Jackson

Abortion remains legal in the United States but anti-abortion efforts have succeeded in making it virtually inaccessible in some places and in the Deep South, often unthinkable. At one time Mississippi had fourteen abortion clinics. Now only one remains.

Since the passage of Roe v. Wade more than four decades ago, the self-labeled “pro-life” movement has won significant cultural, political and legal battles. Now, the stigma of abortion is prolific in Mississippi and women in poverty and women of color are particularly vulnerable. Jackson is wrought with the racial and religious undertones of the Deep South and explores the nuanced nature of abortion in America’s Bible Belt.

Shannon Brewer is the director of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only remaining abortion clinic in the state. Barbara Beaver runs the Center for Pregnancy Choices and is a leader of the anti-abortion movement in Mississippi. April Jackson is a young mother of four children faced with another unplanned pregnancy.

JACKSON is an intimate, unprecedented look at the lives of three women caught up in the complex issues surrounding abortion access. Set against the backdrop of the fight to close the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson captures the essential and hard truth of the lives at the center of the debate over reproductive healthcare in America.  

Film will be followed by a discussion with Reverend Anne C. Fowler, Meredith Healey, and Zach Heiden, Legal Director at the ACLU of Maine.

The Reverend Anne C. Fowler is an Episcopal priest who served in parish ministry in the Boston area for 30 years and has retired home to Portland.  In Massachusetts she served on the board of Planned Parenthood, served on and chaired the board of NARAL ProChoice Massachusetts, chaired the Religious Coalition for Marriage Equality, and represented Massachusetts at the national Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She also participated in a 17– year dialogue between pro-choice and pro-life leaders. In Maine she serves on the board of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and as a Chaplain at the Planned Parenthood health center in Portland.

Meredith Healey is a Registered Nurse and the Site Manager for Planned Parenthood’s Portland Health Center. Prior to joining the team at Planned Parenthood she worked at Maine Medical center as a staff nurse.

Presented with ACLU of Maine and Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund 

Other films in THE ACLU OF MAINE FREEDOM SIDE FILM SERIES:
09.18 + 20: WHOSE STREETS? with filmmaker Sabaah Folayan
11.09: THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES
12.13: FROM NOWHERE