VISION

SCRIPT

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Far-right protesters marching / chanting in the street

VO: On the streets of Poland…

A march for Freedom

Hands off our children

POLISH

UPSOTS FROM FAR-RIGHT ‘FREEDOM’ MARCH’  

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Shot of flyer with Swastika

VO: But at this far-right rally…calls for an end to coronavirus restrictions...morph into anti-semetic chants...

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POLISH
SLOGAN CHANT: [02:15:19] “This is Poland, not Polin.”

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Homophobic banner over table that people are crowding around to sign petition

VO: Polin is the hebrew word for Poland...and the name of the Jewish history museum in Warsaw.

MINISCULE GAP HERE

Alongside these racial slogans….are anti-LGBT banners.

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ENGLISH
UPSOT CHANT: [02:25:48] “We are Polish Patriot...we are Polish’s the best” [02:26:55]

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Anna in march crowd collecting signatures

VO: There’s a growing divide between the country’s conservative catholic core and those pushing for a progressive Poland

And in this culture war….women’s bodies have become a battleground.

Anna Trutowska, Anti-Abortion Activist
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Anna giving speech to crowd of protesters

POLISH
ANNA SPEECH:
[02:49:47] Today they are collecting signatures. We need one hundred thousand. We thank you so much. Let’s fight for life and freedom. Stop abortion. [02:49:52]

Anna Trutowska, Anti-Abortion Activist

ENGLISH
[29:40] What we want to do is to show the truth about abortion, to change minds and shape opinions, shape attitudes

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@10:06
Close up of speaker on ground

POLISH
MALE SPEAKER AUDIO: [10:06] “We are collecting signatures against abortion. Please help to stop t he killing of children. Sign for life.”

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12:43 Woman in yellow top yelling at Anna -- Anna talking over her

POLISH
[12:43] Woman yelling at anna: You want to show it to a child? Seriously, you are showing it to children! Are you out of your mind?

ANNA: Feel free to come up. You can come up and we can have a chat. Please relax, take it easy. Take it easy.

Anna Trutowska, Anti-Abortion Activist  

ENGLISH
ANNA IV: [39:50] They are just attacking us because it's difficult to see the truth about abortion if somebody is actually for it.

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Start on more vision of crowd from the second part  of the march (where Anna gave speech) and then cut to Anna and crew setting up the picket

VO: At the start of this year...Poland’s near total ban on abortion was made even more restrictive.

The law now forbids women from terminating pregnancies even in cases of severe fetal defects

The only legal reasons for an abortion now are cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger.

Graphic picket banner being erected at picket

VO: But for so-called ‘Pro-life’ activists like Anna…the ban doesn’t go far enough.

Anna Trutowska, Anti-Abortion Activist

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Vision of Anna and other pro-life volunteers collecting signatures at march

ENGLISH

[25:50] We just want to ban abortion completely.

ANNA IV: [26:16]  Right now in Poland, legally are killed babies that are conceived for instance, in rape or incest. Okay. Or when the mother's health or life is in danger.

[26:43] This child is a human being and we need to protect the mother and the child. So punish the rapists, you know, don't punish the child, just help the mother and help the child.

VO: Before the law change - 98% of legal terminations in Poland were in cases of fetal defects.

Anna Trutowska, Anti-Abortion Activist

**cover middle of Michelle’s question with a cut to Anna listening**

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Vision of picket

ENGLISH
MICHELLE: [58:52] Under this new law, some women will now be forced to give birth to a child that might only live for an hour at most. That’s quite a traumatic event to go through...how does that align with your Christian values?

ANNA: [47:26] Abortion is a trauma actually. So it's, it kills a child and it, it traumatizes the mother.

[48:00] Maybe this child will live for half an hour, maybe for one day, maybe for more. We don't know that. But there are, there are such medication which allows us to, to, to be completely, we know, like to, it doesn't feel pain then the child. the mother, or the father, the rest of the family, has a time to, to, um, you know, like say farewell to them to hold it for, for several minutes, maybe hours, to baptize the child to, to take some photos.

[48:36] And then they go through a normal process of grieving okay. Of grief. And they know they made the right decision, because they welcomed the child and not killed it. [48:47]

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https://reproductiverights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/European-abortion-law-a-comparative-review.pdf

VO: Poland’s abortion laws are among the strictest in Europe

But despite this - some women are still finding ways to have a choice.

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

ENGLISH

KLAUDIA: [01:28:50] I was always really careful, really careful.

[01:31:10] After my birthday, It was like, 3rd of March and I should get my period this day. It was never late. So, um, I bought, uh, it was 4th of March. I bought three tests, like, no, just normal one to make at home. And two of them were positive. So I booked the day after the blood test, um, beta HCG. And that test also confirmed that I'm pregnant.

CAT ACTUALITY HERE

CATS AND HOME LIFE HERE

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Klaudia at her computer
Klaudia getting dressed and ready to leave house


Klaudia driving her car

VO: Klaudia is 26 years old and fell pregnant just one month after the abortion laws in Poland were tightened.

She was in a relationship but wasn’t ready to have a child.

Klaudia visited a website based in the Netherlands and purchased pills that would end her pregnancy.

While this isn’t illegal - anyone assisting Klaudia in the act of termination could face jail.

Including a doctor or friend.

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

See Klaudia in IV talking to Mich on bench

[01:52:48] I didn't want a baby. I still don't want.

ENGLISH
KLAUDIA: [01:34:40] I was scared because I didn't know what to expect. No doctor can help me. I cannot get any professional help.

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

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ENGLISH
KLAUDIA: [01:37:32] In the instructions was written to make sure everything is removed, go to the doctor to confirm. And yeah, in that moment, the problems started. [01:37:48]

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Klaudia getting out her phone to play recorded conversation

VO: Klaudia visited a doctor to check if her abortion attempt was succesful and was refered to a nearby hospital. 

She recorded her consultation with the doctor.

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

ENGLISH

KLAUDIA:  [02:21:42] : Yes, yes. Yes. On, on apple watch Um, okay. And here, uh, I told, I told, okay, so ‘on, on Tuesday I took misoprostol and she said [02:21:54] // [02:22:05]  ‘where do you get those pills?’ Like, it was her first question. Uh, I said that ‘it's not hard to get it.’ [02:22:12]

[02:23:05] And she said, ‘and you took such pills and you knew that you were pregnant?’

[02:23:10] I said, ‘yes, because I wanted to stop it.’ ‘You didn't want to be pregnant? And I said, ‘yes, these are the pills to stop the pregnancy’. And she said, ‘this is a police case. I'm calling, I'm calling for another doctor.’ [02:23:24]

[02:23:39] ‘You know, with our current government, you will have the consequences.’ [02:23:43]

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

ENGLISH
KLAUDIA: [01:41:00] And after she told me to go to another room and she will make me that transvaginal USG test.

[01:41:43] Usually, during the test the doctor should put lube on it to make it less painful, but she just did it totally dry. Like, you know, like she was like, she wanted to punish me or something.

[01:42:10] And at the end I ask her, am I pregnant or not? Because that was the only thing I wanted to know. That was the thing I came there for and she said, ‘I will not comment it’. That's all. That was her, her professional doctor diagnosis of a woman after abortion in Poland.

[01:48:05] A few, maybe two, three weeks later, and the police called me.

[01:49:40] They were asking, who is the father? They wanted me to tell the names of my friends, for example, they were asking if someone said that I should do that.

Klaudia shopping in the market

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VO: Klaudia shared the recording online anonymously...and within a week it amassed 20-thousand views.

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

ENGLISH
KLAUDIA: [01:44:40] At the start, I was anonymous, but after, I don't know, some newspapers started giving my name…[01:45:04] I decided to just, okay, let's go. Maybe I can be the face of the revolution, but seriously, I didn't want the doctors to treat people like that. To treat women like this is crazy. [01:45:16]

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POLISH
UPSOT: KLAUDIA GREETING THE OTHER GIRLS
[00:04:22] KLAUDIA: Hi

MONIKA and KAT: Hi, we got you coffee

KLAUDIA: Oh great, thanks very much! [04:30

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Klaudia + activists chatting happily at table at cafe

VO: Klaudia’s experience forced her to pick a side and, like many Poles, she is now fighting for what she sees as a basic human right.

Klaudia Kuzdub, Recently Aborted Pregnancy

Monika Frenkiel, Pro-Choice Activist

Kat Kulerska, Pro-Choice Activist

POLISH
MONIKA: [01:00:00] A woman who was always told to be good and quiet, sit in her corner, suddenly these girls, women, have come outside [01:00:09], they’ve started to shout, they’ve torn their corsets off, both mental and physical.

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Insert actuality throughout:

-       Breakfast arriving

-       sipping coffee + eating while listening etc.

POLISH
KLAUDIA [00:34:42] of course. But you know, You can’t be polite with them - when the protests were on, I happened to be in a relationship with my former boyfriend. [00:34:53] He was French - you know how they protest. And every time we watched the protests he would say ‘Fuck, are these meant to be protests? Stage a revolution, burn something, the windows aren’t being broken, who will hear you?!’ He showed me Yellow Vest protests and said ‘we fought like this for reducing petrol prices, and you stand around and shout - make a fire!’

00:35:11 MONIKA: where are the rude words?

00:35:19 KLAUDIA: Exactly!

**WOMEN LAUGH**

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End scene on wide of the girls  eating breakfast

KAT: [00:18:15] There will be, again, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions on the streets, and let’s prepare for this. [01:18:21]

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Wroblewski and Michelle walking to bench vision

VO: Bartlomiej Wroblewski is a member of the ruling Law and Justice party…and was a key supporter of the latest change to the abortion legislation.

Bartlomiej Wroblewski, Law and Justice Party MP

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ENGLISH
BARTLOMIEJ: [32:31] The right to life is more important than other values, including the freedom of mother because when you take the life, there is nothing.

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MICHELLE: [19:15] Why was it important to you that fetal abnormalities were no longer an exception? [19:21]

Bartlomiej Wroblewski, Law and Justice Party MP

ENGLISH
BARTLOMIEJ: [40:50] We have a particular obligation to respect life, even this life which is weaker, which is not so beautiful as you, and normal as mine. So, the weaker the life is, we should give more strength to help, to support, and not to eliminate. [41:26]

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MICHELLE: [02:24] This legislation doesn’t stop abortions, it just makes them more expensive and dangerous for women. What is the purpose of such a law when you know this is the case? [02:35]

Bartlomiej Wroblewski, Law and Justice Party MP


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ENGLISH
BARTLOMIEJ:
[26:12] It’s not a question of strengthening the law, it’s a question of realisation of the right to life.

[27:20] The right to life is fundamental and we should start to rethink our position not only in Poland, but all over the world. [27:26]

ARCHIVE OF POLISH ABORTION PROTESTS

VO: 

Around 33 percent of Poles support the Law and Justice Party.

But when the stricter abortion law was anounced in October 2020, surveys showed that around 59 percent of Poles were opposed to the change.

In response, thousands of people took to the streets.

POLISH -  ARCHIVE PROTEST UPSOTS

ARCHIVE OF PHONE NUMBERS

VO: The phone numbers of abortion support services were spray-painted on buildings and churches throughout the country...including ‘The Abortion Dream Team’s’.

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Karolina IV on couch

ENGLISH
KAROLINA: [26:12] The fact that the number was everywhere,  it's just changed everything enormously.

[28:23] Just to give you a comparison, it was around 300 calls in whole September, and on, uh, October 24th and 25th, we had 300 hundred calls a day. [28:35]

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Karolina at home -- we hear phone ring + Karolina answer

Karolina hotline phone call (mock call)

POLISH

KAROLINA: [01:16:46] Hi

[02:16:56] Do you know maybe what week of pregnancy it is? Or maybe at least –

[02:17:18] OK, so you did a test and – good – the test – probably at the most the 7^th or 8^th week, so it’s possible to basically quite quickly, non-problematically and independently do an abortion for yourself at home with tablets [02:17:38]

Pro-Abortion posters and books etc. in house

VO: The Abortion Dream Team offers support for Polish women seeking abortion by pill or plane.

Medication that terminates early stage pregnancies can be posted from abroad, or women can travel to nearby countries for surgical procedures.

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Karolina sitting at computer with Michelle reading out an email

KAROLINA: [01:40:56] So I get this message this morning:

[01:42:43] ‘I can not have a baby right now, maybe later, am I doing something wrong? I might sound like I have no feelings but please understand that I’m so young and I don’t have good relationship with that boyfriend’ [01:43:02]

[01:46:00] I know where it comes from - I’m just like, ‘you know, don’t worry, I’m not judging you and you’re not doing anything wrong. And I’m not thinking any bad things about you - and actually I’m thinking good things about you because you were smart enough and you took enough care of yourself to come to us. [01:46:15]

VO: Karolina is a lawyer by trade – and has to be very careful with her words and actions.

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Karolina at computer checking and replying to facebook messages

IV Michelle and Karolina on counch

ENGLISH
MICHELLE: [01:23:42] Isn't it illegal to help someone access an abortion here? How do you get around that?

KAROLINA: [44:49] That's a huge part of my work, actually, this provision that we have of aiding and abetting, which is, you know, a crime. Uh, but, um, we like, um, this is what I learned very early in my legal abortion work …

[46:03] ..that information, even advice, is not within the scope of aiding and abetting in terms of abortion.

[48:40] If you give me information about that, if you give me information about where to get pills, it's all fine. [48:45]

[55:37] The whole burden of abortions right now is on the shoulders of informal groups and initiatives and networks. And it shouldn't be like this. But it is like this. And we are helping people get their abortions and we are, uh, we are making them not be alone in this, and this is a good thing. So if somebody, and we know how the law is created, you know, somebody decides that it's a crime, whatever, I can be a criminal. [55:57]

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[01:06:32] Clinic building exterior

[01:05:44] Women on Waves button in lift

VO: Women on Waves is an organisation in The Netherlands that provides safe abortion services to Polish women.

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[46:30] Rebecca walks into the office - says hello to a colleague and sits at laptop…

VO: The NGO was founded by doctor Rebecca Gomperts 20 years ago.

Rebecca Gomperts, Women on Waves
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Rebecca a laptop

Rebecca going through pills on the table

Rebecca: [02:51] Abortion was legal in Poland until 1993 and then the communist regime was overthrown by the catholic church, and as a thank you to the Pope at the time, abortion and sterilsation was banned. [03:04]

[32:12] Women will always find a way to end their pregnancies if they don’t want to be pregnant.

[15:28] We know if they do not access a service they are using other means to end the pregnancy [15:43] so they jump off stairs, they use knitting needles… fortunately I have to say abortion pills really changed that [15:53] because it is not very difficult to access abortion pills in Poland at the moment. [15:57]

[08:03] They do an online consultation, then there is a doctor there that reviews the information, and the pills are sent to their home address. [08:10]

Rebecca Gomperts, Women on Waves

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In-situ getting pills out of cabinet and showing camera 

Rebecca: [39:59] This is the abortion pill and this is the second tablets that is the misopristol that women use after 24-hours after taking this one.

Rebecca Gomperts, Women on Waves
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Rebecca: [03:33] The women that are travelling to the Netherlands are mostly women that are pregnant longer, because women that are pregnant up to 10, 11, 12 weeks they can still use the medicines that is sent by mail to them. [03:42]

Rebecca Gomperts, Women on Waves

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Clinic cutaways

Rebecca: [19:58] When a woman comes here we talk with her, it’s 15 minutes, there’s no judgement, they’re treated as they’re normal human beings and they can go home. In most of the abortion clinics it takes half a day. [20:13]

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CHURCH MASS SONG UPSOT

Church service - people in pews


The statues of babies in church

VO: 87% of Poland’s population identifies as Roman-Catholic.

But support for the church is waning.

Just nine percent of those aged 18 to 30 view the church in a positive light.

Cut from church to cross hanging in Magnalena’s house.
Magdalena at the sink washing dishes in the kitchen

VO: BACK IN KRAKOW It’s Magdalena’s job to ensure Poland’s traditional religious values live on in the next generation of Polish children.

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Magdalena clearing table

POLISH

[21:01] MAGDALENA: Girls, could you help me with cleaning this up?

Magdalena Guziak-Nowak, Anti-Abortion Activist

Daughters ignoring Magdalena and jumping on couch instead



Magdalena getting daughters dressed

VO: Magdalena is the Director of education for the Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life.

Each year the organisation runs a pro-life colouring competition for children.

This year they received more entries than ever before.

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Daughter and dad talking over box with colouring competition entries

POLISH
[26:11] DAUGHTER: Why didn’t these ones win?

[26:13] DAD: We couldn’t give a prize to all of them

[26:15] DAUGHTER: But why?
[26:16] DAUGHTER: We received a lot of artworks

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Magdalena sitting down on the couch showing Michelle coloring entries

MAGDALENA: [01:47:19] OK. Here we can see some works done by children and teens for the Pro-life, life- affirming competitions which show how amazing family life is. Works were prepared for the competition run by our Polish Association of Life Defenders. These are important educational projects - we want from the very beginning to raise children’s awareness about the value of human’s life and show how valuable family is. [01:47:55]

Magdalena showing a fold-out picture and talking Michelle through it

POLISH
MAGDALENA: ‘A boy gives flowers to a girl. Later, he proposes and symbolically waters a tree which I think is important because being together is not only about looking in each other’s eyes but it is a specific work, very specific work which needs to be done and later this tree is made in a shape of a heart. This is a happy family where a child can live. [01:51:34]

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Cover with vision of the competition entries (the ones with babies in them)

POLISH
MAGDALENA IV: [28:56] In our organisation we do not strive to show drastic images with blood of children in the womb which were aborted although they are, of course, true. These photos show the truthful nature of abortions. What we do instead is to show how beautiful family life is, and this is, in a nutshell, the main job I am doing there. [29:20]

Magdalena showing pro-life colouring entry that was made of their logo (a baby in the womb)

ENGLISH
MAGDALENA: [01:37:35] It’s the logo of our association.

[01:58:03] ‘Let live’

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@14:17

UPSOT: Daughter doing cartwheels

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[03:08] daughter cradling younger sister.

[06:23] daughter helping the baby eat strawberries.

POLISH
MAGDALENA: [01:21:00] For me, the most important thing is salvation of my children in the eternal perspective. That means if I want her to become a girl, a beautiful woman who is aware of her own value, who can make right decisions, who will develop her talents, who will one day find a good man to become her husband and start a good family, [01:21:41] it is of course important for me, but in a more distant perspective, the most important thing for me is salvation of my children.

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POLISH
MICHELLE: [51:53] What would be your message then to a woman that might be considering an abortion? [51:57]

MAGDALENA: [52:09]  I would say; You are not alone. And that no one will ever love you so much as this child. [52:14]

Michelle driving vision

VO:

But what if you’re told your child won’t survive the pregnancy?

Or will be severely disabled and have no quality of life?

Under the new law women in Poland must go through with these pregnancies to full term.

They don’t get to experience Magdalena’s dream of a happy family.

Michelle arriving and getting out of car

VO: I’m in Lublin - one of the most conservative parts of the country to visit a hospice for sick children run by franciscan monk Father Filip.

MICHELLE GREETING FATHER FILIP

Father Filip taking Michelle into the children’s ward

FATHER FILIP [02:02:53] We are entering the inpatient ward.

Continue vision of Michelle and FF entering ward

VO: The children at this hospice have been born with congenital defects - Some are still in contact with their parents… others have been abandoned.

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Father Filip taking Michelle to meet Maciek

POLISH
FATHER FILIP [01:42:33] This boy, he is an extraordinary boy whose name is Maciek [01:42:43]

[01:43:08] And at this moment we are like his substitute family and he is with us, he feels good here,

Father Filip + Michell looking over Filip’s bed

FILIP SNORING UPSOT:
POLISH
FATHER FILIP: [01:49:05] Filip has fallen asleep!  *does fake snore* laughs

GVs of respirators + toys + books + beds + posters + rosary beads + crosses  i

MICHELLE:  [02:18:35] Do you understand why some parents might choose to end a pregnancy rather than go through what the parents that you meet everyday have gone through?

POLISH
FATHER FILIP: [02:19:10] Of course I understand.

[02:19:50] If a person goes through traumatic experiences and doesn’t know what to do because suddenly it turns out that there is a diagnosis of a lethal defect [02:20:01], then the person looks for solutions.

[02:20:30] And the feelings of helplessness which the mother has, narrows the fields of consciousness towards the quickest solution, to not have to go through it anymore.

[02:21:15] I am not judge, we give an alternative.

Father Filip soothing Filipek

POLISH
FATHER FILIP IN-SITU WITH CHILD: [01:52:53] Hey, darling, what did you dream, yes, you dreamed something, Filipek had a dream, Filipek had a dream, ok, it’s good now 

210617 Lublin GV D07 Card 1-1 Parents Kat and Slaw talking to doctor + interacting with child in hospice

VO: Slaw and Kat are parents Father Filip has helped at the hospice.

They’ve celebrated the birthday of their son Samuel for the last five years...even though he died the day he was born.

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Master IV - Kat and Slaw on couch

KAT: [03:57] It was about 3 months before the first ultrasound, when we found out that the child has an abdominal wall defect [00:04:08]

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KAT: [10:06] When we went to the specialist in Warsaw, it turned out that apart from the abdominal wall disease, the child also had a heart defect, [10:18].

[10:42] and then the doctor told us ‘your child has a defect in every cell of its body [00:10:49], it’s not like we can heal his abdomen-

[10:52] SLAW – heart

[10:53] KAT – that we can operate on his heart, the child will have everything defective. This is a defect which inevitably leads to death. [00:11:00] If it does not die before birth, then it’s certain that life will last a short time.’ [11:06]

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Slaw holding up photo of Samuel as he speaks

POLISH
SLAW: [22:25] Our Samuel was born on the 12th of January 2016. Contrary to the worries and fears we had, he was a completely normal child as you can see on the photo [22:36], beautiful, and for us through the prism of parental love, there was no defect which we could see [00:22:44]. He lived for a short time, only half an hour, 31 minutes.

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POLISH

KAT: [28:06] they hugged him to me and I felt a cold little hand on my face - you couldn’t hear cries of the baby because he was too weak to cry [00:28:20], you could hear these delicate whimpers – I thought he had his eyes open for a moment-

SLAW: [28:26] yes

KAT: and we were happy that we had a whole half hour because we were prepared for it to be two minutes

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Slaw clutching Kat’s hand

POLISH
KAT: [00:42:51] We have the feeling that we did everything we could for our child [00:43:04], that it could be born with dignity, and leave with dignity – I don’t know how I would feel if I had had abortion, maybe I’d never forgive myself for it [00:43:13], maybe I’d worry about one day standing in Heaven before my child, what would I tell him, that I didn’t want him?  *STARTS TO CRY*

SLAW: [43:33] The emotions are still here; the fact that we worked through it, and grieved, you can see it on us, that we still live through it, it is still in us [43:42]

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[02:58:34] MICHELLE: Do you think that parents should be forced by law to go through what you both experienced?

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More hopsice GVs -- empty bed

POLISH
[00:38:21] SLAW: The law is never a complete solution, and it is not our role – it should not be – to judge another’s decision. [00:38:31]. Everyone has freedom in this issue, of course. But that which you said [to interviewer], Not everyone is ready to carry such a weight [00:38:41], so I respect the decision of everyone, even if it is not in accordance with my convictions, with my world view [00:38:48].

AD BREAK

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Patient walking into Maciej’s clinic office

VO: This is Dr Maciej Jędrzejko…[YEN-JAY-KO]

...a gynecologist AND OBSTETRICIAN IN POLAND

He cares for pregnant women.

POLISH

DR MACIEJ: [01:17:12] Please come in
DR MACIEJ: [01:17:33] How are you feeling?

DR MACIEJ: Any abdominal pains? Cramps?

DR MACIEJ: [01:17:39] Yes, I have cramps

For 20 years he has performed abortions for women who chose to terminate their pregnancies in cases of fetal abnormalities.

Something he would now be jailed for.

He’s one of the few doctors willing to speak about the change in law.

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Use vision of Maciej setting up ultrasound as o’lay in some parts -- but a lot of what he is saying is confronting -- so let us see him talking for strong/passionate sections

ENGLISH
DR MACIEJ MASTER IV: [05:02] About thirty percent of fetal defects are nervous system defects and they are very very hard. [05:10]

[06:38] Sometimes those fetal defects are so hard, so tough, that when their child is born you don’t even know where to put the tube to respirate it for example, you don’t know where is mouth, where is face. [06:57]

[15:05] If parents don’t want to wait until their fetus will be very big grown and they don’t want to watch his dying or they don’t want to watch his suffering, they should have a right to decide. Because a woman can not be a coffin for a baby. [15:25]

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In-situ ultrasound with patient

POLISH
DR MACIEJ: [01:19:55] Ok, so now let’s examine you

DR MACIEJ: [1:21:06] So good, please uncover your belly, straighten your legs.

Dr. Maciej Jedrzejko, Gynecologist


Maciej at his desk writing scripts
Clinic GVs -- eg paper weight, timer, patient list

ENGLISH
MACIEJ: [2:00:46] Big clinics say, it's not our problem now. It's, uh, it's not our problem. We cannot do anything. We don't do terminations. So I'm asking whose problem it is? If it is not our problem, whose problem it is? 

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DR MACIEJ performing ultrasound

DR MACIEJ: [1:25:36] Now we see the baby in 3D, this is the head of the baby, hand. 

DR MACIEJ:  [1:26:23] You can see the hand in front of the face, in this stage of pregnancy

MACIEJ: [35:36] For the last 20 years I was helping people, and now, I feel like a criminal.

DOCTOR: We can see any abnormalities very clearly, so we can decide if the baby is healthy or not.  [in English]

But this baby is perfectly normal and healthy.

WOMAN: [1:28:02 ] May I have a photo?

DOCTOR: [1:28:12] you’d like a photo?

WOMAN: he’s posing so nicely

DOCTOR: [1:28:24]  I think we’ve managed to take a nice one  

Dr. Maciej Jedrzejko, Gynecologist

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Doctor sitting at his desk in the clinic talking to Michelle


More ultrasound vision

ENGLISH
DR MACIEJ: [02:04:43] I'm a gynecologist. I'm an obstetrician. And I love this because I remember my first delivery and I remember my happiness when I saw the first time the baby was born, and having babies is, it’s absolutely great...

[17:25] ...but when the life is excruciating pain, or the life is hopeless vegetation, it’s not a life.

WARSAW public GVs


WARSAW church exteriors


Maciej and his band on arriving on stage

VO: Tighter abortion laws are part of a wider shift in Poland.

Critics of the current right-wing government say wealthy religious institutions have infiltrated Polish politics and law…

...and the freedoms people once enjoyed are eroding rapidly.

A doctor by day….at night Maciej is speaking out against the changes in Poland…

And he’s doing it through song.

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Band performing song

Michelle watching on from crowd

POLISH
SONG UPSOT: [01.01.48] Many already burned their fingers. Maybe you win or maybe you will not. (To the audience) Together! (Singing continues) Maybe yes or maybe not, sea waves always do as they please. Maybe yes or maybe not, do not you even try to impose your will.

Dr. Maciej Jedrzejko, Gynecologist

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Maciej talking to Michelle in the greenroom

ENGLISH
MACIEJ: [02:27:16] Everybody's afraid. Everybody's terrified to tell the truth.

[02:27:43] Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who wants to talk about it. And I don't feel I do something wrong, you know, I think I'm talking about really important things.

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Maciej and his band on stage

POLISH
A whale’s huge eye as cold as sharp steel, catching faces of the enemies, deadly duel continues. 

Dr. Maciej Jedrzejko, Gynecologist





Show cuts of Michelle and other band members listening

ENGLISH
MACIEJ: [01:21:00] From 1989, I was really proud, you know. Because, um, I felt that we are going to the good direction. Yes. And after 2015, I think we just turned 180 degrees, back.

[01:21:39] I like this thinking that everybody has a right to live they want to live. Yes. No matter that you're, you know, gay or, heterosexual, or whatever. Yes. You're LGBT or whatever. Five years ago, 10 years ago, I didn't even think that this, this could be a problem in Poland.

[01:22:14]  It's not my country now. And I want my country back. [01:22:18]

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