By
Civia Tamarkin, director of Birthright: A War Story
This is the last BAWS newsletter. For three years, we have used our film Birthright: A War Story to send a clarion call to stop the policing of the womb and the intrusion of government and religious doctrine into women’s health care. We showed how the anti-abortion movement carefully plotted its strategy and consolidated its power within the Republican Party. And we warned that the war to deny women the right to make their own medical decisions, to limit their access to reproductive health care, and to refuse them science-based medical treatment was endangering all pregnant women, including those who wanted to carry to term and give birth.
We brought the film’s message to communities and campuses all across the country, as well as to South Korea, Europe and Australia. We held webinars, reached millions of people on social media, and partnered with more than 40 organizations to educate voters on reproductive health issues.
But sadly, we now are ending our film’s impact campaign exactly as we started—sounding alarms!
Despite this week’s Supreme Court ruling that kept Louisiana clinics open by striking down a law needlessly requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges, the future of Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights is as dire as ever. Yes, the Court decision was a win. And with opponents racking up more than 1,200 abortion restrictions since Roe, we’ll certainly celebrate a win when we get one. But no victory laps -- it was just a reprieve from the onslaught, plugging one hole in the battered defensive barrier propping up Roe v. Wade.
In casting the deciding vote against the Louisiana law, Chief Justice John Roberts only upheld the precedent set four years ago when an identical Texas law was deemed unconstitutional. At the same time, he affirmed that states could restrict abortion rights and he left wide wiggle room to interpret what kind of substantial obstacle constitutes an undue burden on a pregnant woman.
His opinion opened the door for the Court to hear more challenges to reproductive rights. And there already are cases in the judicial pipeline where 1 in every 4 federal appellate judges is a Trump appointee. Whether the challenges are based on gestational markers or reasons like genetic anomalies, the gutting of Roe seems a foregone conclusion. In reality, it doesn’t exist for most women in this country without access to clinics and medical insurance coverage, especially those who are low-income and women of color.
The government’s brutal oppression of women intersects racism, sexism and classism. When will young women rise up and fight back? Will it take a video of a hemorrhaging woman whose miscarriage is mismanaged by a Catholic hospital to trigger action? Will it take a jailhouse photo of a pregnant woman arrested for endangering her fetus by shoveling snow?
We launched the film project in the immediate aftermath of the Hobby Lobby decision where the Supreme Court ruled that corporations could deny employees insurance coverage for contraception on religious grounds. We are concluding our film’s impact campaign as the Court announces whether it will gut the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act also based on religious objections.
The film will still be available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu and other digital platforms and you still can request community screenings and panel discussions on our website birthrightfilm.com where you will find a trove of informative resources. But we are handing the message and the mission off to you. Make your voice heard. Go fight! Go vote! Women’s lives depend on it.