Watch the trailer: After Tiller premieres Monday, September 1, 2014, at 10 PM on PBS stations. (Check local listings.)
“Brings an emotional clarity to an issue in which every nuanced turn of phrase has been made politically complicated.” — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller is a deeply humanizing and probing portrait of the only four doctors in the United States still openly performing third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas—and in the face of intense protest from abortion opponents. It is also an examination of the desperate reasons women seek late abortions. Rather than offering solutions, After Tiller presents the complexities of these women’s difficult decisions and the compassion and ethical dilemmas of the doctors and staff who fear for their own lives as they treat their patients.
Visit the After Tiller companion site to watch the full film online for free for a limited time following the broadcast (starting September 1, 2014), explore the film’s issues, learn from the directors in an extended video interview, find out what’s happened since the cameras stopped rolling and download a discussion guide and other viewing resources.
Then, on Tuesday, September 1, from 1-2 PM ET (10-11 AM PT), ask After Tiller subject Dr. Susan Robinson, filmmakers Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, and journalist Irin Carmon in a live chat about the complexities and ethics of third-trimester abortions. RSVP for the chat, submit your questions or listen in on the conversation on Google+.
Share your thoughts and ask questions by using the hashtag #aftertiller.
“The doctors in our film would be the first to acknowledge that people can disagree about this subject,” say Shane and Wilson in a filmmaker’s statement. ” But they are also absolutely dedicated to their work, and see it above all as something that helps women and alleviates suffering. In this way, their motivations are the same as those of any other doctors. What is different, of course, is that because of the nature of their jobs, these four doctors are more controversial and targeted than any others in the country. It is thanks to the courage and willingness of the doctors to be open and candid with us, and to allow us such extraordinary access to their patients and lives, that we were able to make a film that pulls back the curtain on a profession that is so often kept out of sight.”
After Tiller premieres Monday, September 1, 2014, at 10 PM on PBS stations. (Check local listings.)
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