Has anyone had a chance to see Midwife on PBS on Sunday?

[southernyankeebelle]

What a powerful show this past Sunday on a reason for birth control. A woman who was married already at 8 children. Her 8 child was still in a pram less then a yr old. She finds herself pregnant again and of course the system won't allow her to a have abortion or even let her get her tubes tied. So she goes about trying to abort the baby on her own. She ends up going to a woman who helped her but she nearly died. In the end she did lose the baby and will never have anymore. I tell you it was so powerful in that it shows women no matter what will do anything to abort a child and they think very hard about it before they end up doing it. If you haven't seen the show try looking in on Sunday or even online at PBS. It takes place in the 50s right before the birth control pill comes to women.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Some general details on the series here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21413030

If you search Midwives BBC online all the episodes are available but not necessarily outside of the UK

[southernyankeebelle]

16. It's also on PBS online. Great stories.

[dipsydoodle]

20. Yes but

I'm UK so get the original stuff on BBC.

[gateley]

27. Ack! That means you'll get Sherlock 3 WAY before we do!

[dipsydoodle]

31. True

Series 3 is currently being filmed. I can't wait to find out how he faked it.

[gateley]

36. Unfortunately, I already know.

And I know more stuff I now wish I didn't.

I was CONSUMED by the spoilers and just HAD to know. I've seen photos from the sets, footage, leaks from crew --

I finally made myself stop because I thought hell, I won't even have to watch -- I know the BIG events from the first two episodes!!

I'm really mad at myself for doing this!

It really WILL be worth the wait, so hang in there!!

[dipsydoodle]

39. I'll wait.

[gateley]

47. Yep -- wish I would have!

But I was so TAKEN with the series. My ringtone is the Sherlock theme! I can't tell you how many times I've watched all the episodes (plus the pilot).

I know, get a life, gateley.

[southernyankeebelle]

28. you lucky dog.

[raccoon]

2. I think a great many people who aren't old enough to remember when abortion was illegal and

birth control less reliable and difficult to obtain have no clue about this sort of thing.

Thanks for reminding all of us.

[southernyankeebelle]

17. Your welcome. We need to spread this series to our friends especially the righteous

right. I know my own mother had 3 miscarriages. She never said but I had a feeling they were abortions. She just didn't want more children. She already had 6 and that was enough.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. you might appreciate this, if you don't mind.

Back in the early 1970's, we were fighting for abortion rights and the ERA.
I was very active in Wash. state around those issues.
At one convention held in Spokane, (the ultra conservative side of the state) there were a few hundred women,
Half was our contingent, young and long haired and sometimes bra less, very casual dress, and half were the "opposition",
Mormon woman who had been bussed in from out of state.
One of the most popular pro-abortion buttons and stickers we wore was the coat hanger with the red line over it.
I happened to hear this exchange as I was within earshot of 2 of the opposition women talking:
" what are all those coat hanger buttons for? What do they mean?"
and the other woman replied, confidently"
"Well, I heard that means those women have come out of the closet"

[southernyankeebelle]

26. Now that is funny. Did you bother to tell them what it meant by any chance?

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. nope...but I sure enjoyed sharing the story with "our side".

[southernyankeebelle]

30. they live sheltered lives for sure. Even I am not experienced in sex know what that meant.

[wolfgirl]

3. It was a heartbreaking show...

And unfortunately, the right want to take us right back to that time.

[southernyankeebelle]

18. Yes indeed. spread this series.

[ananda]

4. Yes: luminous, beautiful, touching.

I cry in every episode.. and I love it!

[southernyankeebelle]

19. I cried this last one. It was extremely sad. Of course the mother was right.

[noel711]

5. "CAll the MIdwife" is brilliant on many levels...

I can't recommend it enough as a glimpse into our past as a culture.
What it highlights immensely is how the National Health SErvice (horrors! Socialism!)
served the very poor in the post-war era...

It's also a love letter to those who give of themselves to serve others.
I get a great chuckle from the nuns, who are NOT fundamentalist bigots
but educated, compassionate and see in those around them as important.

Why do the Brits have a way of programming television that is enlightening,
informing and deeply entertaining?
This program, along with "Sherlock" and "Masterpiece Theatre"
are MUST see television.
American television? The vast wasteland.

[Ednahilda]

8. That's what I've been wondering, too.

Why is it that British television (at least the programs that are exported to the US) are so darned good in comparison to the nonsense that passes for network television in the US? I can't think of a single American program for the last decade or so that I'd be willing to sit down for. And it's not as if I'm a snob - I love re-runs of "Get Smart" and "Mash" - you know, programs with a plot and some clever humor. It all seems to be cop and forensic shows now, except for the programs with juvenile jokes. Oh and non-reality reality shows.

[KatyMan]

10. It's even better over there

TV in Britain can be just as much a cesspool as American tv at times (and on some stations), but for the most part it's superb. There's always some great show on or documentary or period drama. Even the documentaries aren't dry and boring, they're interesting stories about things you like (for example, there are a lot of music docu's on, such as Synth Brittania).

One great great US show, tho, is Modern Family; if you haven't watched it you should give it a try. Very funny and very subtle!

[Phentex]

12. It's some of the best writing on tv...

and it's a good combination of serious and humorous. The actors are perfect for their roles.

I feel transported when I watch this.

[southernyankeebelle]

21. Your right. I always look forward to Sundays. Such good programming.

[ellenfl]

23. brits make the best comedies, imo. they don't dumb down as much. eom

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I saw it, but not on PBS.

Dear old "chumly" ....such a good character and good actress.

I remember reading about and being very inspired by Margaret Sanger, when I was 12.
she and Elizabeth Blackwell were early heroes.
But, this was back in the late 50's when women doctors were exceedingly rare, birth control was never talked about.

In the early 70's when I was heavily involved in Wash. state's abortion issue, my grandmother, then 70, took my side at a large family gathering, shocking my 8 adult uncles and aunts by telling them.." I had 3 abortions during the Depression" and THEN pointing to the most obnoxious of the uncles.." and sometimes I wish one of them had been YOU"....
All of the uncles immediately decided they needed to go out into the yard to have a smoke,while the aunts, my mother included, disappeared into the kitchen.
Grandma could be a pistol when she was pissed.

[woodsprite]

9. OMG! She really said that! My gmom always said

that if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

[southernyankeebelle]

15. The show really is an effective birth control if I ever saw it.

[Hekate]

41. God bless your grandma! I wish I could have known her!

What a great ancestress to have in your lineage.

[ctsnowman]

7. Great show. K & R

[greatlaurel]

11. My mother used to tell stories.

My beloved mother would tell us girls horror stories about all the women she knew who got pregnant and tried to get abortions. She knew dozens of women who died from botched abortions. She graduated high school in the 1930's and went to beauty school. Mother is gone now and I deeply regret not writing down all her stories. If any one knows a woman from that era, you should ask her to talk about this. Mother was, of course, unusually frank for a woman from that time, but she knew knowledge was power for her children.

One sad example was her neighbor lady who already had a large family, all of whom were nearly starving during the worst of the Depression. My mom's dad worked for the railroad and would buy the family a box of food when he could swing it. The husband was a miner and they were not paid anywhere near enough to feed the family. One more child would have sent them all over the edge to starvation. The poor woman got pregnant again and tried to abort with a knitting needle. She died in great agony and left all those poor children without a mother. So much unnecessary pain and suffering, all because a bunch of religious nuts can pass laws to force women to comply with their weird religious rules. I call them the Taliban without turbans. Although doctors have some skin in the game, by helping pass laws outlawing abortion in those days, partly because they would make more money delivering babies instead of performing abortions.

Mother could name at least two dozen women who died from back alley abortions. She knew at least another couple dozen women who ended up sterile because of botched abortions. They were all neighbors, high school or beauty school classmates, or friends of hers or her sisters' friends. Some were college classmates of her older sisters. It was a public health disaster for young women, which no one outside of Planned Parenthood ever talks about.

Women younger than 50 have no idea what a nightmare world it was for a young woman. It just goes to prove that all the blathering from the religious right about how people should not have sex unless they are having children, is complete and utter nonsense. Biology will not be denied. Even when sex often lead to death for the women from the lack of modern medical care, contraceptives and modern antibiotics, people still had sex.

[winter is coming]

32. My mom had her kids in the 50's and 60's.

When she went back for one of her high school reunions, she noticed that everyone in her class either had 3-6 children, or none at all. I've often wondered how many of those "none at all" were women who'd lost their fertility to a bad abortion.

[Frustratedlady]

13. I dearly love Midwives and all the rest of the English shows.

I was rather surprised that they went into the abortion issue as far as they did, but if people didn't get the point of why the abortion regulations were needed, that dispelled any doubt.

I lived through the 50s that they show, but don't remember abortion coming up. A woman was with child and such things were talked about between women. I once made a comment about how women used to be measured in regards to good stock or poor stock (whether or not she could produce strong, healthy children) and was admonished by an elderly woman..."That's bedroom talk!" That was in the 1990s.

Wouldn't it be great if they took over the entertainment portion of TV? I might be able to watch TV again.

[asjr]

14. Sunday night from 5:00 until 10:00 (central time) belongs

to PBS. Midwife is wonderful. Last Sunday's episode was very powerful.

[southernyankeebelle]

25. They also are online if you miss them. Great programming.

[Hekate]

42. Until recently I haven't had a one-night line-up like that in decades

And it all happens on Sunday night, PBS, thanks to BBC.

[malaise]

22. It's the one show I never miss

Excellent indeed

[libodem]

33. It's good

I saw the one about the sea captain's daughter. Poor thing.

[southernyankeebelle]

34. I saw that also. What a bastard of a father.

[renate]

37. and even then...

... I thought the way that the sailors seemed to really care about her was a nice touch. They could so easily, and plausibly, have been shown as disgusting pigs, but it was so much more interesting to see their genuine concern. Her father, though... He was beyond redemption.

[southernyankeebelle]

44. Yes, I agree. You know none of us would know what to do if we were truly in that position.

[renate]

35. I loved the way the nun was the understanding one

Jenny's shock was due to her naivete (or maybe she genuinely was anti-abortion--but I appreciated the way that they included that viewpoint without making her seem actually morally judgmental--just shocked that the woman had done something illegal). I imagine I'd be shocked too if I grew up in that era and had never actually seen the aftermath of a botched abortion.

I also liked the way that the narrator said that the doctors who treated the woman kept silent. Of course they knew what had happened but they were as compassionate as the nun.

The storyline with Trixie was a great counterpoint--how easily she could have been in the woman's place and had to have a backalley abortion herself if she hadn't been able to get out of that guy's apartment. And yet she showed up to the street party knowing (or thinking) he'd be there, because his behavior was just what women had to deal with back then. They still do, obviously, but there's at least the notion of having some legal recourse. Not then.

It's such a great show.

[southernyankeebelle]

43. Not one episode has been boring I that I wouldn't watch.

[Hekate]

45. Wise old nun, seen it all. Jenny, I think, is just very young and naive...

I remember being that young and naive! It's so easy to accept "it's illegal, why would anybody even think about doing that" when you have never been confronted with the heartbreaking reality. The power of the series is how the girls (and they really are such young women, and innocent) learn.

Abortion was not exactly discussed when I was growing up. In college I was fortunate enough to do some important reading just on the cusp of Roe vs. Wade: one piece was an excerpt from Margaret Sanger's Autobiography, the chapter about the women lining up around the block, shawls over their heads, waiting their turn at the abortionist's when he was in; and then Sanger's patient who died of an abortion leaving 3 children motherless. She had begged Nurse Sanger for "The secret. Doctor's know some secret (to not getting pregnant, she meant). You're a woman, you can tell me." But of course Sanger didn't know, either. Damnation. That makes me tear up to this day.

The other, oddly enough, was that runaway bestseller Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask). I worked in a book dept and that book just flew off the shelves. The doctor who wrote it included a chapter on abortion, and iirc there were three real-world women's stories. It gave me an entirely different point of view.

It's sad that we have lost so much ground since then. Our daughters and granddaughters have to be taught this history, or they will lose what was gained with so much blood, sweat, and tears.

[jonthebru]

38. This is all true.

I have written this in the past.
My Mother was born in 1910. When she completed nursing school, probably around 20 years old, she went home for a while and worked with the local doctor before moving away, (ending up in Hawaii.) One Saturday the Doctor came to her families home, picked her up and took her out to a farmhouse where there was a young Woman in distress. The girl had gone to Kansas City to get an abortion earlier and there was a critical infection as a result of the non-sterile conditions, the proverbial back alley abortion.
This situation had a profound affect on my Mother, she related that the girls stomach was swollen and bloated and of course pain and bleeding. My mother stayed with her for several days and assisted in her recovery, she healed and was able to have children after that crisis. She married and everything was well.

My Mother was a Republican, she loved Ronald Reagan. But she always vocally supported a Woman's choice in her reproduction matters.

She also thought prostitution should be legal and controlled and drugs should be decriminalized.

Last night I heard a clown argue with Alan Colmes on his radio show about abortion as something the Pregnant Woman should not be able to make a choice about. He was a frickin' clown in his ignorant recitation of the right wing and evangelical talking points on the matter. At no time did it dawn on him that his choices in life are great but he wanted to elicit control of someone else's body.

A major irony is those against abortion also want to make it more difficult for a Woman and her male partner to get contraceptive prevention.

Frankly there is no argument here. Make abortion against the law and Women will die.

[Hekate]

46. I have read that every hospital used to have a "Septic Ward"

And after Roe vs Wade, one by one the Septic Wards disappeared. They used to be filled with women who were infected from illegal abortions.

So yes, women will die again.

[Hekate]

40. Missed Season 1 and am totally absorbed by Season 2

It is really powerful stuff. The nuns are great characters: wise, experienced, nonjudgmental midwives themselves. The one who goes to rescue the mother ofd 8 dying of a botched abortion tells the young nurse with her (after the mother is sent off by ambulance) to help clean up the mess quickly before the other children come home. The nun says to the young nurse: "You don't think I've seen this before? All we can do is give love and support, and help."

On the issue of a child born with spina bifida, the young nurse-midwife who delivered it is pretty much in shock at the prospects for the mother, the family, and the baby itself, and there is a discussion around the dinner table at Nonnatus House, where they all live. One of the oldest nuns says, apropos how to "treat" spina bifida, "Chloral hydrate. It helps them pass peacefully." Turns out that's not how it's done any more in the 1950s, but still, such an insight...

This series is real ground-of-our-being material.