[...]
[Rotary payphone dialed]
[Static]
[Dialtone]
[...]
[Engaged tone]
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ON PHONE): Hello?
[Rachel Ashton:] Isthis is Dr. Moriarty?
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ONPHONE): Yes, yes ma'am.
[Rachel Ashton:] My name is RachelAshton and a friend of mine
called and...
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ON PHONE): Oh,which friend, which friend?
[Rachel Ashton:] A womannamed Dorothy Matson.
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ON PHONE): Holdon, hold on a minute now.
I'll be able toget a hold of Bob
and he'll call youin a half hour.
In the meantime, I just wantto tell you a few things eh?
About four hours,whenever the appointment
was arranged byBarbara say, four hours
before you eat a lightlunch like a piece of toast
and a glass of milk.
And I think she'll expectyou to bring a $750 with you.
And try to make it in largebills like $100s if you can,
so we don't spend allnight counting it.
So she'll call you and tell youwhen and where she'll meet you.
[Rachel Ashton:] OK.
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ONPHONE): All right?
[Rachel Ashton:]Thank you very much.
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ONPHONE): You're welcome.
[Rachel Ashton:] Bye.
[Dr. Moriarty:] (ONPHONE): Bye bye.
[Phone receiver clunk]
[Knocking]
[Dr. Moriarty:] Come in.
[Door clanking]
[Door hinge squeaking]
Oh Rachel come in?
Have a seat.
You can put all your thingson the table over there.
[Dr. Moriarty:] [?]
[Rachel Ashton:] Can I put this--
[Dr. Moriarty:] Why don't you putthat on the table to.
[Rustling]
And the pocketbook, youcan put it over here,
I'll put it down here for you.
[Sprocket sound ticking]
And have a seat.
[Office shuffling, chair movement]
Barbara told me all about you.
And uh, we have a problemand it's not comfortable,
but that means you'vecome to the good place.
You could have gone toa back alley somewhere.
It's very good to come tosomebody knows the business.
There's one thing youwill want to learn here,
is you'll get a coursein gynecology anyway.
I'm sorry I have to coverup, but you know the reason,
I don't want to be known.[Doctor wearing surgical mask]
But uh, you had a referencefrom somebody, a friend of yours
or somebody you know in Matson.
She must have told you a littlebit about how we work here?
[Rachel Ashton:]Well, not very much,
she just said call you when...
[Dr. Moriarty:] ThenI'll tell you.
Well, all right anyway, youdon't have to feel obligated.
If after I'm donegetting everything ready
and explaining things to you,if you decide that you don't
want to have this done you canpick up your money and go home.
That said, it's up to you,feel confident and relaxed.
I'm going to set upmy equipment now.
[Doctor moving objectsaround in the office]
So, put this over here so it'sout of my way temporarily.
And we deal, you know, withthe high class newspaper,
the Wall Street Journal.
[Opens newspaper tospread on office floor]
I'm going to put it down,so thanks to you, in case
the uterus gives a little squirtI won't spoil my rugs.
[Paper rustling]
[Footsteps]
[...]
[Surgical cart clanking]
[Footsteps]
[Surgical cart clanking]
[Footsteps]
[...]
OK, if you're ready youcan sit on the table.
You all set?
[Room tone]
So lie down and put yourheels in the stirrups.
Once I have you a positionthen I can put the mask on.
Then I'll be all set to washmy hands and going to work.
All right.
Now lie on it.
Now, lie down.
Slide down me, keep yourknees back, way back,
way back you must slidedown over the hole.
Over the hole, little more--
[Rachel Ashton:] Ouch.
[Dr. Moriarty:] Ouch that'sthe rub, that's where
you're going to be, all right.
[...[
All right, now Iwant you to hold
this in your right hand,thumb under the natural.
And now I'm putting it overand face, and start to breathe.
Keep your chin upa little bit, so
that when it drops[?], that's fine.
Now, I'll startin a few seconds.
Keep puffing.
[Air puffs, metal tools clanking]
[Humming to himself]
[Metal tools clanking]
[...]
[Whistling]
[Music - "When the Saints goMarching In"]
[Large outdoor paradewith bands and floats]
[Rachel Ashtonwatching the parade]
[Large outdoor paradewith bands and floats]
[Music]
[Rachel Ashtonwatching the parade]
[Each Child Loved]
[with Candice Bergen]
[La fiesta band parade sign]
[Marching band horn instruments blaring]
[Rachel Ashtonwatching the parade]
[Marching band horn instruments blaring]
[Music: Oh when the saints...]
[Rachel Ashton:] And everythingabout him was really scary,
there was just nothingreassuring in his manner.
I suppose he wasmedically all right.
I had some complicationsafterwards,
I didn't end up in ahospital, but there were a lot
of private doctors' bills.
But-- and I could see a rustycurette clear across the room
and there was dust allover everything and ashes
in the whole office.
If I hadn't been so desperateI just would have turned around
and walked out.
At that point, Ireally didn't care
though, I would just as soonhave died rather than not get
the abortion.
One thing I reallyhope, is that with all
of the changes and thelaws that are going on
through the legislaturesand the courts,
that nobody will ever haveto go through this again,
the way I went through it.
[Candice Bergen:] Rachel Ashton isone of perhaps a million women
in the United Stateswho each year chooses
to have an abortion.
And more than half amillion cases every year,
an operation whichwould be relatively
safe and simple if performedunder proper conditions,
becomes a major health hazard.
There are many people whoconsider abortion immoral
and there are many others whobelieve the immorality lies
in compulsory motherhood.
It's not the purposeof this program
to engage in that debate,there's no reason for one group
to impose theirviews on the other.
In the 1970s, the lawsrestricting abortion
will change rapidlythroughout the United States.
However, while thelaws are changing
the subject will stillremain one of controversy.
And that controversywill have its effects
on the emotions ofwomen confronted
with the problem and the choice.
The emotional health of awoman who makes the choice
is primarily relatedto whether she
believes she's acting ina morally responsible way.
Whether or not thecircumstances under which
she will have the abortionare legal and humane.
And how far alongher pregnancy is when
the operation is performed.
The medicaldefinition of abortion
is the termination of apregnancy before the end
of the 20th week.
This program willdeal with women
who are in theprocess of terminating
their pregnancy beforethe end of the 12th week.
During this periodthe procedure can
be performed withouta hospital stay
and with less medical risk thanis involved with childbirth.
[Speaker 1:] I have a little girlalready and I got to just--
in the middle of--
I'm in the middle of mysecond semester of school
and I don't, you know,want to drop out.
Whereas, I'm on afull scholarship,
and it's a chance that youget once in a lifetime.
[Speaker 2:] And I just decided Iwould go off for three months,
and came the thirdmonth when I was
going to go back on my pills,and I didn't have my period.
[Speaker 3:] But when Istopped to really consider
what it would mean.
By trying to spend timewith it and working
to support both ofus, and maybe cheating
both of us in thatway, I just decided
it was totallyimpractical and not fair
to me or the future child.
So I decided thiswas the best way
and I don't have any regrets.
[Speaker 4:] I say my husband andI didn't plan for family at all
and we weren't planning afamily now or in the future.
Times are changing I think,before people had no choice,
now they do.
[Music - "Amazing Grace"]
[Young family walks up to a church]
[Music - "Amazing Grace"]
[Wally, Carol, and Leahenter church]
[Camera tilts up and scenedissolves to a minister]
[Minister:] Before weget into that?
Let me just gather alittle information.
What's yourreligious background?
[Wally:] Roman Catholic.
[Minister:] You'reRoman Catholic?
You know the RomanCatholic Church
has a fairly strong positionon the question of abortion.
[Carol:] Oh yes, I know.
[Minister:] And howyou feel about that?
[Carol:] We don't agree with it.
[Wally:] We don't agree withtheir position on it obviously,
or we would not be here.
[Minister:] You see that thisis a viable option for a woman
to elect.
[Wally:] Yes.
[Minister:] Yeah, Carolhow did you get pregnant?
Did you use any contraception?
[Carol:] Well, yes we did.
We went on-- I went on thepill right after Leah was born
but I thought Igained weight from it.
[Minister:] Yeah.
[Carol:] So we started using foam.
[Daughter Leah vocalizing][Minister:] Um hum.
And my doctor toldme that it was
90 something percent effective.
And though, since I've beenthinking I've been pregnant,
I've been talkingto people and they
seem to think that itisn't that effective.
But that's what we use.
[Minister:] So this wasreally, in a sense,
a contraceptive failure in termsof your family planning right?
[Carol:] We have a lotof reasons for not
wanting to have ababy right now, we
want another one eventually.
But right now, my husbandis right in the middle
of graduate school andfrom a financial standpoint
it isn't really feasible.
I don't know, it'sjust like to me--
well when my motherand Wally's mother,
after they had their firstchildren, within 13 months
they had two other kids.
You know, I mean likeWally was four months old
and I was four months oldand they got pregnant again.
And they just accepted it, youknow, what else could they do?
That was 20 or 30 yearsago, they just thought, well
you know, I have to have thebaby, what else can you do?
But the way I lookat it, right now--
you know nowadays,you have an option.
If you get pregnant, then youcan stop and ask yourself,
do I really wantto have this child?
[Daughter Leah vocalizing]
And if you don't reallythink that it's wise for you
to have a child atthat time then you
can go ahead and havean abortion preformed.
[Minister:] But let meask you a few questions.
You look like you're in prettygood health, is that right?
[Carol:] Yeah.
[Minister:] Have you ever hadany health problems at all?
[Carol:] No.
[Minister:] You alsoseem to me, to be
emotionally very well balanced.
Is that pretty true?
[Carol:] I think so.
[Laughs] I do all right, aswell as anybody else I guess.
[Minister:] Yousee unfortunately,
if you wereemotionally disturbed
or you had somehealth impediment,
we could help you in Michigan.
[Carol:] We checked into that, wehave a friend who's an intern
and he told us that there isa hospital in this area where
we may have one done legally.
But you have to goto a psychiatrist
and you have to prove to himthat you're mentally unstable.
So I mean, I'd haveto get really dramatic
and say I'm going to kill myselfbecause I can't have a baby.
Which isn't really--
[Minister:] It's apretty degrading thing
for women to have to do.
[Carol:] I mean, I could--
I'm sure that if Ihad no other options
I could manage it,having this baby.
But like I said before,why should I have it
if I don't want it right now?
[Minister:] I'm going to suggestto you that you use our New
York facility becausetheir philosophy there
is consistent with ours,right along the way.
They're going tobe receiving you,
as you come into thefacility, understanding
how you're feeling.
Understanding the questionsyou have, the kind of worries
you might have andso forth, and they're
going to set you at ease.
And also help you understandwhat's going to happen to you,
I mean as far as the abortionitself was concerned.
They're also then,going to be concerned
that obviously, yourbirth control isn't
as effective as it ought tobe and help you correct that.
Advise you.
[Carol:] [?]
[Minister:] Thenalso after you've--
after you've been inNew York and come back,
I want to see you again.
Because I want youto have a chance
to sit down hereand reflect upon it,
as you look back onit, talk about it
and tell me how you feel.
Just have a chance for youto get it all off your chest.
Look ahead into yourlife as you're going on
and you seeing whatyour feelings might be.
I'm concerned aboutyou and I want
to make sure that everything'sgoing well for you.
[Music - "Amazing Grace"]
[Carol enters airport terminal]
[Moving through inside the terminal]
[Looking for ticket window]
[Obtaining a boarding pass]
[Music - "Amazing Grace" fades out]
[Nurse assistant:] I see by your formthat you have one child.
[Carol:] That's right.
[Nurse assistant:] And your lastperiod was on November 15th?
[Carol:] 16th.
[Nurse assistant:] Was ita normal period?
[Carol:] Yeah.
[Nurse assistant:] And have youbeen seen by a doctor?
[Carol:] Yeah.
[Nurse assistant:] You hadan examination?
[Carol:] Yes.
[Nurse assistant:] OK and did you comethrough the clergy service?
[Carol:] Yes I did.
[Nurse assistant:] You were examinedon the 8th of January
and you were sixweeks pregnant then,
so that would make youabout eight weeks now?
[Carol:] Yeah.
[Nurse assistant:] Right OK, well youcame at just the right time.
Seven to eightweeks is a good time
to come because it's easierfor you and it's easier for us.
All we're going to do here isjust have a little chat about--
I'm going to explain thatentire procedure to you
so you know exactlywhat's going to happen
when it's going to happen.
And I'll be with youin the other room
and I'll tell you what'sgoing on then too.
We don't give youany surprises here
and you'll know everythingthat's going on.
[Carol:] OK.
[Nurse assistant:] All right well, whydon't we go into the procedure.
OK now, I wouldlike you to pretend
that you're laying down.
OK, and your head would beup here and your legs here.
This is your stomachand your back.
OK now, this is alife size model,
this is just as big as you are.
Does that surprise you?
Now all we're going to dofirst in the procedure room
is give you a pelvic exam.
Have you had a pelvic before?
[Carol:] Many times.
[Nurse assistant:] Oh good, OK well thatwon't be anything new for you.
I will examine you andso will the doctor.
And the reasonthat we do examine
you is just to note whatshape your uterus is in
and how pregnant you are.
After that, the doctor will putin a little steel instrument,
it's called a speculum, youever heard of that before?
[Carol:] Yes.
[Nurse assistant:] Good, have you hada speculum put in your vagina
before?
[Carol:] Mm-hm.
[Nurse assistant:] Right.
[Carol:] For pap smearsthey use those don't they?
[Nurse assistant:] Right, exactly.
[Carol:] I just had onea couple of weeks ago.
[Nurse assistant:] Oh goodfor you, that's good,
you should have one once a year.
[Carol:] I know.
[Laughter]
[Nurse assistant:] Many womencome and they have never
heard of a pap smear and--
[Carol:] I get one every year.
[Nurse assistant:] Cervicalcancer is a leading factor
in causing women a lotof trouble and death.
And pap smear is avery easy way to--
[Carol:] Oh, I'm verygood on pap smears,
not so good on notgetting pregnant on you.
[Laughter]
[Nurse assistant:] That we'regoing to alleviate.
[Carol:] Thank you.
[Nurse assistant:] OK and we gotto inserting a speculum,
it doesn't hurt, it justfeels a little cold.
Now, because your uterusfloats and we must stabilize it
during the procedure,we are going
to put a little clip,right here, on your cervix.
Now, when the doctorputs the clip on
you're going to feel a pinch.
OK and I'm going totell you, Carol you're
going to feel a pinch now.
One pinch, just as if Ipinched you on the leg.
Once it's on you won't feel it.
OK after that, you willget a local anesthetic,
right in here.
OK and that will feellike a mild cramp
or filling a fluid inyour lower abdomen.
Now another thing is, youmight feel when the doctor puts
the anesthetic in, is a slightringing in your ears or dryness
of your mouth.
Like when the dentistgives you novocaine
and you feel like you'reslurring your speech.
OK that's not anything to bealarmed about, it's common.
Some girls feel that way andsome girls don't feel that way.
In order to introduce thesuction tube into your uterus
through pregnancy we must doa process called dilation.
Now, you've had a baby right?
So you know when you carry afull term baby the cervix would
stretch up to aboutthat size and that's
what labor's all about.
Well, in order to introducethe suction tube, as I said,
which looks like thepen OK, we will gently
insert a series ofinstrument called dilators.
The dilators causes cramps, OK.
And the crampingis uncomfortable.
It's-- some girls have moresevere cramping than others.
And I'm not telling youthis to frighten you,
but more to make you awareof what's going to happen.
[Carol:] Now, I've alwaysfound that if you know what's
going to happenit's a lot easier
to handle than if somethingis surprising you.
When I had my baby, I tookclasses and found out exactly
what was going to happen.
[Nurse assistant:] Did you?
[Carol:] Made it a loteasier instead of having
a big surprise or something.
[Nurse assistant:] Right, rightthat's why here, we tell
you exactly what's happening.
Also when you weregoing to experience
the cramp I will tellyou, Carol you're
going to feel a cramp now.
OK now I'd like you toremember a couple of things
about this dilating.
Number one, it'll onlytake about a minute.
You will only havethe cramp when
the dilator is in your cervix.
Once it's taken out youwill not have the cramp,
it's not one of thesebig long horrible pains.
So I would like you toremember a couple of things,
the dilating willnot take long, I
would like you to relaxas much as you can
from your waist down.
You have musclesin your upper thigh
that anchor in your pelvis.
And if you tightenup your leg muscles
you're going totighten up your pelvis
and it's going to be a littlemore difficult for you.
Now, after the dilatingis over the doctor
will put in a suction tube.
You will hear a noise likea quiet vacuum cleaner, OK.
We call it the minivacuuming around here.
[Carol:] [Laughs]
[Nurse assistant:] That will go onfor a couple of minutes.
You might feelsome mild cramping,
nothing that you can'thandle or that's severe.
Some of the girls tell me itfeels like a slight pulling.
Believe me, all we're goingto remove is your pregnancy.
[Carol:] Thank you.
Might have my uterus sucked out.
[Nurse assistant:] Oh no,that won't happen.
Now after that, wewill check to see
that your uterus is empty andclean, and it is contracting.
Now we're allthrough, that's it.
[Carol:] Sounds really--
[Nurse assistant:] Fromstart to finish it
will take less than 10 minutes.
Much less, you're only aboutseven or eight weeks pregnant,
yup.
OK now, do you have anyquestions about the procedure?
[Carol:] Not thatI can I think of.
[Nurse assistant:] You understandwhat's going to happen?
[Carol:] Yes.
[Nurse assistant:] OK, feel free toask me anything you want,
here or inside.
And I'll be telling you stepby step what's going on.
[Carol:] OK.
[Nurse assistant:] OK.
Now, how do you feel?
[Carol:] Fine.
[Nurse assistant:] Good.
[Carol:] Anxious to geteverything over with.
[Nurse assistant:] You want toget it over with, OK.
We'll get you up, up and away.
Dr. Johnson this is Carol.
[Dr. Johnson:] HelloCarol how are you?
[Carol:] Hi.
[Nurse assistant:] Carolis from Michigan,
and she's only about sevenand a half weeks pregnant.
Her last periodwas November 16th.
And she's very normal, and hasa good blood pressure and pulse.
And she's had one child.
[Dr. Johnson:] Why do you wantto have the abortion now?
[Carol:] We just feel,my husband and I,
that it's not a good timefor us to have another child.
[Dr. Johnson:] Yes, [?]it's a little too early now.
[Carol:] Well not onlythat, we don't have money
and we just don'tfeel emotionally
that it's a good time.
[Dr. Johnson:] Yeah well,I think it's fair.
I think you shouldn't have anychildren that are not wanted
and that you can takecare of them properly.
[Nurse assistant:] The first thingthe doctor's going to do,
as I told you before, he'sjust going to examine you.
Carol, I want to concentrateon letting your legs go--
[Carol:] Oh, OK.
[Nurse assistant:] OK and relax.
[Carol:] All right.
[Nurse assistant:] Allthis is that you're
feeling is the anesthetic, OK.
[Carol:] You said I'd feel weird.
[Dr. Johnson:] I'll try mybest to make it a little bit
more [?].
[Carol:] Now here I feel alittle bit of something.
[Dr. Johnson:] OK see.
[Nurse assistant:] OK you're going tohave a couple more, that's all.
[Carol:] Now that Ifelt a little bit.
[Nurse assistant:] OK, want a hand?
[Carol:] Yeah.
[Nurse assistant:] OK.
[Dr. Johnson:] Like I havethe London tool section,
here please.
[Nurse assistant:] And the roughestpart is over, you did great.
[Carol:] I didn't do anything.
[Nurse assistant:] No, you didn't feel--
[Carol:] I wish I still hadthat anesthetic though.
[Nurse assistant:] Now youhear the vacuum?
[Carol:] Yeah.
[Nurse assistant:] OK.
[Dr. Johnson:] Couldyou open your legs
just a little bit more please?
[Carol:] All right.
[Nurse assistant:] Good girl.
[Carol:] I really can'tbelieve this is happening.
[Nurse assistant:] It really is.
[Light vacuum machine whirling]
This is going to beover quickly, OK?
[Carol:] OK.
[Nurse assistant:] This is--we're almost through
and then we'll just checkthat we have everything.
[Carol:] OK.
[Nurse assistant:] Thenit'll all be over,
you have nothingmore to worry about.
[Carol:] Oh, good.
[Sigh]
[Nurse assistant:] Carolyou're doing very well.
[Carol:] Thank you.
[Nurse assistant:] You really are.
It's not half asbad as you expected
it was going to be right?
[Carol:] No, it reallyisn't, it really is--
[Dr. Johnson:] Well, we goteverything out the first time.
[Carol:] Oh, is itreally all through now?
[Dr. Johnson:] Well,I have to check it
once more with a special--
[Carol:] Dr. Johnsonyou are so thorough.
[Dr. Johnson:] Well,I'll tell you--
[Carol:] But I'm not complaining.
[Nurse assistant:] OK, rightnow I want you to just
be quiet for one second OK?
[Carol:] Sorry.
[Nurse assistant:] That's it-- you're allthrough--
you're not pregnant anymore.
[Carol:] [Sigh of relief]
[Nurse assistant:] Feel better?
[Carol:] Yeah, yeah it'sjust seems so strange
that I'm not pregnant anymore.
[Nurse assistant:] Right, speculum'sout, everything's out.
[Carol:] You know, it'sreally like, a relief.
[Nurse assistant:] That's fine.
[Dr. Johnson:] Let'sget these [?].
Got some reallyinteresting news for you.
[Carol:] What?
[Dr. Johnson:] You'renot pregnant anymore.
[Carol:] You know thisreally sounds strange,
but I really am looking forwardto the next time I'm pregnant.
Only I'm going to makesure that the next time is
the right time.
[Nurse assistant:] Right.
[Carol:] OK, thank you.
[Nurse assistant:] Thankyou Dr. Johnson.
OK I'm going to put this downand I want you to sit up.
And I'm going to give youinstructions to read, OK?
[Carol:] OK.
[Nurse assistant:] The one's thatwe spoke about before
in the other room.
And I'll just be in thebathroom here cleaning up
while you're reading.
And then when you'rethrough, then you
can get up and put your napkinon, and get dressed, and go.
[Carol:] OK.
But when it comesto birth control
I intend to maybe seePlanned Parenthood
or some otherorganization which--
whose purpose is to helpyou not get pregnant
unless you want to.
[Nurse assistant:] Obviouslyyou are fertile
and you must do something,and foam does not work.
[Carol:] Absolutely, true.
[Nurse assistant:] OK, soI really would like
you to give this alittle more thought,
since you have had a problem.
I wouldn't sit hereand say, now Carol I
think you oughtto take this or I
think you ought to dothat, that's for you
and your husband to decide.
And go to a doctor and gethis advice and his feelings
about it.
[Carol:] OK, I think thatmight be a good idea.
[Laura:] Well I recommendwhat whatever the woman
feels most comfortable with.
Quite clearly, themost effective method
of birth control, temporarymethod of birth control
is the pill.
That has the smallest percentageof failure, 0.5% meaning,
one woman out of 200 on thepill still gets pregnant.
But that's a pretty smallpercentage, of course
if you fall in thatstatistical category
you don't care how manywomen are with you.
But it is the mosteffective method
available for a temporarymethod of birth control.
Also it's very good in thesense that it's unobtrusive,
it takes intoconsideration what's
going on betweena man and a woman.
It doesn't get inthe way, and I think
that's a very importantconsideration.
[Speaker 5:] But because Idon't trust myself to--
[Laura:] You thinkyou might forget?
[Speaker 5:] Yeah, I'mvery forgetful now so--
[Laura:] Well, maybe then thebetter thing for you to do
is to use something like anIUD because that's something
you could forget about.
You don't even have tothink about it every second
or third month, it's simplya permanent installation
is what it amounts to.
[Speaker 5:] Yeah, but a lot ofpeople have trouble with that.
[Laura:] Some do,that's true, some do.
[Speaker 4:] Is that--what is that--
[Laura:] It doesn'tmean you will.
[Speaker 4:] I'm not--
I'm not familiar with theterm to tell you the truth.
[Laura:] IUD?
Intrauterine device, a coil,loops, spiral, all of those
fall under the category of IUD.
The textbooks say 1.9% failureon those, that is to say,
two women out of 100 on theIUD will still get pregnant.
But it does have theadvantage of the fact
that you don't have to thinkabout it once it's inserted.
[Speaker 1:] Laura,what about diaphragms
and these various typefoams, that they have out,
that are non-prescription andcan be bought at any drugstore?
[Laura:] OK, foamright, it doesn't
have to be on prescription, youcan buy it at the drugstore.
There is that advantage to it,but it doesn't work very well.
And also to me, but you knowthat's a matter of taste,
it tends to be, Ithink, very obtrusive.
Diaphragm, I think, isvery good for a woman
who isn't sexually active.
She just needs itonce in a while,
that's a very good method.
Some women don't likeit because they feel--
I don't want to say,please excuse me,
and then have togo to the bathroom.
That's no good is it?
It can be insertedwhether or not
you think you're goingto be having intercourse.
Say it's suppertime,it's 7 o'clock,
you know when youfinish your dinner
you can go into the bathroomand insert the diaphragm
with the jelly on the backside.
The jelly being a spermicidalaction to it, on the backside,
but that spermicidal actiononly acts for say, six hours.
So if you insert itat 7 o'clock the jelly
is only good until 1o'clock in the morning.
Yeah, but the physicalbarrier of the diaphragm
is still there.
The diaphragm with the jellyis a two way contraceptive.
To me the very best methodwe can't do anything about,
that's a vasectomy.
It's a permanent method ofbirth control used by the man.
Unfortunately, a lot of menare very uptight about that.
They tend to think thattheir performance is
going to be affected bythis, that isn't true.
But indirectly itcan be effected
if the man thinks,right psychologically,
if he thinks that--
that he's not muchof a man anymore.
But it is the mosteffective method available.
[Speaker 6:] Have youthought about children
having children in the future?
[Speaker 7:] Definitely, yeah.
[Speaker 6:] This issomething you want?
[Speaker 8:] Oh for sure.
It's a different feeling,it's really strange.
I didn't think I'dhave one, but I look
at a child as a human being.
And you know, I could havehad one of those if I wanted.
I think I have a lot morerespect for life in general.
[Speaker 6:] It's afascinating comment.
Because of course,one of the things
that people who thinkthe abortion laws
are about to be changed.
So it constantlyis that abortion
is a disrespect for life.
It leads to and comes outof the disrespect for life.
[Speaker 9:] It shows you howmuch more there is to life.
[Speaker 8:] And the risks thatare involved [Laughs]
[Speaker 9:] For me, Ibecame more aware of,
when I am a parent how Iwould want to raise my child.
I've become more awareof the responsibilities
and just what a child is.
[Carol:] And you want it tobe deliberate, not accidental,
that's no way to start thewhole process of a life office
accidentally.
[...]
[Speaker 10:] And Ithink when you actually
have it you want to givethem something that you know,
they'll have everything.
And you don't wantto bring them up
where they'reunwanted I think you
know that feeling, whetheryou show it or not,
always creeps in.
No father and itruins your plans,
so you have to more or lesshave a feeling against it.
And I think it wouldbe a terrible way
to bring up a child.
[Carol:] I think thething, the whole issue
must be approached fromthe sex education angle.
And that's where it hasto begin with learning
to prevent theseunwanted pregnancies
and to avoid the abortion route.
It has to be--
young people experimentwith sex offense,
I don't think that'sa very good word,
but I mean it's onlya natural thing to do.
All of them don'tbut the ones that do--
Should know that it doesn'thave to be a risky thing.
And it-- a lot of peoplehave bad attitudes
toward the whole sex thingbecause there's guilt in it,
and there's fear in it, andjust all kinds of bad things
you know.
And this is asocietal problem, you
know it is a toooften a dirty thing.
And contraceptives aren't--young girls don't want to take
them if they're singlebecause that means that
you're indulging in some kind ofsex activities and it has a bad
connotation to it.
And I think that's--
it's got to start down theresomeplace, with the young kids.
And they have to know aboutnot just what their bodies do,
the organs and all thatkind of stuff that girls
learn about in youngguys learn about it.
OK what-- when you douse your bodies then,
what does that mean?
[Music - "Amazing Grace"]
[Vocalizing]
[Carol:] We all were therefrom different faiths...
[Music continues]
different ages we were,different backgrounds, you
could tell just kind ofby looking at each other.
There were somewho looked really
like offbeat maybe types--
[Minister:] All kinds of people.
[Carol:] And then there weresome older-looking women
who were probablyjust housewives
or secretaries or something.
There was a nursethere, there were
a couple of girls incollege, and in a few minutes
we were all friends.
And because of thesituation we could all
level with each other about it.
We were all in thesame boat and we all
understood each other's problem.
And I think we helped eachother and all that too.
[Minister:] I know you did.
How does your husbandfeel about it now?
[Carol:] He made surethat I wanted to do it.
And then when it was all overhe said that all along he
was for it 100 percent, you know.
But he didn't...he wantedto make sure, like I said,
that I was the one.
So he never prodded me intoit or even suggested it,
I was the one who brought it up.
[Minister:] When do youfeel that life begins?
[Carol:] Intellectually, Idon't feel that it becomes
a human being until it's born.
Emotionally, I could not havean abortion once I felt life,
yeah, I don't think...
I don't think.
I can't say 100 percent.
[Minister:] I think manywomen feel that way.
[Carol:] But having experiencedthat, and of course by the time
you feel life, Ididn't feel my baby
kicking until she was fourand half months along.
So, I think by that timemost people will have either
had an abortion or not.
So it's really not much ofan issue that, I don't think.
But I don't feel that, asfar as killing is concerned,
that you're killinguntil the baby's born.
And you know, like I saidabout holding life sacred,
to me the worstthing, what really
is a matter of notholding life sacred is
to allow so many unwantedbabies to be born in the world.
I mean these peoplethat say, it's
terrible to kill a human being.
What kind of a life are somany unwanted babies living?
Is that holdinglife sacred to allow
them to grow up in conditionsthat, where people--
parents don't love them?
[Minister:] You're concernednot only for life,
but for the quality of the life.
[Carol:] Right, I mean I feel thatjust to be alive means nothing.
You have to be alive and happy.
And if you're notwanted by your parents
and you don't have lovefrom the time you're born,
I don't see howyou can be happy.
[Minister:] WellCarol, the answer
that people have given tojust what you said up to now,
is that if people aren'table to have children
or undesired so then theyhave sexual intercourse.
[Carol:] I think it'scompletely unrealistic
to assume thatpeople are not going
to have sexual intercourse.
They are, they do andthat's why we have
families of 10 or 12 children.
And maybe they didn't evenwant more than two or three,
you know.
[Minister:] And also thefact is that we do not
have birth control that welldeveloped that it prevents
every conception.
[Carol:] Right.
[Minister:] And people are justpeople and they make mistakes.
[Carol:] Right, yeah.
[Candice Bergen:] Hopefully you cannow better understand the minds
and emotions of women confrontedwith a difficult decision
and at best anunpleasant experience.
Which once over theywill strive to forget.
They have shared it with youbecause they felt strongly
there was a need foryou not to agree,
but simply to understand.
If you think you are pregnant,the first thing to do
is see a doctor immediatelyand find out for sure.
If you are uncertainabout wanting
to continue thepregnancy take the time
to discuss it carefully witha trained and qualified
counselor.
If abortion is yourchoice, have it
performed by a doctor in arecognized medical facility.
The most importantthing I can tell you
is the earlier that it'sdone the safer it will be
and probably the less costly.
[Music]
We must educate people,both men and women,
on the use of contraceptives.
The advantages of voluntarysterilization and make
every effort possible to developsafe, effective, inexpensive
and universally availablemethods of pregnancy prevention
to those who would choose them.
Methods that do not requirewomen to pass judgment
on a potential humanlife already conceived.
If we can achieve these goals,then the need for abortion
will be greatly diminished.
It will then be necessaryonly in the failure
of contraceptive measures orthe careless failure of those
not to use them.
We have arrived at apoint in our history
that dictates anurgent reevaluation
of the quality of human life.
The least we mustdo for mankind is
try to guarantee thateach child born is loved.
[Music - "Amazing Grace"]
[An Airlie Production]
[Executive producer: Murdock Head, M.D.]
[Commentary by: Candice Bergen]
[Written and directed by: Frank Kavanaugh]
[Director of photography: Charles E. Francis]
[Cinematographer: Charles Strathman]
[...]
[Fade to black]
[...]