Post by rainangel on Apr 11, 2022 13:30:52 GMT
In light of the recent threads about the abortion debate you are having in the US, I was wondering if anyone has seen the movie Rain without Thunder from 1992?
I saw it YEARS ago, but I keep getting reminded of this movie reading your abortion threads.
In the movie, a featus has been given full constitutional rights, which means an abortion in murder one. It's very dystopian, but I would love a rewatch if I could find a copy. It seems to be eerily similar to what is happening some places in your country today.
I hopy your future is not a dystopian nightmare....
Plot synopsis from Wikipedia:
Allison Goldring (Ali Thomas), an upper-class, white college student, becomes pregnant from her boyfriend Jeremy Tanner (Steve Zahn). After discussing her options with both Tanner and her family, she makes the decision to travel abroad to terminate the pregnancy, as abortion is prosecuted as "fetal murder" in the United States. According to Allison and her mother Beverley (Betty Buckley), everyone – including Tanner – supported her decision. Tanner later denies this, though the film makes his denial seem improbable. Allison's father (Stuart Burney) and grandmother are interviewed and openly support both Allison and Beverly. Allison's father says that he originally intended to go along with them and that the choice to prosecute Beverly is arbitrary; ultimately, Beverly is perceived to have a greater influence on Allison.
Later interviews give further background on the society: civil liberties are slowly and methodically curtailed over time in order fight "hypercrime". In the early twenty-first century, restrictions on warrants are loosened, and several states pass laws criminalizing abortion. At first, only abortionists are targeted by the laws, and complacent feminists dismiss the idea that the situation will get worse. When the Roman Catholic Church accepts barrier contraception, feminism becomes further weakened, and a wave of pro-life legislation is passed, culminating in a new amendment to the United States Constitution that defines personhood at conception. Following that, laws are enacted that target women seeking abortions, and feminism becomes not only politically incorrect but also subject to historical revisionism that denies its impact.
The state of New York has recently passed a law that classifies going abroad to seek a termination as "fetal kidnapping". Beverly admits to being aware of the change but assumed it would be some time before it would be enforced. It is not clear how aware Allison and Jeremy were of the legal change. The law is a reaction to a lawsuit aimed at overturning fetal murder statutes because they are enforced almost exclusively against poor minority women. Examples of such women are interviewed at Walker Point (Ming-Na and Bahni Turpin). One had used some abortifacient called a "baby bomb". She was arrested as she bled out after improperly administering the drug. The other was initially arrested on suspicion of having a termination, but is convicted of using an IUD, which is also illegal. Her descriptions of how she obtained the "uudee" suggest that she was also in a potentially dangerous medical situation.
African American district attorney Andrea Murdoch (Iona Morris) discovers what the Goldrings have done and prosecutes them under the new law, in large part because they are exactly the type of women targeted by the law. The criminal procedures show that doctor-patient confidentiality is no longer guaranteed. Murdoch's motivations are questioned by Jonathan Garson (Jeff Daniels), the Goldrings' attorney, who suggests she is seeking higher office, although he doesn't question her ethics. Murdoch's own statements suggest that she is angered by the racial and class disparities in enforcement, but she does not question the propriety of fetal murder law.
During the trial, Allison decides to take the stand and confesses to what she did. She does not express remorse at the time nor does she express any regret later. She says that she felt relieved to get everything out. Beverly and Garson are frustrated by her decision, since it condemns both Allison and Beverly to prison. At the end of the film, the Swedish clinic checks their pathology reports on Allison and determines that the fetus had been dead for almost three weeks prior to the procedure. The Goldrings are released, but Murdoch declares her intention to prosecute them on attempted fetal kidnapping, on the grounds that they had intended to commit the crime even if they had not been able to commit it.
Later interviews give further background on the society: civil liberties are slowly and methodically curtailed over time in order fight "hypercrime". In the early twenty-first century, restrictions on warrants are loosened, and several states pass laws criminalizing abortion. At first, only abortionists are targeted by the laws, and complacent feminists dismiss the idea that the situation will get worse. When the Roman Catholic Church accepts barrier contraception, feminism becomes further weakened, and a wave of pro-life legislation is passed, culminating in a new amendment to the United States Constitution that defines personhood at conception. Following that, laws are enacted that target women seeking abortions, and feminism becomes not only politically incorrect but also subject to historical revisionism that denies its impact.
The state of New York has recently passed a law that classifies going abroad to seek a termination as "fetal kidnapping". Beverly admits to being aware of the change but assumed it would be some time before it would be enforced. It is not clear how aware Allison and Jeremy were of the legal change. The law is a reaction to a lawsuit aimed at overturning fetal murder statutes because they are enforced almost exclusively against poor minority women. Examples of such women are interviewed at Walker Point (Ming-Na and Bahni Turpin). One had used some abortifacient called a "baby bomb". She was arrested as she bled out after improperly administering the drug. The other was initially arrested on suspicion of having a termination, but is convicted of using an IUD, which is also illegal. Her descriptions of how she obtained the "uudee" suggest that she was also in a potentially dangerous medical situation.
African American district attorney Andrea Murdoch (Iona Morris) discovers what the Goldrings have done and prosecutes them under the new law, in large part because they are exactly the type of women targeted by the law. The criminal procedures show that doctor-patient confidentiality is no longer guaranteed. Murdoch's motivations are questioned by Jonathan Garson (Jeff Daniels), the Goldrings' attorney, who suggests she is seeking higher office, although he doesn't question her ethics. Murdoch's own statements suggest that she is angered by the racial and class disparities in enforcement, but she does not question the propriety of fetal murder law.
During the trial, Allison decides to take the stand and confesses to what she did. She does not express remorse at the time nor does she express any regret later. She says that she felt relieved to get everything out. Beverly and Garson are frustrated by her decision, since it condemns both Allison and Beverly to prison. At the end of the film, the Swedish clinic checks their pathology reports on Allison and determines that the fetus had been dead for almost three weeks prior to the procedure. The Goldrings are released, but Murdoch declares her intention to prosecute them on attempted fetal kidnapping, on the grounds that they had intended to commit the crime even if they had not been able to commit it.
