Banner Graphic, Volume 19, Number 211, Greencastle, Putnam County, 12 May 1989 — Page 28

Page 16

Abortion case makes good television drama

By KATHRYN BAKER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) “Roe vs. Wade” is bound to start a lot of living-room debates, but one fact is inarguable this is as good as television drama gets. NBC’s story of the legalization of abortion, airing Monday, is graced by Emmyworthy performances down to the smallest supporting role and a courageous script that takes a stand without talking down to the other side. Holly Hunter (“Broadcast News”) stars as Ellen Russell, a penniless drifter who has left an abusive husband and been forced to give her daughter to her mother to raise. Unmarried and pregnant again, she faces the prospect of having to give up another baby for adoption. HARDLY THE MOST sympathetic case imaginable “You have the morals of a cat,” snipes her mother she is nevertheless the only woman willing to allow two young female lawyers to use her case as a test of Texas’ stringent anti-abor-tion law. The character of Ellen is based on Norma McCorvey, the real-life, thenanonymous “Jane Roe” who sued Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade for enforcing the law. Her case led to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments on a Missouri case, and the justices’ ruling this summer could effect the 1973 decision. Producers used pseudonyms for McCorvey, her relatives and friends to protect their privacy. Since work on the script began three years ago, however, McCorvey has become a public critic of efforts to overturn the abortion decision. OTHER CHARACTERS’ real names are used. Amy Madigan (“Field of Dreams”) is excellent as Sarah Weddington, the neophyte lawyer who successfully argues the case, first before a panel of federal judges in Texas. They find the antiabortion law unconstitutionally vague but refuse to grant an injunction, leaving the law on the books until the decision can be

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appealed and forcing Ellen to continue with the pregnancy. “You might explain to me how it is you won and I lost,” says a distraught Ellen when Weddington calls to explain the decision to her. The movie follows the dual struggles of Russell as she is refused job after job because she is pregnant, and Weddington, who finds plenty of support but scant actual help preparing the complex case for the high court. Her partner, Linda Coffey (Annabella Price), has to virtually drop out because of the demands of other legal work. BY THE TIME THAT Weddington argues the case before the Supreme Court in 1973, Ellen has long since had her baby and given it up for adoption, the only solution the state offers. In the movie’s most powerful scene, Ellen vainly tugs at the delivery table restraints trying to get a glimpse of the baby as it is carried away. She doesn’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl. Ultimately, because the movie tells the story of the women who won the case, it cannot avoid being pro-choice. “If you can’t take care of a baby or aren’t ready to, it shouldn’t matter what the reasons are,” Weddington argues at one point. “You shouldn’t have to bear a child and give it up for adoption just because the state of Texas says so.” But the other side is treated sympathetically through Terry O’Quinn’s eloquently understated portrayal of Jay Floyd. When die two lawyers go before the high court, Weddington has the force of conviction on her side. Floyd is still struggling with the issue. He argues for the sanctity of human life, pinpointing it as beginning a vague few days after conception. “That’s really when the soul comes into the body if one believes in a soul, I don’t know,” he stammers. Afterward, he is convinced that the court had already made up its mind. “Has anyone ever presented so dazzling an argument that it brought them around?” he wonders.

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Norma McCorvey (I.), the real-life Jane Roe, poses with Holly Hunter, who plays her in the NBC movie "Roe vs. Wade." It airs Monday, May 15 on NBC.

TV channels on Greencastle cable

2 CNN (Cable News Network) 3 USA Network (Family Appeal) 4 CBN Cable Network 5 TNT Network 6 WRTV-TV (ABC/6) 7 Showtime 8 ESPN (Sports) 9 Lifetime 10 WTHI-TV (CBS/10) 11 Nickelodeon

Off-air channels available in area

D 2 WTWO, Terre Haute, NBC D 4 WTTV, Indianapolis, Indp. 06 WRTV, Indianapolis, ABC 08 WISH, Indianapolis, CBS 010 WTHI, Terre Haute, CBS 013 WTHR, Indianapolis 020 WFYI, Indianapolis, PBS

12 The Discovery Channel 13 WTHR-TV (NBC/13) 14 Cable Value Network 15 The Nashville Network 16 CNBC 17 Arts & Entertainment 18 MTV (Music Television) 19 Local Programming 20 The Disney Channel 21 Headline News

ESI 30 WTIU, Bloomington, PBS El 38 WBAK, Terre Haute, ABC E 31 40 WHBM, Indianapolis, Indp. El 59 WXIN, Indianapolis, Indp. Also available in some areas: Channel 15. Champaign, III.; Channel 18, Lafayette; Channel 23, WMCC, Noblesville; Channel 42, WCLJ, Indianapolis

22 HBO (Home Box Office) 23 C-Span (U.S. Congress) 24 WTBS-TV (Atlanta) 25 WGN-TV (Chicago) 26 WTTV-TV (lndV4) 27 WHMB-TV (lnd./40) 28 WISH-TV (CBS/8) 29 WTIU-TV (PBS/30) 30 WXIN-TV (lnd./59) 31 American Movie Classics