1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,720 Speaker 2: This is Michael Phillips, an historian in Texas. I'm the 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 2: author of the history of racism in Dallas called White Metropolis, 4 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 2: an upcoming book on the history of eugenics in Texas 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 2: called The Purifying Knife. 6 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 3: And I'm Stephen Monticelli, an investigative reporter and columnist in 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 3: Texas who covers extremism and fire right movements, as well 8 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 3: as dark money and other fun things. 9 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito authored 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 2: the Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health Organization decision. Alito's majority 11 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 2: opinion reversed the landmark nineteen seventy three Roe v. Wade 12 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 2: outcome that established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 2: through the first trimester, permitted states to impose limits to 14 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:53,520 Speaker 2: protect the health of the mother in the second trimester, 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 2: and gave states leeway to ban abortions and the final trimester. 16 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 2: The Road decision they in a Texas case, had survived 17 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 2: with modification for almost half century. In Dobbs, however, the 18 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 2: Supreme Court denied that women held a constitutional right to 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 2: an abortion and gave the individual states the power to 20 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 2: determine whether such procedures were legal at any point during 21 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 2: a pregnancy. In the Dobbs case, Alito seemed to suggest 22 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 2: that the concept of abortion rights was a modern aberration. 23 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 2: MSNBC pundit Lawrence O'Donnell zeroed in on one key phrase 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 2: in Alito's opinion. 25 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 3: Samuel Alito says that a right to abortion services is 26 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 3: not quote deeply rooted in this nation's history. Whatever one 27 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 3: might think about Alito as a jurist, he fails as 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 3: an historian. In fact, for much of American history, abortion 29 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 3: was quite accepted. When men first formed the American Medical 30 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 3: Association in the eighteen forties, they had to wage a 31 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 3: campaign against abortion, in part to eliminate competition for patients 32 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 3: from midwives, who were the primary provider of such services. 33 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 3: The nineteenth century anti abortion laws focused on the health 34 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 3: and safety of women primarily, and not the life of 35 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 3: the fetus, as the modern laws tend to do, and 36 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 3: the anti abortion campaign at the time itself had to 37 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 3: do not just with limiting women's autonomy, but also with 38 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 3: racism and anxiety over immigration. 39 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 2: Through it all, Texas became a central battlefront in the 40 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 2: culture wars surrounding women's bodily autonomy. One group of Texans 41 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 2: won women the right to an abortion in the Road case, 42 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 2: while another worked almost immediately to reverse Row and to 43 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 2: recriminalize choice. Meanwhile, a Dallas District attorney, Henry Wade, played 44 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 2: an under appreciated and under explored role in the battle. 45 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 3: The often dower Puritans who established the British Colony of 46 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 3: Massachusetts in the sixteen twenties may have created an oppressive theocracy, 47 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 3: but they proved surprisingly indifferent when it came to women's 48 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 3: decisions when and if to have children. Based on British 49 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 3: common law, the colonies in New England allowed abortion up 50 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 3: to the quickening, which is when women can first feel 51 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 3: fetal movement. In that era, it was the first clear 52 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 3: sign of impregnation. This moment varies widely for women, but 53 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 3: it generally happens during the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy. 54 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 2: Women typically endured seven to eight live births, and the 55 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 2: experience was often grueling and life threatening, particularly as they 56 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 2: got older. Seeking relief and physical safety, women frequently terminated 57 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 2: their pregnancy in a variety of ways. From Native Americans. 58 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 2: White women learned which local herbs were considered a border Facians. 59 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 2: White and black women also sought advice from midwives who 60 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 2: provided wisdom on how to relieve mentional cramps, get pregnant, 61 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 2: and breastfeed. Midwives provided abortion services as well. Women attempted 62 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 2: to end pregnancy with varying degrees of success by consuming 63 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 2: penny royalty or savin juniper, or a combination of iron 64 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 2: and quinine. They took hot baths or rode horses bareback 65 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 2: in order to cause a miscarriage. 66 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 3: Before the eighteen forties, such actions provoked little or no controversy. 67 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 3: Even the Catholic Church adhered to the quickening standard until 68 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 3: after the American Civil War. By the eighteen forties, abortion 69 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 3: had become so deeply rooted in American history and culture 70 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:31,480 Speaker 3: that abortionists advertise their services, albeit in euphemistic but widely 71 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 3: understood terms. These advertisements were carried in popular newspapers such 72 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 3: as The New York Sun and the Boston Daily Times. 73 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 3: Abortionists told patients they could provide quote French cures for 74 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 3: what was referred to as quote menstrual blockage. 75 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 2: A dramatic shift happened after the eighteen forty seven founding 76 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 2: of the American Medical Association, established by men. The organization 77 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 2: began lobbing states to ban abortions In an attempt to 78 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:04,360 Speaker 2: discredit midwives, who represented major competition for female patients, medical 79 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 2: journalists began to dismiss midwives and male doctors who provided 80 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 2: abortion services as dangerous, ill informed quacks. AMA members were 81 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 2: still unaware that germs existed, and they didn't clean their 82 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 2: hands or equipment when examining wounds or during surgeries, thus 83 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 2: causing many of their patients to die of sepsis. So 84 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 2: called regular doctors often used dangerous treatments, such as bleeding 85 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:34,119 Speaker 2: to treat illnesses. Yet, in spite of their high body count, 86 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 2: AMA members persuaded major press outlets such as The New 87 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,799 Speaker 2: York Times to sensationally covered cases in which women died 88 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 2: during abortions performed by midwives. This created momentum for the 89 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:51,239 Speaker 2: enactment by eighteen eighty of laws banning and criminalizing abortion 90 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 2: in every single state except Kentucky, where stake courts had 91 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 2: already rendered such procedures illegal. 92 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 3: The drive against abortion wasn't all that it seemed. Abortion 93 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 3: opponents were worried that the wrong women, or in other words, 94 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 3: white wealthy women, were choosing to limit how many children 95 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 3: they had. The fertility rate for white women fell by 96 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 3: almost fifty five percent. Between eighteen fifty and nineteen thirty, 97 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 3: Horatio Storer, the leading anti abortion crusader at the time, 98 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 3: railed against non infanto mania among upper class white women, 99 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 3: a trend that the sociologist Edward A. Ross would call 100 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 3: quote race suicide. President Theodore Roosevelt later argued that white 101 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 3: women had a patriotic duty to bear at least four 102 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 3: children if biologically fit. Anglo Saxons quote have only one 103 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 3: child or no child at all, while the Irish, Italians 104 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 3: and Jews have quote eight or nine or ten. Theodore 105 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 3: Roosevelt warned, it is simply a question of the multiplication table. 106 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 3: He wrote The Future of American Civilization, Roosevelt believed depended 107 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 3: on reprisductive math. White women could not be allowed to 108 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,360 Speaker 3: become voluntary non combatants in a racial demographic war. 109 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 2: In the eighteen eighties, Texas was still seen by much 110 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 2: of the country as an unsophisticated frontier, but was home 111 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 2: to a highly influential doctor with a national following, Ferdinand 112 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 2: Eugene Daniel, who became editor of the Texas Medical Journal, 113 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 2: a eugenesis with a national audience. The surgeon Hats served 114 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 2: in the Confederate Army and argued that masturbation and homosexuality 115 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 2: were dangerous indications that individual came from a family line 116 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 2: that not fully evolved or was biologically regressing. Fully evolved individuals, 117 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 2: he believed, had less of a sex strive and kept 118 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 2: their minds on intellectual pursuits. Daniel argued that before the 119 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 2: Civil War, Americans had endangered their future by bringing Africans 120 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 2: into the country as slaves, and were compounding the error 121 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 2: by allowing what he called quote the dregs of yourthurope, Jews, Greeks, Italians, 122 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 2: and others to immigrate to the United States. The only 123 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 2: way to say America's biological future, he said, was by 124 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 2: cash strating not just gay men and masturbators who would 125 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 2: cause the evolution of white America to swing in reverse, 126 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 2: but also the sterilized, as sexually promiscuous, the mentally ill, 127 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 2: those with disabilities, and the criminal element as well. 128 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 3: Daniel could be surprisingly supportive of abortion rights under limited circumstances, however, 129 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 3: if it ensured that well off white women had long 130 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 3: and fruitful careers as mothers. Daniel wrote approvingly of how 131 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 3: electric currents might be used to end ectopic pregnancies cases 132 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 3: in which fertilize eggs attached to the fallopian tubes or 133 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 3: elsewhere outside the uterus, which can be dangerous and can 134 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 3: kill or leave a woman infertile. Both outcomes undesirable for 135 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 3: a eugenicist like Daniel, who cared for fit white patients. 136 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 2: In eighteen eighty seven issue, he published account of a 137 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 2: debate among doctors held by the Medical Society and Terrell Texas. 138 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 2: The topic was whether saving the life of a mother 139 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 2: was the only acceptable reason to allow an abortion. Some 140 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 2: doctors in the debate argued that abortion was morally acceptable 141 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 2: for quote an intelligent and chaste woman who had gotten 142 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 2: pregnant after being deceived by a scoundrel into participating in 143 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 2: pre marital sex. 144 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 3: Because of sexual double standards. Several of these Texas doctors 145 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 3: argued that such women would no longer be considered a 146 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 3: socially acceptable mate by a high status man, and thus 147 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 3: should be denied the chance to become an quote, ornament 148 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 3: and useful member of society. Regardless of Texas's abortion law, 149 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 3: a surprising number of doctors in the state performed abortions 150 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 3: not only to save women's lives, but to save the 151 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 3: reputations and to relieve them of the financial and physical 152 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,559 Speaker 3: hardships of unwanted pregnancies. 153 00:09:55,320 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 2: In eighteen ninety nine, in Waco, Texas, Mary Wheat discovered 154 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 2: she was pregnant and sought an abortion. The procedure had 155 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 2: been illegal in Texas since eighteen fifty six, a year 156 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 2: before the recently formed American Medical Association began a campaign 157 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,680 Speaker 2: to prohibit abortion in every state. By eighteen eighty, the 158 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 2: AMA achieved its goal. In spite of the ubiquitous spans, 159 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 2: abortions were frequent and there were a large number of 160 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 2: doctors willing to provide the prohibited medical procedure. Wheat, called 161 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 2: Maddie by friends and family, found such a physician, doctor S. M. Jenkins. 162 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 3: Texas law at the time had not eliminated abortion, but 163 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 3: instead had driven the practice underground. Because of this, doctors 164 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 3: received little or no training in how to perform such procedures. 165 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 3: That proved fatal for Matty Wheat. Doctor Jenkins performed the 166 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 3: abortion in the home of woman identified by the local 167 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:52,959 Speaker 3: press only as Missus Smith, and he made a mistake. 168 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 3: She got increasingly and dangerously ill, and then after ten 169 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 3: days of this ordeal, Jenkins rushed Wheat into Waco's city hospital, 170 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 3: he claimed she was suffering a severe attack of dysentery. 171 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,119 Speaker 3: She then died, and an autopsy revealed a bowel perforation 172 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,560 Speaker 3: which had been left during the botched abortion. Law enforcement 173 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 3: arrested Jenkins on November first for the operation, charging him 174 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 3: with murder. 175 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 2: Jenkins's trial did not go as prosecutor's planned. Jenkins testified 176 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 2: that the fetus Wheat was caring had died and that 177 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 2: the abortion was an attempt to save her life. According 178 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 2: to a reporter for the Euston Post, Jenkinson's attorney were 179 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,319 Speaker 2: pleased with how the trial was unfolding. 180 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 4: Quote. 181 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 2: The defense seemed to be well satisfied with their showing 182 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 2: so far, and public opinion had changed considerably in favor 183 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 2: of the defendant, the newspaper told its readers. But then 184 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 2: the trial came to an abrupt and shocking end. 185 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 3: While the court was in session, Hugh Wheat, the brother 186 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 3: of the deceased woman, stood aimed at gun at doctor 187 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,959 Speaker 3: Jenkins and pulled the trigger. A bullet fatally struck the 188 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 3: physician just underneath the ribs. As the assassin fled, Jenkins's 189 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 3: brother in law, John Halligan, shot back, but missed that 190 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,119 Speaker 3: A murder trial ended in another homicide is not surprising 191 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 3: in a place as violent as nineteenth century Texas, but 192 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 3: because of the modern image of Texas as reliably and 193 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 3: even harshly anti abortion, it might be startling that the 194 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,320 Speaker 3: public one hundred and twenty five years ago actually sympathized 195 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,839 Speaker 3: with a doctor who faced prison after his patient died 196 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 3: as a result of an incompetently performed abortion. 197 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 2: Abortion politics were far more unpredictable in the American past 198 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 2: than Samuel Alito had asserted. In eighteen seventy three, anti 199 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 2: vice activist Anthony Comstock of Connecticut successfully lobbied the Congress 200 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 2: the past legislation known as the Compstack Act that made 201 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 2: distribution to the US mail or common carriers of birth 202 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,000 Speaker 2: control devices or any information about birth control or how 203 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,440 Speaker 2: to obtain an abortion, a federal crime. 204 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 3: Social reformers noted that bearing multi children often shorted women's 205 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 3: lives and drove their families into poverty, and they battled 206 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 3: for women to gain control over the reproductive choices. One 207 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,959 Speaker 3: such reformer was Margaret Sanger of New York, the daughter 208 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 3: of a radical Irish father and mother, who died at 209 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:19,319 Speaker 3: fifty after burying eleven children. Sanger coined the term birth 210 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 3: control in nineteen fifteen, and, just before World War One, 211 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 3: launched a movement that promoted contraception as sexual and political 212 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 3: reform aimed to reduce human misery. She had to flee 213 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 3: the country in nineteen fourteen because her publication The Woman 214 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,719 Speaker 3: Rebel intentionally defied the Comstock Law and promoted the distribution 215 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 3: of information about contraception through the United States Postal Service. 216 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 3: When she returned to this country, she was an international 217 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 3: celebrity for women's rights and free speech, and she opened 218 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 3: a family planning clinic, which faced continual police harassment. Lack 219 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 3: of access to birth control, sang Her complained led to abortion. 220 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 3: As she has said in a nighteth Seen fifty seven 221 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 3: interview with reporter Mike Wallace on CBS News. 222 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 5: Why did you do it? I realized that you had 223 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 5: an intellectual conviction that birth control was a boon demand kind. 224 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:14,560 Speaker 5: But I'm sure that others have that conviction too, And 225 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 5: so what I'd like to know is this, what events, 226 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 5: what emotions in your life made Margaret Sanger a crusader 227 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 5: for birth control. 228 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: Well, mister Wallace, it is hard to say that any 229 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: one thing has made one do this or that I 230 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: think from the very beginning. 231 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 6: Uh. 232 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: I came of a large family. My mother died young, 233 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: eleven children made depression on me. As a child. I 234 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: was a trained nurse, went among the people. I saw 235 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: women who asked to have some means whereby they wouldn't 236 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: have to have another pregnancy too early after the last child, 237 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: the last abortion, which many of them had. So there's 238 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: a number of things that are one after the other. 239 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: It really made you feel that you had to do something. 240 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 3: It may surprise many today that the woman who founded 241 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 3: the American Birth Control League, which later evolved into Planned 242 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 3: Parenthood of America, actually opposed abortion and advocated easing access 243 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 3: to birth control as a means of making advantage. Meanwhile, 244 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 3: around the time of Sanger's interview with Mike Wallace, Texas 245 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 3: doctors became friendlier to abortion rights. But before we get 246 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 3: into that, a quick ad break. 247 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty three, the Houston Chronicles survey doctors about 248 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 2: their views of abortion. About eighteen thousand abortions took place 249 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 2: in Texas every year, the newspaper reported, and that quote, 250 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 2: an increasing number of doctors believed abortions should be legal 251 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 2: for reasons beyond saving the life of the Mother Texas 252 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 2: women fought fiercely for the right to control their bodies. 253 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 2: In North Texas, the Women's Alliance, the first Unitarian Universalist 254 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 2: church in Dallas, launched an education campaign about the need 255 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 2: for the state to reform its abortion laws. Meanwhile, doctor 256 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 2: U Savage of Fort Worth, the president of State Association 257 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 2: of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, lobbied the Texas Medical Association to 258 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 2: draft a statement supporting abortion rights. The state's abortion ban was, 259 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 2: he said, in conflict with actual practice of reputable hospitals 260 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 2: across the state. Doctors regularly provided abortion care when a 261 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 2: woman's life was in danger, and they interpreted that mandate broadly. 262 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty nine, members of the Texas Medical Association 263 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 2: who were surveyed approved liberalization of abortion laws by an 264 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 2: overwhelming vote of four thousand, four hundred and thirty five 265 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 2: to five hundred and thirty six. 266 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 3: The Texas legislature even considered loosening abortion restrictions in its 267 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 3: nineteen sixty seven and ninety teen sixty eight sessions, although 268 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 3: neither effort was successful in spite of support from conservative 269 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 3: state Senator George park House and a growing number of 270 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,400 Speaker 3: churches and physicians. In the end, activists carried the day. 271 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 3: Two Texas lawyers, Linda Confe and Sarah Weddington, took up 272 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 3: the cause of Norma McCovey, who had sought an abortion 273 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 3: in Dallas. Almost a century earlier, Texas doctors had argued 274 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 3: whether to allow an abortion for unmarried upper class women 275 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 3: so they could contribute to the gene pool by bearing 276 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 3: children with comparably privileged men. Those Victorian doctors did not 277 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 3: have someone like McCovey in mind. 278 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:41,719 Speaker 2: Largely Neglected by her parents, McCovey had suffered abuse at 279 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 2: the hands of men throughout her life and was a 280 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 2: frequent drug user. After giving up one child for adoption 281 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 2: and having another taken by her mother, in nineteen sixty nine, 282 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 2: she was pregnant for a third time while she was 283 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:58,159 Speaker 2: living in Dallas. McCovey tried to end the pregnancy herself 284 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 2: with a home remedy, a peanut and cast royal, but 285 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 2: she only succeeded in making herself nauseous. She's eventually told 286 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 2: about an illegal clinic, but when she got there, Dallas 287 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 2: police had already shut down the clinic quote nobody was there, 288 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 2: she said later. It was an old dentist office. Then 289 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 2: I saw dry blood everywhere and smell this awful smell. 290 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,880 Speaker 2: She believed that she falsely claimed that she had been 291 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 2: gang raped by African American men. A doctor might be 292 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,919 Speaker 2: willing to provide her an abortion. She was unsuccessful, but 293 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 2: a doctor referred her to an attorney who connected her 294 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:36,199 Speaker 2: with a pair of lawyers who were seeking to challenge 295 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 2: the Texas anti abortion law. These attorneys, Linda Coffee and 296 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 2: Sarah Weddington, filed a class action suit against Dallas District 297 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 2: Attorney Henry Wade, claiming that the Texas anti abortion law, 298 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 2: which allowed the procedure only to save the patient's life, 299 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 2: violated the constitutional right of privacy. 300 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 3: Before his name would forever be linked with the history 301 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 3: of American abortion law. By the time of Norman mccovey's suit, 302 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 3: Henry Wade enjoyed a reputation as one of the most 303 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,880 Speaker 3: successful district attorneys in the country. His reputation in Dallas 304 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,160 Speaker 3: was built on ruthlessness, racism, and the advantages a brutally 305 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 3: unfair criminal justice system in Texas gave him. Wade would 306 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 3: claim a ninety percent conviction rate, but in many of 307 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 3: those cases he faced off against poor defendants that were bullied, 308 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 3: lied to, and coerced into confessions by Dallas police officers. 309 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 3: In one infamous murder case, Tommy Lee Walker, an African 310 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 3: American man with several alibi witnesses, was threatened with a 311 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 3: beating if he didn't sign a confession. He was misled 312 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 3: about the consequences of signing admission of guilt and later 313 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 3: died in the electric chair. In nineteen fifty six. 314 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 2: Wade reportedly joked, quote, any prosecutor could convict a guilty man. 315 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 2: That takes a real pro to convict an innocent man. 316 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,360 Speaker 2: Emmanuel Wade provided to prosecutors after the Civil Rights Era 317 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 2: provided tips for excluding African Americans and Mexican Americans from juries. 318 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 2: Wade left the District Attorney's office in January nineteen eighty eight, 319 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:13,120 Speaker 2: and as of twenty eight, nineteen criminal defendants convicted by 320 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 2: his team had been exonerated through DNA evidence. 321 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 3: During his time as District attorney, Wade directed police to 322 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 3: raid gay bars and vigorously prosecuted violators of the state 323 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 3: sodomy laws that banned oral and anal sex, including a 324 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 3: straight couple arrested in Dallas in nineteen sixty one, while 325 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 3: Wade may have racked up wins against badly outmatched targets 326 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 3: before Row he bungled. His most famous case, a murder 327 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 3: covered by Dallas radio reporter Gary Delon of klif Am and. 328 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 7: Ury comes laswag who accused assassin Captain rifles lading Madad, 329 00:20:53,200 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 7: then scrator Dry from Elice officers Riff shot right up, 330 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 7: shot has long out and ri Osra pas. 331 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:09,959 Speaker 1: Leet Osrad has shot him. 332 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:11,880 Speaker 2: A shot has long out. 333 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 7: He shouts believed in place, Shawn has long out. Undress 334 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 7: sends emment Lee Osra, Lee Osra has less been shot. 335 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 2: On November twenty fourth, nineteen sixty three, Dallas nightclub owner 336 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 2: Jack Ruby had murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin 337 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 2: of John Kennedy, as he was being escorted by police 338 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 2: in front of a nationwide TV audience. The case should 339 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 2: have been open and shut. Wade's staff won a conviction 340 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 2: in March nineteen sixty four, but the verdict and death 341 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 2: sentence Ruby received was unanimously overturned by the Texas Court 342 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,239 Speaker 2: of Criminal Appeals on October fifth, nineteen sixty six, in 343 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 2: part because the judge should have granted a change of venue, 344 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 2: but also because Wade's team at Introduce improperly obtained evidence 345 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 2: at the trial, Ruby was awaiting a new trial, where 346 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 2: he died of pneumonia cancer in nineteen sixty seven. 347 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 3: The Wade team apparently did similarly sloppy work in the 348 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 3: Roe v. 349 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 4: Wade case. 350 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:17,199 Speaker 3: In abortion cases, Wade's office had generally prosecuted amateur abortion 351 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 3: providers who had killed or badly injured their clients, and 352 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,920 Speaker 3: the Dallas DA's office in the City Police had not 353 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 3: focused on enforcement of abortion laws on the books. Legal 354 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 3: experts would later characterize the Dallas DA's office filings and 355 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,800 Speaker 3: the Row case as perfunctory, especially compared to the exhaustive 356 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 3: constitutional research done by Weddington and Coffee. Texas Assistant General j. 357 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 3: Floyd won no allies on the Supreme Court when he 358 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 3: opened his argument with comments considered sexist and condescending even 359 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:51,600 Speaker 3: by the standards of nineteen seventy three. When the Supreme 360 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 3: Court rendered its verdict, Wade reportedly never bothered to read. 361 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: Its case justice by a pleased court. 362 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 8: It's an old joe for a man argues against two 363 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 8: beautiful ladies like this, They're going to. 364 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 7: Have the last word. 365 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,400 Speaker 2: No one laughed and a Texas legal team would win 366 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 2: a landmark legal victory. On January twenty second, nineteen seventy three, 367 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,679 Speaker 2: news anchor Walter Cronkite made the earthshaking Roe v. Wade 368 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 2: decision the lead story on the CBS Evening News Good Evening. 369 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 9: In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court today legalized abortions. 370 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 9: The majority in cases from Texas and Georgia said that 371 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,320 Speaker 9: the decision to end the pregnancy during the first three 372 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,200 Speaker 9: months belongs to the woman and her doctor, not the government. 373 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 9: Thus the anti abortion laws of forty six states were 374 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,399 Speaker 9: rendered unconstitutional. 375 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 3: Stay with us through this ad break to learn more 376 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 3: took a while for the country, and particularly tech seems 377 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,320 Speaker 3: to absorb the news about the road decision. Supreme Court 378 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 3: ruling was announced on the same day as another big 379 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,120 Speaker 3: news story that, over the next few days, absorbed attention 380 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 3: south of the Red River. Cronkite was on the air 381 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 3: when the press secretary of a former giant of Texas 382 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 3: politics called the newsman to tell him a former president 383 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 3: had died. 384 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 8: Thank you very much, Tom, I'm on the right at 385 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 8: the moment. Can you hold the line just a second. 386 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 8: I'm talking to Tom Johnston, a press secretary for Lyndon Johnson, 387 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 8: who was reported that the thirty sixth President of the 388 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 8: United States died this afternoon in an ambulance plane on 389 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,400 Speaker 8: the way to San Antonio, where he was taken after 390 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 8: being stricken at his ranch, the LBJ Wrench in Johnson City, Texas. 391 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 2: News of the road decision had to compete not only 392 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 2: with coverage of Johnson's death in the planning for his funeral, 393 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 2: but also the recently negotiated American withdrawal from the Vietnam War. 394 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,240 Speaker 2: No one could have guessed how deeply this one decision 395 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,679 Speaker 2: would reshape the makeup of the Democratic and Republican parties 396 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 2: over the the next half century. Americans divided almost evenly. 397 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 2: Soon after the Supreme Court announcement, a Gallop survey indicated 398 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 2: that forty six percent supported a woman's right to choose 399 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,760 Speaker 2: and forty five percent opposed granting women access to the 400 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,719 Speaker 2: abortion care. In the days following the Roe decision, reactions 401 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 2: were often surprising. W. A. Chriswell, the arch conservative pastor 402 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 2: of First Baptist Church in Dallas, the largest Southern Baptist 403 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:32,159 Speaker 2: congregation in the nation, initially applauded the court. Perhaps the 404 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,919 Speaker 2: pastor who had repeatedly warned thirteen years earlier that the 405 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,359 Speaker 2: election of a Catholic John Kennedy as president would mark 406 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 2: the end of religious liberty. Was relieved that the Supreme 407 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 2: Court was not controlled by the Vatican. By the late 408 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 2: nineteen seventies, Chriswell would emerge as a national leader of 409 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 2: the religious right and would help make opposition to abortion 410 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 2: gay rights a centerpiece of Republican politics. Shortly after Rowe, however, 411 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 2: he struck a very different tune. Quote I've always felt 412 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 2: that it was only after the child was born and 413 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 2: had a life separate from its mother that became an 414 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,359 Speaker 2: individual person, Chriswell said, And it always therefore seemed to 415 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 2: me that's what's best for the mother and the future 416 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 2: should be allowed. 417 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 3: Opposition to the legalization of abortion quickly formed and would 418 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:25,479 Speaker 3: build to homicidal intensity over the decades. In nineteen seventy, 419 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 3: three years before the Road Decision, when abortion was still 420 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 3: illegal in Texas, Michael Schwartz, a student at the conservative 421 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 3: private University of Dallas in the suburb of Irving, staged 422 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,439 Speaker 3: what might have been the first anti abortion protest in 423 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 3: American history. He held a sit in at the Planned 424 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 3: Parenthood headquarters not far from downtown Dallas, because the organization 425 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 3: provided assistance to pregnant women planning on traveling to states 426 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 3: where abortion was already legal, not unlike situations that Texans 427 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:54,679 Speaker 3: faced today. 428 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 2: The movement soon came to be dominated by right wing Republicans, 429 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 2: and the occupation of clinics soon became violent. Abortion ponents 430 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 2: pouring noxious chemicals into clinic ventilation systems. Anti choice extremists 431 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 2: set fire to clinics, bombed them, and even murdered doctors 432 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 2: and clinic staff providing abortion care. One set of Texans 433 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 2: may have won the decisive battle for abortion rights in 434 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 2: the past half century, but a different set of Texans 435 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 2: would lead the charge to reverse those gains. 436 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 3: Strangely enough, the backlash to abortion rights included Norma McCovey. 437 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,720 Speaker 3: One day, Flip Benham, a leader of the extremist anti 438 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 3: abortion group Operation Rescue, approached her while she was autographing 439 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 3: copies of a book she had authored called I Am Row. 440 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 3: They became friends, and she later claimed that she changed 441 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 3: her mind about abortion when she saw photos of fetuses 442 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,639 Speaker 3: at different stages of pregnancy. After being baptized in a 443 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:54,520 Speaker 3: swimming pool by evangelicals in nineteen ninety five, an event 444 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:58,160 Speaker 3: filmed and widely disseminated in the anti abortion movement. McCovey 445 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 3: became a popular fixture at anti broak A protests. At first, 446 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 3: McCovey embraced Evangelical Protestantism, and by nineteen ninety eight she 447 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 3: converted to Catholicism, but towards the end of her life, 448 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 3: while being interviewed for a twenty twenty documentary called Aka 449 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 3: Jane Rowe, McCovey confessed that her religious conversion had been 450 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,720 Speaker 3: a scam and that she had been financially benefiting from 451 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:27,360 Speaker 3: her transition into a star of the evangelical anti abortion circuit. 452 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 6: Did they use you as a trophy? 453 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,959 Speaker 2: Of course, I was the big fish. 454 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 8: Do you think they would say they used them? 455 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 2: Well, I think it was a mutual thin. You know. 456 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 1: I checked their money and they put me out in 457 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: front of the cameras and tell me what to say. 458 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. McCovey died in twenty seventeen at 459 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 2: her home in Katie, Texas. By that point, anti abortion 460 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 2: politics had become orthodoxy in the Republican Party. In two 461 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 2: thousand and eight, the state passed the Misleadingly named Women's 462 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 2: Right to No Act, which mandated the physicians share misinformation 463 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 2: about alleged fetal pain during abortion with women who sought 464 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 2: the procedure. In twenty thirteen, a state Senator, Wendy Davis 465 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 2: of Fort Worth, stage of dramatic thirteen hour filibuster Senate 466 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 2: Bill five, legislation that banned abortion after twenty weeks, required 467 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 2: clinics to meet the same demanding standards as hospitals and 468 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 2: surgical centers, and required doctors performing the procedure to hold 469 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 2: admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Davis's filibuster stopped the bill 470 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 2: from being voted on before midnight June twenty fifth, the 471 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 2: mandated end of the legislative session. She killed the legislation 472 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 2: for the time being, and the pink tennis shoes she 473 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 2: wore became a symbol of abortion rights activism around the world. However, 474 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,120 Speaker 2: Rick Perry called a special session of the legislature the 475 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 2: next day and Senate Bill five passed. Her efforts propelled 476 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,280 Speaker 2: her into the twenty fourteen GUBERNATORI race, but she was 477 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:04,080 Speaker 2: crushed by Greg Abbott by twenty one point margin. 478 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 3: In recent years, Abbot has led the charge to erase 479 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 3: many of the gains women have won in the fight 480 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 3: to control their bodies. 481 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 5: We will promote policies that limit the growth of government, 482 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,560 Speaker 5: not the size of your dreams. 483 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,719 Speaker 3: Under Abbot, Texas has passed some of the most intrusive 484 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,719 Speaker 3: and extreme anti abortion laws that tightly regulate women's bodies. 485 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 3: In twenty twenty one, Texas passed Senate Bill eight, which 486 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 3: banned abortions after the six week of pregnancy. It made 487 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 3: performing an abortion a first or second degree felony unless 488 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 3: the mother's life is in danger or there is risk 489 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 3: of substantial impairment of a major bodily function. The vagueness 490 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 3: of that latter provision has terrified Texas doctors into not 491 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,040 Speaker 3: providing care to several women who have shown up in 492 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 3: emergency rooms at death's door. Texas physicians have become less 493 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 3: willing to perform emergency abortions than they were in the 494 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 3: days before the Road decision, even as far as the 495 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 3: nineteenth century. 496 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,440 Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, the Texas Supreme Court denied Kate 497 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,040 Speaker 2: Cox of Dallas the right to end a pregnancy even 498 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 2: though our fetus suffered from full trisomy eighteen, the severe 499 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 2: genetic anomaly that guaranteed that the child, if it survived pregnancy, 500 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 2: would only live minutes. If the pregnancy continued, Cox may 501 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 2: have lost the ability to have children in the future. 502 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 2: She fled this state in order to obtain an abortion 503 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 2: where the procedure remained legal. In twenty twenty three, Amanda 504 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 2: Zirwaski almost died waiting for a life saving abortion when 505 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 2: doctors hesitated to provide care because they feared criminal prosecution. 506 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 2: For years, abortion right activists had chanted pro life, that's 507 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 2: a lie, you don't care if women die. In fact, 508 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,840 Speaker 2: the state legislature and Governor Greg Abbott did nothing as 509 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 2: the deaths of pregnant women in Texas swored fifty six percent. 510 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 3: In twenty twenty one. Johnston Lee Barnika, a mother of one, 511 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 3: was joyful when she realized she was pregnant. She hoped 512 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 3: to deliver a sibling for her daughter. But on September 513 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 3: twenty first, seventeen weeks into her pregnancy, she was miscarrying, 514 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 3: with the fetus pressing against her cervix and about to 515 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 3: exit the womb. Barnica's life was in danger, but doctors 516 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,240 Speaker 3: at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest told her and her husband 517 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 3: that because of Texas' law, they could do nothing until 518 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 3: the fetus' heartbeat had stopped. Fearing criminal charges, doctors refused 519 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,239 Speaker 3: to medically accelerate the delivery of the dying fetus and 520 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 3: let forty hours pass. Barnica writhed in agony, begged to 521 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 3: be allowed to see her daughter, and a fatal bacterial 522 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 3: infection ravaged her body. She would die three days later, 523 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 3: leaving her young child without a mother. 524 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 2: On October twenty eighth, twenty twenty three, eighteen year old 525 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 2: Neva Crane was six months pregnant. She began vomiting and 526 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 2: she became soaked in sweat during a baby's shower at 527 00:32:55,680 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 2: her home in Beaumont. She too was miscaring. Her boyfriend 528 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 2: drove her to nearby Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas, where 529 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 2: they waited for five hours in a waiting room before 530 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 2: doctors diagnosed her with strapped throat and gave her a 531 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:15,600 Speaker 2: prescription for antibiotics. Sent home or conditionally worsened, Crane was 532 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 2: driven to another hospital in town Christa's Southeast Texas, Saint Elizabeth. 533 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,479 Speaker 2: Her fever soared to one hundred and two and she 534 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 2: was bleeding, but her doctors continue to do nothing but 535 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:31,960 Speaker 2: administer antibotics. Eventually, she was wheeled into a third emergency room. 536 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 2: Doctors gave her two ultrasounds, two, in their words, confirm 537 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 2: fetal demise. Crane's mother, who had long been opposed to abortions, 538 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 2: screamed at the medical staff to help her dying child. 539 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 2: Crane suffered for twenty hours before her heart failed. 540 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 3: Bernica and Crane's stories were revealed by the investigative news 541 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 3: outlet pro Publica just days before the twenty twenty four 542 00:33:55,160 --> 00:34:00,040 Speaker 3: presidential election. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris made abortion rights a 543 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 3: central part of her doomed campaign. When in an anticipated 544 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 3: red wave expected to bring a Republican majority in the 545 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,440 Speaker 3: twenty twenty two congressional elections fizzled and a number of 546 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 3: abortion rights initiatives passed even in traditional Republican strongholds like 547 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 3: Kansas and Ohio, Many pundits believed that a Dobbs effect 548 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 3: had heralded a permanent political realignment, or at least the 549 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 3: upcoming presidential election results. This phenomenon clearly failed to materialize 550 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:36,360 Speaker 3: for Harris. Abortion rights referenda passed in seven states, including Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, 551 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 3: and New York in November twenty twenty four, but they 552 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,640 Speaker 3: founded in Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as Florida 553 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,919 Speaker 3: because the support of fifty seven percent of voters fell 554 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:50,080 Speaker 3: short of the required sixty percent supermajority. In Texas, Trump, 555 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,799 Speaker 3: once a pro choice person, but now the proud instigator 556 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 3: of the Dobbs decision, carried fifty six percent of the vote. 557 00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,960 Speaker 3: One of the most prominent Trump supporters, University of ten 558 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 3: Exis PhD. Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation, might soon 559 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 3: be in a position to see his dreams of a 560 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 3: national ban on the so called abortion pill mifipristone, and 561 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 3: even the reversal of the nineteen sixty five Griswold v. 562 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:18,400 Speaker 3: Connecticut Supreme Court decision that overturned state laws banning control 563 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:19,520 Speaker 3: pills and devices. 564 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 2: When Harris lost, anti abortion extremists exuberantly celebrated Trump's triumph. 565 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,720 Speaker 2: Neo Nazi Nick Fuentes, who if right wing rap artists 566 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,279 Speaker 2: Kanye West got to go to dinner in twenty twenty 567 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:35,800 Speaker 2: two of Trump saw the Republican victory as an opportunity 568 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 2: to reduce swomen to the status of property. 569 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:44,720 Speaker 6: Hey, we control your bodies. Guess what. Guys win again. Okay, 570 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:49,879 Speaker 6: men win again, and yes, we control your bodies. Hi, 571 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:56,799 Speaker 6: I'm your Republican congressman. Hi, I'm your Republican congressman. It's 572 00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 6: your body, my choice. 573 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,840 Speaker 3: Texas government has become big enough to regulate women's bodies 574 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 3: and small enough to fit inside of its citizens' bedrooms. 575 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,440 Speaker 3: Even though abortion rights have always enjoyed far greater support 576 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 3: than Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has suggested the right 577 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,480 Speaker 3: of women to control their own bodies and get the 578 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,560 Speaker 3: vital medical care they need to prevent bodily harm or 579 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,920 Speaker 3: their premature deaths seems on the precipice of vanishing. This 580 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,279 Speaker 3: grim reality is not deeply rooted in America's history or traditions, 581 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 3: but unfortunately, it is the current status quo, and Texas 582 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:37,720 Speaker 3: has played a major role in bringing us to this place. 583 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,719 Speaker 3: I'm Stephen Manchelli, I'm Michael Phillips. 584 00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:41,720 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. 585 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,920 Speaker 4: It could happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 586 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 4: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 587 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,840 Speaker 4: coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out from the iHeartRadio app, 588 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you use them to podcasts, can 589 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,479 Speaker 4: now find sources for it. Could happen. You are listed 590 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 4: directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.