It was the last abortion clinic in Mississippi.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Brut filmmaker Jessey Dearing documented the last days of the “Pink House” …
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Brut filmmaker Jessey Dearing documented the last days of the “Pink House” …
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00:00Thou shalt not kill!
00:02You're an asshole!
00:03Thou shalt not kill!
00:04Get out of the way!
00:05Your penis is not your body.
00:06It is!
00:07It's in my body.
00:08It would affect my entire life.
00:09You don't get to tell me it won't.
00:11You don't.
00:12That's exactly what people are starting to say,
00:14that there will be no more abortions in the state of Mississippi.
00:17That is a load of bulls**t.
00:19Bulls**t.
00:21You hate knowledge.
00:22You hate knowledge.
00:23And you're an asshole.
00:24People are going to attempt to self-abort.
00:26People are going to die.
00:27You show no mercy by killing your child out of convenience?
00:32If it's murder, call the cops.
00:33You're a mother already.
00:35The Bible says thou shalt not kill.
00:37It also says thou shalt not judge.
00:39All unclean, all be washed in the blood of the brave.
00:43Oh, go in the pink house!
00:45There will be options in Mississippi to get abortions.
00:50They just won't be good ones.
00:52The Jackson Women's Health Organization
00:54was at the center of the Dobbs v. Jackson case
00:56that the Supreme Court used to overturn Roe v. Wade.
00:59For years now,
01:00it has been the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi.
01:03By the time you see this film, it will be shut down.
01:06For Brute, I'm meeting up with Wren Allen,
01:08a volunteer clinic defender
01:10who helps patients get through the crowd of anti-abortionists
01:13so that they can access the clinic in its final days.
01:25We're driving up to the clinic.
01:27It's, uh, 4.45 a.m.
01:30We have some serious fears
01:32that the antis are going to block off the driveway this morning
01:36to prevent our patients' access to health care.
01:41There have never been cops at...
01:43What the... Okay.
01:45S**t.
01:48When I tell you I've never seen a cop,
01:52when I tell you I've never seen a cop out here,
01:56I think this is what they mean
01:58when they say this s**t is going to embolden them.
02:02We have hours before patients even start showing up.
02:05That's how you know this s**t has nothing to do
02:09with actual access to health care.
02:14I volunteer to walk people from their cars to the door
02:18so that they can have access to the health care that they need.
02:25Wren was the last volunteer onboarded at the Pink House
02:28because once the Supreme Court draft decision was leaked in May,
02:31they knew that the clinic would have to shut down.
02:33Even though she couldn't do it for long,
02:35she said that she wanted to help.
02:43Would you love your little baby?
02:45Love your baby in the womb like you love that baby
02:47in your lap.
02:49One second. All right.
02:51We'll let you pick her up, all right?
02:52If you could back up for me for one second.
02:54Thank you. Thank you.
02:55You can roll up your window now, sweetie.
02:57Yep.
02:58Keeping the antis off the property,
03:00they love to find that line and push it.
03:04So they'll stand in the driveway.
03:06They will block cars trying to get in.
03:08They will climb up the ladders with their signs
03:10and their bullhorns and their hatred,
03:13and they will yell and film over the fence.
03:17They will film patients. They will yell at patients.
03:20And it is not new.
03:22They've been doing it for years,
03:24and it is definitely illegal, and nobody cares.
03:27God calls you to repent today!
03:30We stand there, and we take the abuse,
03:33and we distract them, and we dance,
03:36and we laugh, and we yell.
03:38And while all of that is happening,
03:40patients are getting access to health care right behind us.
03:57I was raised conservative.
03:59I was raised Republican.
04:04I was raised watching Bill O'Reilly
04:06on the news in the morning, eating cereal,
04:08getting ready for school.
04:14Once I started becoming friends with people
04:16that didn't look like me and didn't think like me
04:19and came from backgrounds that were different than mine,
04:22my opinion started changing drastically.
04:32There comes a point where you can make your own decisions
04:35and do your own research.
04:39Sometimes they stop them at the corner,
04:42and yesterday I started telling people the clinic was closed,
04:46and we had two cars, maybe, that left
04:50and didn't end up getting up the street, so...
04:56Oh, my God.
04:58I can't...
05:00This is insanity.
05:02We're arguing over a parking spot.
05:09That's what they do.
05:10I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you,
05:11I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you.
05:13It's like you're doing everything but.
05:15And then you are the one that gets in trouble
05:17for reacting to a s*** situation,
05:20and they never get in trouble for it.
05:23They never do.
05:25And you can't react.
05:27Because you get a reaction, and you're an irrational woman.
05:30You get a reaction, and you're not valid anymore.
05:34Abortion is illegal.
05:36Abortion is illegal in Mississippi.
05:39No, abortion is not illegal in the state of Mississippi yet.
05:41We have ten days for this clinic to be open.
05:43They can get abortions for ten days.
05:45They are lying.
05:46They are lying to patients and telling them to turn away.
05:49After Roe v. Wade was overturned,
05:51the Mississippi Attorney General had to certify the trigger law
05:54banning abortions in Mississippi.
05:56This gave the Pink House ten more days to operate.
05:59I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket
06:02I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket
06:09Hey, hey, this is illegal.
06:11This is illegal in Mississippi now.
06:13Roe was overturned yesterday.
06:15This is illegal.
06:16This is illegal.
06:17You're a lawbreaker.
06:21I'm not in the middle of the street.
06:23This is a park, and I'm not in the middle of the street.
06:26Sir, you don't have a blessing to give.
06:28You don't have a blessing to give.
06:30You don't have a blessing to give dressed like that.
06:32I know him more than you will ever know him.
06:35Yes, but he doesn't.
06:40You can't even leave me alone.
06:44God is love and nothing else.
06:46Why would you laugh at a baby being murdered?
06:48Oh, you stick your tongue out at a baby being murdered.
06:50That's even better.
06:54I told myself I wasn't going to talk to them.
07:01Something that really struck me as odd
07:03when I first started volunteering up here
07:05was the stage play production of everything
07:07and how defenders choose to engage.
07:09Some people, they'll try to debate with the antis.
07:12They'll try to convince them.
07:14Others will yell at them in response
07:17when they're yelling at us.
07:19Me, personally, I just smile, laugh, dance, mock them.
07:26They're sitting over here, and they're talking so calmly
07:29about taking away someone's health care rights, you know?
07:33And it blows my mind that they expect you
07:36to be able to have, quote-unquote, rational debates,
07:39you know, about someone's right to an abortion.
07:42It's incredibly difficult to keep your cool,
07:44at least for me, because I care so much.
07:46We appreciate you. Thank you so much.
07:48Yeah, of course.
07:49Thank you so much.
07:50All the love, girl. All the love.
07:53Don't talk to her, dude.
07:55She clearly doesn't want to talk to you.
08:00I'm here. I'm here.
08:02No, I'm here. I got this.
08:03You're blocking Dorinda. That's rude.
08:05Young lady, that little baby's a gift from God.
08:07What do you think the Lord's heart is
08:09towards bringing it here and killing it?
08:11God, who says, Thou shalt not kill.
08:13Y'all need to turn some music up.
08:15I've been out here over nine years.
08:17I've been out here since I was a little girl.
08:19I've been out here since I was a little girl.
08:21I've been out here since I was a little girl.
08:23I've been out here since I was a little girl.
08:25I've been out here since I was a little girl.
08:27I've been out here over nine years.
08:29Most clinic escort groups
08:31do not engage with the protesters.
08:34That's a steadfast rule.
08:36You don't talk to them, even if they trespass.
08:39You don't say a word to them.
08:41And that's one of the things our owner told us
08:43when she said we could engage.
08:45Those are our damn sidewalks, and we're taking them back.
08:48You're not supposed to touch private property.
08:50Did your mama never teach you that?
08:52She taught me not to murder babies.
08:53How about you, big boy?
08:54Did you murder innocent children?
08:56How about you, big boy?
08:58She didn't teach you to not be rude?
09:00She didn't teach you much.
09:01That's rude.
09:02Engagement can be as little as
09:04blasting music back when they're doing this.
09:07It can be noisemakers.
09:10It can be one-on-one interaction.
09:13And we do whatever.
09:16But while we're doing that,
09:17we also keep the patients in mind.
09:19They come first.
09:21This is a place of mercy.
09:23This is a place of mercy.
09:24We love our neighbor.
09:25You're a neighbor as well as that precious baby.
09:28Would you love that little baby today?
09:30Don't murder your own child today.
09:35Turn to the living God.
09:39It's just very intimidating and frightening to patients,
09:44especially younger patients who drive here alone.
09:48And all the hurdles they've already jumped through
09:50just to be able to get abortion care.
09:53Then they have to drive past all of this.
09:55These people on the sidewalk,
09:57they are well-organized,
09:59extremely well-funded,
10:04and they're winning.
10:05James, I told you to get breakfast for the trolls.
10:09We got a few more days.
10:11I know.
10:12We got, what, eight days?
10:14Yeah, we can go through the sixth.
10:19You know, one good way to stop abortion
10:21is to get the **** off yourself.
10:24A vasectomy would be nice.
10:26I'm sure his wife would appreciate it.
10:28I don't think it's looking good,
10:30but we'll do what we can.
10:32Thank you so much.
10:34We appreciate it.
10:35Thank you so much.
10:37Thank y'all for doing this.
10:38You're welcome.
10:39Have a good day.
10:41What was that?
10:42Donation.
10:46Money.
10:48More blood, money.
10:50For years now, abortion has neither been
10:53super accessible nor a legitimate option
10:56for a lot of working-class people.
10:59And now that is just going to be exacerbated.
11:04It's too real if I think about how it affects me personally.
11:16Because then I have to think about,
11:19you know, everything I was ever taught
11:21about righteousness and freedom and democracy
11:27doesn't apply to me.
11:29There are just people walking around outside
11:32that don't think that you're a full human being
11:35that deserves full bodily autonomy.
11:41And then you just have to go to the grocery store
11:44and smile and wave at them.
11:47Or make them a drink at the bar.
11:51Or laugh at their stupid little jokes at family dinners.
11:56And all the while, they just are sitting there
11:59thinking, oh yeah,
12:03she shouldn't get to decide what happens to her body.
12:10And I don't know what to do with that.
12:16I grew up here.
12:18This one was a dud.
12:19Ooh, this is so clever!
12:21We got black teeth instead of white teeth.
12:23Whoops.
12:24I don't have any white.
12:26I really want this one.
12:27You want that one?
12:28Yeah.
12:29I think we should just take all of them.
12:30Yay!
12:31Okay, awesome.
12:32Awesome.
12:33This is so exciting.
12:34This is so exciting.
12:35Ready to rock and roll?
12:36Mm-hmm.
12:38I've been listening to this song on repeat.
12:56We have to be fighting for the future that we want.
13:06Hallelujah!
13:07Check, check!
13:08Can y'all hear me?
13:09I am a theater teacher!
13:11I am a lover!
13:13I am a woman!
13:15So I know how to talk loud!
13:18The people united will never be defeated!
13:23What do we do?
13:24Stand up, fight back!
13:26I hope this doesn't make people lose hope.
13:28I hope this radicalizes people.
13:30Because I'm not hopeless right now.
13:33And I'm certainly not helpless.
13:38I'm going to keep fighting.
13:40We all are.
13:51There was a world before this,
13:54and there will be a world after it.
13:56I'm damn sure going to fight for it.
14:00This sexist shit is getting old!
14:02Stand up, fight back!
14:07We're going down!
14:37We're going down!