Abortion in the USA

Available for over a year

Could abortion be banned in the United States? Since the election of President Trump, and particularly since with his nomination of a second Supreme Court Justice, the question has taken on a new urgency, for both sides of America's abortion wars. Now Philippa Thomas travels to two states which encapsulate the debate - Texas and Kentucky - to explore the past, present and future of this most controversial issue. In Texas, Philippa hears from women on why they chose to have abortions and the context of their lives; from the anti-abortion 'sidewalk counsellors' who try to persuade women seeking abortions - often just outside the doors of abortion clinics - to choose a different option; and from pastors on both sides of the issue. In Kentucky, she visits the state's last functioning abortion clinic and is invited to a smart suburb of Louisville to see for herself one answer to the challenge often posed to anti-abortion activists about what are the alternatives. Finally, in Washington DC, Philippa goes to the US Supreme Court to hear arguments in the latest abortion-related case. It will be the court's nine judges - with their lifetime tenure and current fine balance between abortion rights supporters and abortion opponents - who will decide the fate of abortion across the United States. And Philippa asks whether President Trump's latest appointee could tilt the balance against abortion rights. Producer: Giles Edwards.