns less than 300 a week. Like other women we met at the clinic, she struggles to support herself. These men no longer can. They are homeless. Most collect somform of public assistance. They are living at mothers home in upper darby, pennsylvania. Its a shelter for pregnant women thats housed in what wasc oncevent. Hi, howre you doing today . Okay, very good. Obenhaus it was founded in 1991 by a group led by dr. Isajiw. Being able to promise them a place to live was an extremely powerful too that gave them the courage to obenhaus mothers home can house up to 20 women. They can stay while pregnant and for six months after they deliver. The common circumstance that brings the majoritof our residents here is trauma. Theres abuse. Theres a lot of domestic violence. Theres drug addiction. S um, therauma thats just overflowing from childhood, things that never heal, disconnected families. Our goal is to support those t women who, in spite ir circumstances, still want to give birth tthese babies. When women come in for the interview, theyve already made the decision that they want to keep their baby. J they at looking for a safe place. Where are you living . Um, some guy let me stay at his house, he said i had until today. Today is your deadline . Yes. All right. So do you have any interactionhe with tather of your child . No. Okay. I just want to get my kids home. You want to get your kids home. Te my oldest dauhas cerebral palsy. My youngest stays with my aunt in connecticut. Okay. Theyre able to come home, i just dont have a home. Okay. Thank you. Youre welcome. shushing once you have the baby, a lot of people forget about you. She cant raise that baby ifal shes not healthy me and physically. So theres no sense in ending it there. Like, yes, everyone can say theyre prolife, but you have to, to put that into, like, motion. You have to help the woman after she has the baby. Youre tired. Often the criticism that is leveled is that were onlyte sted in the, in the baby in the womb and only helping thy woman until the eft the womb, the baby was, uh, delivered, and after that, uh, uh, we, we werent interested in helping women. But that is not thcase. Howre you doing, pat . Obenhaus before he started mothers home, dr. Isajiw and his wife invited yng, pregnant women to live in their own homee anybodylse whod like coffee . Obeaus this is the scene in 1982. We found in the counseling that women were sayingi dont really want an abortion. But if i dont have an abortion, my husband will, will leave me, or hell kick meut, or my parents will kick me out. I went in to see dr. Um isajiw tuesdayand i talked to him for, like, and i told him all about it. Like, you know, that everything that was happening. About how my. If i, if i were have. If i were to have an aborti, how the abortion would be. stutters . Performed. It, like, a salt injection would be injected into my stomach, and, like, the baby would slowly die inside of me, like, skin would be burning away. Ju so i said, i going to go ahead with the pregnancy, and, uh, ill come live with you, so i can get the proper care and all. Obenhaus nancy decided to u put her bafor adoption. We feel. I feel, anyhat. Were not ready to have kids yet, because were not financially sound. I wa to be. When i have my kids, i want to be financially sound. Then were going to start planning on having children the proper way. We dont want to bring unwanted children into the world and have e. Em abused like other children we want to grow. We want to raise our children up right. Not like our parents. We both me from broken homes, and i dont want my kids raised in, had. I dontant to feel that im going to have my kids are going to split up. Nancy i dont want to feel that way. cause me and larry, were not going to split up. Were going to be together forever. Im so glad i didnt get an abortion. Okay, ready for grace . Mmhmm. Bless us, oh lord, for these. Thy gifts which we areto aboueceive from thy bounty, through christ our lord. Amen. 38 men over a period of 15 years, High School Students and college students. Over time, we were getting a different kind of woman. You know, often we were getting, uh, somebody who was addicted. Sometimes we were getting, uh, people who had h. I. V. And other tension in terms of tromore house them in private homes. And then the whole movement throughout the country to create maternity homes was very important. Hey. people talking in background obenhaus there are now 17 similar homes in the philadelphia area. Many were founded by people like dr. Isajiw, who oppose premarital sex. When i was a teenager, if yoi had sex a girl, if she got pregnant, youre, youre the father, youre responsible for not only the baby, but her, for the rest of your life, or youre going to have to marry her. I would think if we still had all the ns, and we still had the teaching the way it was, wed have fewer girls needing hoing, because they wouldn be getting pregnant. Obenhaus its not a view shared by the residents we met. What many do share with dr. Isajiw is his view on abortion. They reject it. And for some, it is a choice theyve now made over d over again. I was just kind of going crazy, like, no, i dont want to be pregnant no more, no more babies. But i dont believe in abortion, so. I come from a big family. I think babies are a blessing. Thats why i have all eight of and i guess thats just how my family is. Dont none of my family believe in it, le, abortions. Obenhaus two of rosies children live with her sister, five are in foster care. I need a big house; i have a lot of kids. chuckles say, its okay to be a singleo mother to multiple children. So its very hard to blameer for it when she doesnt know any better. Maybe her mother was that way. Uh, the whole neighborhood was. That w this is whats happened to our society. H name is dominic jayceer he was premature, like, a highrisk thing. I have previously had a drug problem. Im doing way better than i have. I did good before, but, uh, ive done, ive done worse. A shelter may not be the best thing in everybodys mind, but it helped us aot, so. I have four, four babies yep, two girls and two boys. They live in western pennsylvania. A t has them. So. So theyre good. But they do call her mommy. So i was offended at first, but then i understood, like, they needed a mommy, and i was not proving capable of doing that at e time, so. Now were trying again. Hes pretty special. And nobody taking this one. chuckling they may not have been able to get it right the rst time or the second time or the third or the fourth. But this is another chance. Me and her dad, trinitys dad, we partied a lot together. And we were both sent prison, um, when i was, like, eight months pregnant with her. When i got out, i was homeless. I was literally homeless. I lived out of my car for, like, a week. There we go. Aw. trinity whimpering i know, its okay, its just water. She has a rare,m, condition called septooptic dysplasia. It aects the hormones in her body, and then her optic nerves are also affected. Its an abnormality in her brain. I didnt kw for four months. I was pregnant i was still on birth control. Ke and i was drinking, i was smoking, like, living, like, the fast life. Then lo and behold, there was a little heartbeat. And thats when they told me how far i was. Um, i was going to go and. Abort her, but i was literally in the chair, about to get it done, and, like, i had to leave. I got up, and i walked out, and i said, i cannot killy baby. So i just accepted thatwh ever was meant to be would be. So just one day at a time, and m prepared for whatever can happen with her. The stigma that society says about single mothers whore poor, theyre a drain on the finances of the community, theyve made mistakes, these children are mistakes, why do we have to take care of they should give their children to other people. Theyve been even advised to have an abortion, because theres nothing that they can give to a child. But every sing woman that comes through that door, thats their desire, to give theira child tter chance at life. Obenhaus mothers home lacks the resources to follow residents after they leave. On the obvious quesf what happens to the women and their children goes unanswered. Mercy on their face hail mary, full of grace. Mom, we can help you. O woman talkip. A. obenhaus christine and micah made what was for them aery difficult decision. Okay, i love you, thank you. Obenhaus they chose to go ahead with the abortion. Y . Howre you doing toda nervous . No, no, im not nervous some patients are, like, iwa don to be doing this, but it is the right choice for me. And its okay to feel those emotions. Try to just let them know it is okay. Doesnt mean they shouldnt do it. Only they know what they should do. Nice, slow, dp breaths, a little oxygen. Ly obenhaus hey know what they should do. Its a statement i heard 36 years ago and continue to hear repeated today. Im almost done with e dilation. I respect people that say abortion is wrong, but people havebortions. People have babies. Life is complicated. equipment whirring all right, were all done. Thats it. Are you ready for me . I am. Women are not vessels forg just carryegnancies. They are full human beings who deserve to have, um, control of their lives, and being able toou choose whethere going to continue with a pregnancy or not is a lifechanging thing. Love you. We are the light of the may our light shine before all obeaus but the antiabortion forces i met heres in pvania are unmoved by any argument for abortion. Ze they are more orga more dedicated, and even more uncomproming than they were 36 years ago. They are committed to one goal ending abortion, no matter how long it takes. Its going to be brutal and bloody. Th and were only isecond or third round of this fight. This fight is going to be multigenerational, just as the fight against slavery was. And itll be our successors thatll eventually win this fight. And easy victory, but quick will at some point win. Obenhaus the end of the battle over abortion, here i pennsylvania and everywhere else, seems a long way off. New tariffs announced by the Trump Administration on chinese exports. Narrator the u. S. Chinri valry. China is now punching back. The chinese used pocies inconsistent with free and fair trade. Were not in a trade war. Arwere in a techonomic narrator frontline and npr investigate whats at stake. Do you think americans should be worried . Y , i think so. Theyve outsmarted us. Weve got to fix our system to narrator trumps trade war. Go topbs. Org frontline to find out how access to ortion is changing around the country. Tonight on frontline. And stream Abortion Clinic, the 1983 film au by producer mark obe can you tell me why you chose this option, as opposed the other ones . Do you know what they are . No. You dont know what your other options are . Connect to the Frontline Community on facebook, and twitter, and watch frontline anytime on the pbs video app or pbs. Org frontline. Frontline is made possible by coributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Hu macafoundation, committed and peaceful world. Just, verdant more information at macfound. Org. Ou the fordation working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worlide. At fordfoundation. Org. By the abrams foundation,vided committed to excellence in journalism. The park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessnerly farust. Supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspir. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major suppo from jon and jo ann hagler. Captned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. To order frontlines the abortion divide on dvd visit shoppbs, or call 1800playpbs. This program is also available on amazon prime video. Yoatching pbs. Youve said youd favor middleclass taxuts. The front line is just up here. Thats where the river. She took me out to those wetlands. I think were o