A Private Matter 1992

In 1962, Sherri Finkbine Sissy Spacek is a married mother of four who hosts the local children’s show Romper Room. She is expecting her fifth child with her husband Bob Finkbine Aidan Quinn, a high school teacher. To help her sleep at night, Sherri takes the sedative thalidomide, which was then commonly given to pregnant women to ease morning sickness, even though its birth-defect risks were not widely known at the time.

In the early weeks of her pregnancy, she learns from her physician that the fetus will have significant deformities, and he recommends a legal, therapeutic abortion at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix. Abortion is illegal in Arizona, but there are exceptions when the mother’s life is at risk, and under that exception, abortions were performed in hospitals regularly. The Finkbines schedule an abortion, but at a party, an acquaintance who works for the Arizona Republic tells Sherri he is writing a story on the drug’s harmful effects. Wanting to warn other women, Sherri agrees to share her story on the condition of anonymity. However, her identity is exposed in the newspaper, making her private decision public and kicking off a broad media firestorm.

The controversy leads to the loss of Sherri’s job and Bob’s teaching position, and the family endures escalating harassment. The hospital postpones the abortion to avoid the negative publicity, and the couple agrees to a press interview at their home to explain their decision. The interviewer shames Sherri and describes the fetus as a baby, which angers Bob enough to throw the reporter out. FBI agents are assigned to protect the Finkbines from death threats.

On the rescheduled date, Sherri goes to the hospital and is kept there in secrecy to avoid further attention. The hospital administrator discusses possible legal ramifications if they proceed, and ultimately they decide not to move forward with the abortion. Their remaining options include a costly private procedure or traveling to Japan or Sweden. A setback occurs when the Japanese Consul denies Sherri a visa.

Tensions with Bob rise as Sherri feels left out of medical discussions, while Bob admits the emotional toll the ordeal is taking on him as well. The film ends as the Finkbines depart on a plane for Sweden, where Sherri has been granted her requested abortion. As reporters crowd the scene, she tells them, > Don’t ever go what I’m going through. A postscript notes that Finkbine’s abortion took place in Sweden in the twelfth week of her pregnancy. Bob resumes his teaching career, but Sherri is not allowed to return to Romper Room; in the years that followed, the couple had two more children.