‘The Different Roe’: Forthcoming Abortion Documentary Spotlights Atlanta Lawyer Margie Pitts Hames
I’m engaged on a brand new documentary in manufacturing, The Different Roe, that explores the missed historical past of Atlanta swashbuckling lawyer Margie Pitts Hames via the eyes of her daughter, Donia Hames Robinson, and me, her greatest pal. It focuses on Hames’ groundbreaking work on Doe v. Bolton—the lesser-known companion Supreme Courtroom case to Roe v. Wade—that helped legalize abortion in 1973.
After Hames’ loss of life in 1994, I misplaced contact together with her daughter. She went to a prestigious girls’s faculty, moved to California, married, and pursued a various profession in small enterprise entrepreneurship, wine schooling and the well being and wellness trade. I remained in Atlanta and opened an abortion clinic in Jackson, Miss., tried stand-up comedy, and began the primary on-line abortion clinic listing: Abortion Clinics On-line.
Robinson later mentioned she typically considered me: She fondly remembered the time Hames and I took her to have fun her first menstrual interval with a elaborate dinner. I had tried to search out Robinson through the years however didn’t know her new final identify.
However, in the course of the pandemic, Robinson’s father’s obituary reached me and revealed her new identify. Reconnecting after over 25 years, we reminisced about Hames and her political significance. Robinson, an adolescent throughout these instances, remembered distinguished figures like Andrew Younger, Maynard Jackson, Julian Bond and Jimmy Carter attending fundraisers and occasions at their Buckhead dwelling.
Apart from these Buckhead occasions, Hames and I had been embroiled within the political machinations of the day, together with attending lobbying occasions, hanging out on the Georgia Capitol, and testifying at committees. The socializing we did again within the late ‘80s and ‘90s appears unimaginable at the moment. We fraternized with Republicans and Democrats and customarily stored their worst anti-abortion instincts at bay.
Most individuals are unaware that Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton had been each argued on the identical day earlier than the Supreme Courtroom and upheld within the 1973 choice that legalized abortion. Roe legalized the proper to abortion, whereas Doe ensured its availability and accessibility.
After almost 50 years, each selections had been overturned within the Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Supreme Courtroom case in June 2022, resulting in a fragmented legalization of abortion throughout the nation. Mockingly, the Jackson clinic that introduced the go well with was began by Susan Hill and me in 1995.
I used to be puzzled that each Hames and the Doe choice didn’t have a extra distinguished place within the historical past of abortion rights. Regardless of frequent searches, I discovered few articles and footage of Hames. It was disheartening to search out that such an influential determine held such a negligible on-line presence.
The concept of a documentary centering Hames arose. With out filmmaking contacts, we performed Zoom calls in the course of the pandemic with individuals who knew Hames to gauge curiosity. We discovered a compelling story however didn’t know easy methods to proceed.
In early 2023, Robinson reconnected with highschool pal Wendy Eley Jackson, a professor of filmmaking at UC Santa Barbara. Director and producer Jackson acknowledged the importance of Hames’ story and assembled knowledgeable workforce together with producer Elisa Gambino and director of pictures and Editor Neal Broffman. Filming started in August 2023, and a three-minute trailer was produced (viewable beneath and at TheOtherRoeFilm.com).
Important funding has come from govt producers Robinson and me, the Feminist Majority Basis (writer of Ms.) and Dr. Warren Hern—who is very supportive of this manufacturing as a result of he attended the Supreme Courtroom arguments for Roe and Doe in 1972.
To this point, the workforce has interviewed over 25 folks, obtained archival footage, and created supporting animation to inform the story. The manufacturing workforce goals to launch your complete movie by the tip of the 12 months, educating the general public about this significant historical past and restoring the protections of Roe and Doe.
Further tax-deductible donations to assist the venture are welcome via the web site.
View the three-minute official trailer right here:
Up subsequent:
U.S. democracy is at a harmful inflection level—from the demise of abortion rights, to an absence of pay fairness and parental go away, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and assaults on trans well being. Left unchecked, these crises will result in wider gaps in political participation and illustration. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Modification, and centering the tales of these most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we’re redoubling our dedication for the following 50 years. In flip, we’d like your assist, Help Ms. at the moment with a donation—any quantity that’s significant to you. For as little as $5 every month, you’ll obtain the print journal together with our e-newsletters, motion alerts, and invites to Ms. Studios occasions and podcasts. We’re grateful on your loyalty and ferocity.
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