A Battle Over Abortion and Free Speech
Updated at 2:43 p.m. ET
Anyone who wants to understand National Institute of Family Life Advocates v. Becerra, which the Supreme Court will hear Tuesday, would do well to start with a viewing of Jackson, Maisie Crow’s 2016 documentary about the abortion battle in Mississippi.
In one memorable scene in the film, Barbara Beavers, director of the pro-life Center for Pregnancy Choices, asks donors to fund a “crisis pregnancy center” across the street from the state’s only abortion clinic: “The closer you can get the CPC to the abortion clinic,” she explains, “then the closer you can get a woman to choose life for her child. Having a place that’s walking distance, that’s huge, because a lot of times these women are dropped off. That’s the greatest need, for the CPC to be as close to the abortion clinic was we can get it.”
In the film, protesters near the abortion clinic intercept women entering: “You know there’s a Crisis Pregnancy Center and they offer lots of free help and sonograms?” says one. Another asks, “Can I give you this free card so you can go to a free clinic?”
The film goes inside both the abortion clinic (called the ), and CPC, the “crisis pregnancy center.” Inside the clinic, Dr. Willie Parker, the medical provider, counsels a young woman (her face is not shown) who has come for an abortion: “The state requires me to tell you that there’s a risk of bleeding, there’s
