Today, the headlines are filled with speculation about changes in the U.S. Supreme Court and what those changes might mean for abortion — an issue that has divided the country for over 30 years. Heated rhetoric from both sides continues to be heard in courtrooms and on the campaign trail. But while attention is often focused on the arguments, there is another story playing out in local communities. Pro-life advocates have waged a successful campaign to reduce abortions in many places throughout the country. By using state laws to regulate and limit abortion and by creating their own clinics to offer alternatives to women, they have changed the facts on the ground. FRONTLINE investigates the steady decline in the number of physicians and clinics performing abortions and focuses on local political battles in states like Mississippi, where only a single clinic performs the controversial procedure.
2005-11-08
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6.5From peanuts and pollen to cats and dust mites, allergy rates are soaring dramatically all over the globe. Experts are predicting that by 2050, one in two will suffer from an allergy. Why are our immune systems overreacting in this way?
6.7Puentes de Salud is a volunteer-run clinic that provides free medical care to undocumented immigrants in south Philadelphia. Here, doctors and nurses work for free to serve people who would otherwise fall through the cracks. Clinica de Migrantes, a potent film by Maxim Pozdorovkin, follows the workers and patients of Puentes through months of routine care and growth. Along the way, the film puts a face to the millions of people who exist on the margins of society: people displaced from their homelands, separated from their families, unfamiliar with the customs, unable to obtain health insurance and terrified to come forward to seek medical help. Along with revealing these patient stories, Clinica is also a look at the heroic doctors and nurses who work pro bono to ensure these people receive care, offering a deeply moving look at the limitless potential of humanity.
0.0A weary-looking middle-aged couple shuffle around their cluttered loft in Yangon, Myanmar. There is stuff everywhere, and a mountain of pills in blister packs lie haphazardly on top of a glass case. The loft turns out to be a clinic and the couple are qualified doctors. They are also artistic: she paints and draws, he is making a feature film, and their patients receive creative therapy in addition to regular treatment. This might not be a sterile, efficient hospital full of white coats, and the treatment rooms might look shabby, but there is real time and attention for people here.
8.0Formerly known as ‘multiple personality disorder’, dissociative identity disorder, the most common cause of which is severe childhood trauma, is a condition recognised by psychiatry but still poorly understood, to the extent that it is sometimes called into question. Alongside patients and researchers, we delve into the mechanisms and daily implications of this pervasive condition.
7.0While life expectancy is increasing in Western countries, cases of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cancer are increasing, and the use of medication has exploded. Does this mean that in order to live to a ripe age we are condemned to swallow more and more drugs? What if there was another way? For half a century, in Russia, Germany and the U.S., doctors and biologists have been exploring a different therapeutic approach: fasting. The results are amazing. Soviet researchers have provided a body of clinical studies of exceptional health…only published in Russian, and thus unknown in the West. Young biologists from the University of Los Angeles have overturned conventional wisdom and used molecular biology to demonstrate the powerful effects of fasting. This research suggests a wide-ranging potential, which could include treatments for the disease of the century, cancer. If these scientists are right, maybe our approach to disease and treatment will need a rethink.
7.5Under pressure to continue a winning tradition in American tennis, Mardy Fish faced mental health challenges that changed his life on and off the court.
8.0This is the story of death and survival, exclusion and hope told by those who lived through it. 40 years ago an HIV infection seemed like a death sentence.
8.5How do you brave acute mountain sickness? We talk to researchers, doctors and mountaineers about a syndrome whose mechanisms are still poorly understood.
7.3Could psychedelics treat depression? Banned substances such as LSD and psilocybin are now being tested for various afflictions. Several studies are ongoing with one of the largest being conducted by the Charité hospital in Berlin and the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. Since the risks and side effects of the substances have not yet been fully researched, their use for therapeutic purposes remains highly controversial.
8.0The UN General Assembly regards antibiotic-resistance as a "global and most urgent threat". The WHO alarms that we could fall back into a "post-antibiotic age". The film tells us how we got there: It is a story about how negligence, greed, and short-sightedness have rendered the lifesaving effects of antibiotics powerless. It is a science-thriller about disillusioned, fighting doctors, rebellious scientists, patients wrestling with life-threatening diseases and diplomats searching for a global solution. They all are Resistance Fighters.
7.5The immune system is indispensable for humans. It is both complex and fascinating. This scientific documentary offers us an insightful and entertaining view of our immune system, and shows us when it can fail and how we can boost it.
0.0How did psychedelics, not so long ago cast into the wilderness by the medical community, so quickly return to one of America’s most prestigious research institutions and graduate to the pages of the field's premier journals? Join us as we learn the stories of the scientists at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research who re-opened the doors, and the new generation of researchers working to explore the potential of psychedelics in science and medicine.
8.0ME/CFS is a devastating disease that affects around 300,000 people in Germany alone. There has been little help for sufferers to date. Many doctors are not familiar with the clinical picture and treat it incorrectly. However, something has been happening recently, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic: because the late effects of Covid-19 correspond to the typical symptoms of ME/CFS...
7.5Intermittent fasting, autophagy, "metabolic switch": ten years after their first successful documentary on fasting, Sylvie Gilman and Thierry de Lestrade delve back into promising research on a booming practice.
7.0An unflinching look at the how the battle over abortion rights has played out in the United States over the last 15 years.
6.1A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
6.5Lyrical and powerfully personal essay film that reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings.
7.6A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
7.1Filmed and edited in intimate vérité style, this movie follows visionary medical practitioners who are working on the cutting edge of life and death and are dedicated to changing our thinking about both.
7.1A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
6.5A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
7.2Diaries, audiotapes, videotapes and testimonials from friends and colleagues offer insight into the life and career of Gilda Radner -- the beloved comic and actress who became an icon on Saturday Night Live.
6.4A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
6.6A documentary about the sport of boxing, as seen through the eyes of champions Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins.
7.0Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.
7.0A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.
6.0From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.
7.1Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
7.0A documentary on legendary movie-poster artist Drew Struzan.
7.1In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
7.2Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
6.9An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
6.7A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.