What’s Changed Inside and Outside Abortion Clinics Over 30 Years
April 22, 2019
by Priyanka Boghani
In 1983, a decade after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on Roe v. Wade, FRONTLINE went inside an abortion clinic on the outskirts of Chester, Pennsylvania. In Abortion Clinic, director Mark Obenhaus focused on the experiences of young women dealing with unplanned pregnancies, speaking to people working in the clinic and the protesters calling for its closure.
At the time when Abortion Clinic was released, lawmakers and the public were grappling with the film’s central issue. Almost four decades later, as the U.S. remains bitterly divided on abortion, Obenhaus returns to Pennsylvania with co-producer Elizabeth Leiter to see what has changed. Like its predecessor, FRONTLINE’s latest documentary, The Abortion Divide, paints a portrait of the complicated, personal issues surrounding abortion.