Live Free or Die
2000
A small town New Hampshire OBGYN, Dr Wayne Goldner finds himself targeted as an abortionist and dismissed from teaching sex education at a local school when he challenges a Catholic hospital merger that eviscerates the area’s abortion services.
Set against the backdrop of Goldner's own community, the film captures a year of daily struggles and moral conflict. In the documentary, Wayne challenges a Catholic hospital merger that greatly reduces the area's services. When a patient who is 14 weeks pregnant is barred from the hospital operating room, Goldner is forced to send her on an 80-mile cab ride for an emergency abortion. Goldner's greatest conflict, as depicted in the film, is reducing the tension caused by his presence in the community.
“Three stars. A particlarly relevant program…this is recommended as a solid supplement to more straightforwardly informationally pro-choice materials.”
– K. Glaser, Video Librarian
“Strongly Recommended. A compelling documentary.”
– Jeff Dick Booklets
The Abortion Pill
1997
The Abortion Pill examines the pros and cons of a drug that can end a pregnancy without surgery.
The Abortion Pill tells the extraordinary story of why, as we approach the year 2000, the pill is still not available, blocked by a potent mix of business, politics and ethics. Supporters consider the pill the “greatest breakthrough since the birth control pill” because it is the first in a generation of drugs that can stop a pregnancy. But opponents call the combination of the two drugs a chemical cocktail that can create dangerous, unknown side effects.The Abortion Pill offers a behind-the-scenes look at the issues and the people that have kept this pill out of the United States for over a decade. Along the way we meet the politicians, pundits, organizers, and the ordinary men and women who have been swept into the controversy. We end the story with a look to the future and question whether this new technology, once in place, will end the abortion wars in America.
Broadcast Nationally on PBS
Chicago International Film Festival’s annual award for a social/political documentary