The Other Side of the Fence

Producer/Director: Lynn Estomin
Associate Producer: Matt Davis
Videographer: Barbara Wolf
Research Director: Andrea Kornbluh
Composer/Musician: Nathan Thomas
28:00 minutes, 1993


American Film Institute (AFI) Film & Video Festival
Athens International Film & Video Festival
Barcelona Independent Video Festival
Big Muddy Film Festival
Beijing Broadcasting Institute
Canadian International Film Festival
Charlotte Film & Video Festival
Free Speech TV, National TV Broadcast
Long Island Film Festival
Louisville Film Festival
Metroland International Film & Video Festival
National Educational Film & Video Festival
National Media Arts Festival
New Television, National PBS Broadcast
New York Women's Film Festival
Northampton International Film Festival
Rochester International Film Festival
Sinking Creek Film & Video Festival
St. John's International Women's Film Festival
Women in the Director's Chair
Viewpoints, KQED-TV, PBS Broadcast
Visions of the U.S. Video Competition
2014 Prince Edward Island Abortion: The Unfinished Revolution Conference

The current debates in Congress, the press, and the public on the attachment of abortion restrictions and defunding of Planned Parenthood amendments to a multitude of legislative bills, remind us – once again – of the critical role the issue of abortion plays in American politics. The Other Side of the Fence offers viewers a unique insider's perspective on the relationship between conservative Evangelical Christianity and anti-abortion activism. Extensive interviews with a leader of the movement to end legal abortion highlight her experiences as a woman in the anti-abortion movement and Christian right.

In 1985 I went to work for Planned Parenthood in Cincinnati, OH. That same year Nancy O'Brien and her husband moved to Cincinnati and formed Project Jericho, a militant anti-abortion organization. Planned Parenthood's clinic was firebombed, Nancy O'Brien convinced Jerry Falwell to pledge a million dollars to the local anti-abortion movement, and Cincinnati became known as the national testing ground for anti-choice tactics. Then Michael O'Brien dumped Nancy for a younger woman, her church blamed her for the divorce, the movement isolated her and Nancy disappeared from public view. Five years later I tracked her down. The result is a fascinating insider's account of Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion movement and the Religious Right.

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