The abortion war | Fault Lines

[Music] on the boardwalk of California's Venice Beach these teenagers have come to perform their own brand of Street Theater every day in our country we kill over 3500 human beings we are survivors of the abortion Holocaust they're here to up the mantle of America's anti-abortion Movement we deserve better than abortion they call this demonstration a Dy in each person represents over 1 million children who have been killed since the legalization of abortion these activists believe that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder but not everyone agrees with them other people believe that abortion is a medical procedure that women should have access to legally and safely and that women's basic human Rights include control over their bodies abortion is a travesty against the American people it's no secret that for decades the United States has been polarized over the issue of abortion the very nature of a woman but what's different now is that across the US in an election year the battle has been taken to a whole new level and you are paying for that Slaughter with your tax dollars Open the Eyes of My [Music] Heart this is the survivors of the abortion Holocaust Camp hundreds of Christian high school and college students from all over the US have gone through this program since it began 15 years ago Shin Glory it's run by prominent anti-abortion leaders whove come to teach the students how to get the movement's message across now you guys are going out in the street today and you're going to meet a lot of people and I bet a lot of them have been stolen from they've had their money stolen their baby killed and often times their lives destroyed and so there's a sea of wounded out there you as activists for Jesus are going to go out there you're going to respond to that today will be the first time they take what they've learned in the classroom to the street Hollywood Boulevard and when you show up with a picture of an aborted baby it's going to scratch the the small scab that's over that wound and they're going to be bleeding right in front of you here move up against the glass move up against the glass stay out of the walkway stay out of the walkway KT Rogers Haner is one of the most active students in the group someone Camp organizers hope will be a future anti-abortion leader the first time I saw a graphic image it really struck me wow this is happening in America this is happening in my country people are dying now while I'm sitting here right now and um God came and spoke to me and say look you need to do something about this it is your job the blood will be on your hands if you don't stand up at this camp and in this movement language is everything an abortion clinic is called an abortion Mill an abortion doctor is an abortionist an embryo or fetus is a pre-born baby right on true baby it's true what is it that's a baby honey so against the I understand it it's it's shocking and jolting to people but the reality is that's truth and As Americans we got to get our heads out of the sand it's true but not everyone is so receptive to the group's tactics bless in front of the Disney Store in a tourist area where there are very small children they are presenting material that is not appropriate for children that kid is 13 years old he's not allowed to go to an R-rated movie but yet he is presenting R-rated material and I don't think that it's right have a nice day ma'am and have a good evening they're smart they're energetic they're well educated in the issues of abortion and with a focus and a determination I believe that these young people will lead us to an end to abortion in America that makes them very dangerous to the abortion industry they do believe that they are raising up a generation of holy Warriors that's incredibly powerful and I also think for a teenager it's intoxicating because you're basically saying that you are going to be a player in this kind of ultimate showdown between good and evil hopefully in 20 years abortion will no longer be an epidemic but even so like we have memorials for the civil rights movement and memorials for the Holocaust I will still be standing on the street corner with a sign reminding Americans that this was our Holocaust this is what we took part in and I we're reminding them of that so that we never do it again even though abortion has been legal throughout the us since the 1973 Supreme Court ruling Ro versus Wade the issue still stir passions like few others and in closely fought elections like this one it can draw voters to the polls essentially when you come to abortion Americans go crazy one side is trying to ensure access so that women can have families when they want to and one side is trying to ensure that every pregnancy ends in a baby Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is campaigning in the swing state of Ohio I support a woman's wife a woman's right to choose too but her right to choose ends when she gets into the bed the Republican Party draws heavily on Conservative Christian voters and abortion has become a litus test for those seeking the nomination during the primaries like every other candidate in the running Mitt Romney announced he was against it but the truth is that his position has changed over time while running for governor of Massachusetts 10 years ago he pledged to preserve and protect a woman's right to choose but in 2005 just 2 years before he first ran for president Romney declared he was pro-life and now he says Row versus Wade should be reversed hi there thank Governor Romney why did you change your position from supporting the right of a woman to choose to opposing abortion hi there how are you why did you change your position on abortion as soon as you decided to run for president how are you good to see you you got your date [Music] wrong so now Mitt Romney's position which is that he wants to ban abortion with a few narrow exceptions that used to be the rightwing position that's now the moderate position I don't believe for a second that Romney cares about abortion I do think that increasingly the True Believers have kind of you know they've been on this long march through the system and they have you know now ascended to positions of power and for them it really is a a crusade City on a Hill thank you so much what's different about this presidential race is that it's not just abortion that's firing up both parties I'm Barack Obama and I this message this is not the 1950s contraception is so important to women it's about a woman being able to make decisions some liberal Americans are trying to convince everybody that the Republican party is waging a war against women a republican amendment to President Obama's contraversial contraception directive has failed President Obama used his healthc care plan to declare war on religion forcing religious institutions to go against their faith Mitt Romney believes that's wrong when religious freedom is threatened who do you want to stand with you know you could say there's a war on women's bodies to me that seems kind of irrefutable this created this huge backlash that has really I think surprised a lot of people who weren't paying close attention and who didn't realize that much of the anti-abortion movement is as opposed to contraception as it is to abortion you know and does see very little moral distinction actually between the morning after pill or the birth control pill or the IUD and an abortion at 15 [Music] weeks pray the rosary and you'll choose life at the preterm abortion clinic in Cleveland Ohio protesters are offering women what they call sidewalk counseling no good will come of you entering this place of death and doom no problems are solved here only greater problems are created Mommy your baby wants to live it seems not fair and it creates stigma and it makes the women anxious and it makes them feel like they're doing something wrong or bad and they're not they're doing the thing that is best for them best for their families best for their life Dr Lisa Pereira has worked at preterm for 2 years during that time she's seen hundreds of women pass through the Clinic's doors they are moms and they're looking out for their families and they know that they can't bring another child into the world they are women that are trying to finish college and and um trying to Make a Better Lives from themselves so that later on they can provide well for a family they are women that have complicated pregnancies where they have babies that are very much desired however the baby is sick and won't survive outside of the womb so they choose to terminate their pregnancy deep breath in blow out mhm one of Dr pereira's patients is a 16-year-old girl who became pregnant because of a broken condom and as you're getting nice and comfy we're going to be setting up all of our instruments okay despite her family's strong Christian faith they decided that abortion was the best choice her mother asked us not to show her face she went back and forth with I'm going to have this child and I could tell that when she did that she did that because deep down inside that's what we all want to do that's nature but she's 16 she hasn't completed her education if my daughter were forced to have a child that she was not ready for no one will be there to pick up those pieces in 5 years it's so hard will God forgive me that's what she said to me almost one out of three women in the US will have an abortion by the age of 45 last year across the country Republican lawmakers tried to turn over a thousand pieces of legislation into laws all aimed at restricting abortion or Reproductive Rights yeah unfortunately that legislation has changed um trying to restrict things for women you might be better off going to a clinic in either Michigan or Pennsylvania I can give you here in Ohio the state's Republican majority House of Representatives passed the so-called heartbeat bill which would outlaw abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected that can sometimes be as early as five or 6 weeks after conception before most women even know that they're pregnant representative Jim B key is one of the Bill's co-sponsors I'm I'm believe in the sanctity of life and I am in support of any legislation is going to reduce or eliminate abortions I believe there should be an abortions period accepting the threat of the life of the mother and ironically it's called the heartbeat bill I call it the heartless bill because it does not have any heart for for women and it really only sees a woman as a carrier and she has no other right Beyond her ability to reproduce state senator Nina Turner is opposing the legislation to become law the bill must still be passed by the state senate and signed by the governor one of the reasons in my opinion that these abortion bills are so Insidious so dangerous is because it chips away at the notion of personal Liberty your right and what can be more fundamental to your personal Liberty than being able to control your own body what do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion well there's probably a lot of I I I'm not a woman so I'm thinking now if I'm a woman why would I want some of it has to do with econom ecomics a lot of it has to do with economics I don't know I've never it's it's a question I've never even thought about prior to roie Wade when abortion became legal we found that women who had money always had access to Safe abortion whether or not it was legal that was not true for poor women and many of our older doctors when they were doing their residencies would see those women in emergency departments um so we wanted to make sure that all women would always have access to abortion care and our government um and Ohio the state of Ohio has made sure that it's more difficult for women to access that care very very hot today Latoya Parks is 8 weeks pregnant today she's going to have an abortion I love you while she's at the clinic she'll depend on a neighbor to check on her 8-year-old son I'll be back okay a single mother Latoya last had a job 4 years ago when she worked as a cashier for GR grocery store she says she can't afford the cost of another child she falls into the demographics of those most likely to have an abortion minorities low-income women and single mothers it's Latoya's fifth abortion here it was definitely both of our fault neither one of us took the precautionary steps to prevent pregnancy so I take total responsibility for it I would imagine moving forward you wouldn't take that risk again no I I can't have any more kids cuz I can't take care of me or my son right now by myself so it's very very hard Latoya has just been sedated and the doctor has gone in to do the uh procedure now we were supposed to be in there but we were asked to leave at the last minute because because the doctor was concerned his wife was particularly concerned about his safety if he was to be identified as a provider of an abortion that his life would be under threats the United States has seen more anti-abortion violence than any other country in the world since 1993 at least eight abortion providers including four doctors have been killed and they've been over 200 arson and bombings against reproductive healthc care clinics since 1977 on the other end of the spectrum of the anti-abortion movement's tactics crisis pregnancy centers or cpcs Katie's tag is on her way to one now even though she is not pregnant an abortion rights activist Katie is going in with a hidden camera ktie visited a CPC when she was facing an unplanned pregnancy a few years ago and she says she was deceived audio now she travels across the country secretly filming inside of of them to document what they tell women seeking abortions she's agreed to film inside three Ohio cpcs for us they advertise that they are unbiased non-judgmental confidential centers for women to go and get resources about an unplanned pregnancy but they push an ideology more than anything else while cpcs look like health clinics they rarely have medical professionals staff on board they build themselves as places where women can go to explore their options I had an appointment at 3:30 but their goal is to counsel women against having an abortion we as women are made to birth babies it's just nature there is much more risk involved in having an abortion than having a baby much more risk yeah actually that statement is false Studies have shown that a woman is 14 times more likely to die carrying a baby to term than having illegal abortion in the United States the counselors warned Katie that there are long-term complications as well big risk that isn't talked about that much but it is a definite risk is breast cancer studies 27 worldwide Studies have independently linked induced abor your risk for breast cancer goes up around 40 45% the risk of breast cancer was cited in every CPC ktie has been to but the National Cancer Institute says that studies have shown no relationship between abortion and an increased risk of breast cancer during the past year Katie has visited nearly 30 cpcs in 12 states she says their messages are consistent so um this is a pamphlet that I got from the Women's Care Center and it's typical of what you usually get from a CPC um sort of laying out the risks of abortion premature birth uterine and cervical damage post-abortion syndrome which is actually not something recognized by the American Psychological Association and I've had cpcs go as far to say that it's like a psychosis sadness long-term grief anger sexual dysfunction flashbacks guilt memory repression hallucinations you basically are kind of traumatized afterwards I don't want to scare you but just give me the reality of it I'm sure there are women who have regretted their abortion or who have suffered some kind of psychological Fallout but we know from reputable studies that women who've had unwanted pregnancies that have ended in abortion do not overall affir psychologically worse than women who've had unwanted pregnancies that they carry to term I've never cried over my abortion I've cried over the way people have treated me because of it I've cried over the fact that I felt like I couldn't tell anyone about it but I've never felt regret for the actual procedure there are more than 4,000 crisis pregnancy centers in the US six times the number of abortion clinics at least 20 states provide funding for cpcs and while they've received millions in federal dollars there is no government oversight as cpc's expand the number of abortion clinics in the United States is shrinking Planned Parenthood the largest abortion provider in the country has become the target of a national campaign by abortion opponents Planned Parenthood is the biggest villain in the abortion industry for one specific reason they receive almost half of all their funding from us taxpayers hello several states have passed laws defunding the organization even though abortion only makes up 3% of its services and bylaw it's not paid for with any public money instead Planned Parenthood uses those funds to provide critical Health Care mainly to low-income women when we talk about defunding Planned Parenthood what is happening is that abortion opponents are using Planned Parenthood as a Sy symbol as a symbol of all that is wrong with Society but particularly around abortion and Family Planning Tennessee lawmakers voted to defund planted Parenthood last year we paid a visit to this branch in Nashville which offers women everything from HIV testing to breast cancer screening 15,000 poor and low-income women in Tennessee rely on their services each year Kelly Gregory visited Planned Parenthood after finding a lump in her breast first time I heard unemployed and with no health insurance she was diagnosed with breast cancer planed Parenthood saved my life my care providers stayed in contact with me after my diagnosis to make sure that I was getting the services that I needed to see if there was anything else that they could do for me and my nurse practitioner specifically phoned me every few days to see how I was doing the organization has also been targeted because it distributes contra interception and provide sex education to teenagers they say sex anytime anywhere with anybody of any gender and even outside your uh species I mean it's it's so disgusting the things that Planned Parenthood promote so foul so egregious and then they start teaching these horrific horrible immoral Behavior patterns to the youngest of children in our Public Schools so on top of killing children they're the agent of immorality in America Planned Parenthood in many ways is carrying out a mission that would be understood by Christ because they take care of in many ways those that no one else wants to take care of it's rare for the Supreme Court to reverse established law like Row versus Wade so the anti-abortion movement has been focusing on lobbying lawmakers to pass restrictions that make it hard harder for abortion clinics to operate shutting down clinics one by one the width of doors the um the Landscaping of the clinic law and they'll kind of pass all of these incredibly exacting regulations that have nothing to do with health care but that are meant to kind of make compliance impossible we've gone from a number of about 2,173 abortion clinics in 1991 to today we have less than 660 which is a decrease by 70% and if we never overturn Ro versus Wade that's okay as long as I can close every abortion clinic and stop every abortion we win these women are doing everything they can to make sure they don't [Music] win in Washington DC a number of women's groups are protesting what they see as a republican-led effort to restrict their rights as an issue during a presidential election abortion can be a useful tool to mobilize the Republican base but as you can see the question is how far can you take it without creating a backlash when Americans vote on November the 6th they will be asked to make a choice over who will recover a broken economy in a political system dominated by corporate interests by comparison on the surface at least the issue of abortion seems clear-cut no anesthesia that's what abortion is but at its heart it asks complicated questions why do you have to lie to prove something true about life and death control and choice equality and the direction America will take you are a lady who could help them she only cares about that the babies are born she doesn't care about what happens to the kids after they're born my goal is to keep this procedure safe and legal for women because it's not going away even if we make it illegal women will have abortions and they will die look at our pictures to me what's just a shocking government Invasion the idea of forcing somebody to have a child against their will which seems so antithetical to the entire regime of kind of Human Rights and personal Liberty that we have in this country what is abortion fundamentally it's the killing of an innocent child if you can't get the life of an unborn baby right I can't trust you with my taxes education uh anything else women died actually died trying to get back Alle the abortions do we want to go back to that in the land of opportunity the land of Freedom you know when did it become a sin and a shame to be a woman in this country well that is what is happening in the 21st century in many states across this country and also in our Congress and it's just absolutely shameful to me

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 126,542

Keywords: reproduction laws, Fault Lines, youtube, US abortion, US election, us, Faultlines, aljazeera, US 2012, us women, abortion laws, Abortion, women's, health, moral, religion, choice, pro life, pro choice, reproductive rights, Jeff White, Michelle Goldberg, Ohio, Heartbeat Bill, Nina Turner, personal liberty, Roe v. Wade, Chrisse France, Anti-Abortion violence, anti-abortion, crisis pregnancy center, CPC, Planned Parenthood

Id: 0E0oMN2oJj8

Length: 24min 57sec (1497 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 28 2012