TV Film Due on Roe vs. Wade, Abortion Case

Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court established a woman’s right to have an abortion, will be dramatized in a TV movie for NBC, entertainment division President Brandon Tartikoff said Tuesday.

Tartikoff’s announcement, made at the annual National Assn. of Television Producers and Executives convention in Houston, came the day after President Bush called for a reversal of the controversial decision to legalize abortion in a telephone address to the 16th annual March for Life, a demonstration held by pro-life groups in Washington.

Tony Masucci, NBC’s senior vice president of miniseries and motion pictures for television, said that Tartikoff had planned to announce the movie at the Houston convention independent of the Washington demonstration. The timing of the announcement, he said, was chosen because the network wanted to wait until it had signed the movie’s star, Holly Hunter, which happened only a few days ago.

The project has been in development for three years, Masucci said. “It’s not something we rushed in just because it has become news now,” he added.

Hunter, who gained critical acclaim for her role as a driven TV news producer in the feature film “Broadcast News,” will portray Ellen Russell, NBC’s pseudonym for the woman known during the 1973 court proceedings only as Jane Roe, who won the right to an abortion following a protracted legal battle.

The film, tentatively titled “An American Story: Roe vs. Wade,” will be produced and directed by “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law” veteran Gregory Hoblit. A casting source said the film will begin shooting Feb. 22. Masucci said the air date has not been decided.

Masucci said that NBC has taken care to present both sides of the abortion issue. “We have been very careful, very diligent . . . in giving voice to both positions, fair voice to both positions,” he said.

“The only thing we cannot change is the actual decision--we are not changing anything,” the executive added. “In terms of pro-life/choice, I’m sure the pro-lifers would like us to rewrite history. Unfortunately, we cannot.”

Masucci said that the script had passed rigorous examinations for fairness and accuracy by NBC’s legal department, and that all of the material used is a matter of public record. The network has obtained the rights to the story from both “Jane Roe,” whose real name is Norma McCovey, and from Sarah Weddington, her attorney.

A spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee, which was among the anti-abortion groups that demonstrated in the nation’s capital Monday, said the organization maintains a policy of not commenting on scripts or projects it has not had a chance to see. The spokesman expressed some concern, however, that NBC might not acknowledge some developments after the case was closed in 1973. For example, it was later revealed that McCovey had lied in saying that her pregnancy was the result of a rape.

Masucci said that NBC’s dramatization does include the fact that McCovey lied. “It’s not a secret, and we certainly didn’t gloss over it; we used it in the dramatization,” he said. “And I understand that, from a legal point of view, the fact that she lied about being raped was never used in the briefs anyway. The attorneys knew the truth, but it had no bearing on the case in the Supreme Court.”

Eve Paul, vice president for legal affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, expressed pleasure that the movie was being made.

“We’re always happy when the American public is given the opportuinty to learn more about this decision,” she said, “because it was such a landmark decision; it has saved countless lives of women and children. Any opportunity for people to learn more about it has got to be a positive thing, and will help to mobilize public decision. The Supreme Court does not operate in a vaccuum.”