The legal drama film of the 1973 landmark decision, Roe v. Wade, was written and directed by Nick Loeb and Cathy Allyn. The 1:51 min., PG-13 rated film stars Loeb (as Dr. Bernard Nathanson), Jon Voight, Stacey Dash (as Dr. Mildred Jefferson), and Robert Davi.
The drama follows the life of Dr. Bernard Nathanson and his decades-long crusade for abortion rights for women. It also portrays the previously undisclosed true story behind the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision.
DO YOU KNOW THE TRUE STORY OF “ROE V. WADE” – THE 1973 SUPREME COURT DECISION THAT CHANGED THE U.S. ABORTION LAWS?
Roe v. Wade reached the Supreme Court on appeal in 1970. The Court delayed action on Roe (a Texas case) and a companion case, Doe v. Bolton (in Georgia), for a later time. On January 22, 1973 two Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, struck down any and all existing state laws prohibiting abortion, some that were over a century old.
“Roe” essentially cleared a path for legalized abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, before viability. The Court's opinion in “Doe”, however, allowed a woman to obtain an abortion after viability for “health reasons”. This “health” exception included physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age, which broadened the path to include abortion for any reason during the full nine months of pregnancy.
Who are “Roe” and “Wade”?
Norma McCorvey, the ‘Roe’ of Roe v. Wade, was young, poor, and uneducated – and overwhelmed with an untimely pregnancy. Used by men in her life, she would be used yet again by feminist lawyers working to challenge the existing abortion laws. Before her death in 2017, McCorvey became pro-life and, like so many, grieved over the decisions tied to the killing of some 62,000,000 preborn children since 1973. She testified multiple times before Congress about the injustice of abortion and the deceit underlying Roe v. Wade.
Henry Wade was a Texas lawyer who served as Dallas County’s District Attorney at the time of Norma McCorvey’s case. The Roe v. Wade case began when Wade was named defendant by attorneys Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee in a 1970 court challenge to the Texas criminal statutes prohibiting doctors from performing abortions.
Who is Dr. Bernard Nathanson?
He was an American medical doctor and the co-founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws — NARAL. He was also the former director of New York City's Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health. Later in life he had a redemption experience that completely turned his heart against abortion. He went on to narrate The Silent Scream, a documentary film, in which he showed what occurs during an abortion.
Who is Dr. Mildred Jefferson?
The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, the first woman to graduate in surgery from Harvard Medical School and the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society, Dr. Mildred Jefferson is known for her opposition to the legalization of abortion and her work as president of the National Right to Life Committee.
