Directed by Maisie Crow
A Showtime Documentary. 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.
Director’s Statement
I chose to make this film in Mississippi because I was struck by the dire nature of a state that only has one remaining abortion clinic. My intentions were to provide insight to the reality of this cultural climate and the women who were closest to it.
Jackson follows their daily lives, capturing their struggles and intentions, while exploring the complex and confounding nature of the abortion debate in Mississippi and the rest of the nation.
