The Odessa File (film)

# The Odessa File (film)

## Abstract

The Odessa File is a 1974 thriller film, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth, about a reporter's investigation of a neo-Nazi political-industrial network in post- Second World War West Germany. The film stars Jon Voight, Mary Tamm, Maximilian Schell and Maria Schell and was directed by Ronald Neame, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was the only film that the Schell siblings made together.

## Plot

On 22 November 1963, the day of the John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas, Peter Miller (Jon Voight), a young freelance reporter in Hamburg, West Germany, pulls his car over to the curb to listen to a radio report of the event. As a result, he happens to be stopped at a traffic signal as an ambulance passes by on a highway.

He follows the ambulance and discovers it is en route to pick up the body of an elderly man who has committed suicide, leaving behind no family. Peter obtains the man's diary and learns the man was Salomon Tauber (Towje Kleiner), a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Salomon's diary details information on his life in the Riga Ghetto during World War II, including the name of the SS officer who ran the camp, Eduard Roschmann (Maximilian Schell). Salomon's diary catalogues all of Roschmann's crimes including the murder of a highly decorated Wehrmacht officer (Oskar Werner) while attempting to flee at the end of the war.

Peter is filled with a determination to hunt Roschmann down and he sets out to meet famed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal (Shmuel Rodensky), who informs him about ODESSA, a secret organization for former members of the SS which is developing a missile guidance system for Nasserist Egypt. Wiesenthal explains that most of the West Berlin Police are members of ODESSA and not to be trusted. As Peter leaves he is accosted by Israeli Mossad agents who suspect Peter of trying to harm Wiesenthal. Peter manages to convince the men that his true mission is to find and bring Roschmann to justice. The Israelis propose to send Peter deep undercover in the ODESSA. Peter agrees to the mission and with the help of the Israelis, they provide him with a cover identity. Peter is to be a former SS soldier who died recently in a nearby hospital. He does not inform his girlfriend Sigi (Mary Tamm), who was attacked in an attempt to get the whereabouts of Peter.

The Israelis drill Peter on all details of his cover identity in preparation of meeting with ODESSA. Complete with a new cover identity, Peter gains access to the inner ranks of the ODESSA. After getting through his first test he is sent to get a fake passport from a forger who is working for ODESSA. While awaiting his train, Peter blunders by making a call to Sigi to assure her that he is OK. Thinking he is safe, he boards the train. Meanwhile, the ODESSA report back that Peter has made a call and they work out that Peter is not who he says he is. An assassin is dispatched to kill him. Peter meets with the forger Klaus Wenzer (Derek Jacobi) a shy insecure young man living with his mother. Klaus tells Peter to return after the weekend to take passport photos, but then calls him after midnight and tells him to return within the hour.

Suspicious, Peter rings Klaus' home from his hotel and having had no answer is wary, and sees the armed assassin who is waiting for him. Peter sneaks into the house and awakes Klaus' mother: she mistakes him for a priest and begs him to pray for her son. He then tackles the assassin and manages to kill the man. Whilst exploring Klaus' safe he uncovers a book, the ODESSA file, detailing every fake ID Klaus created and detail the real identity of those he created the fake IDs for. Peter takes the file and hides it in a train station locker, later giving the key to Sigi, lest anything should happen to him.

Peter victorious returns to the Israelis and details all he has found but refuses to disclose the location of the file until Roschmann has been apprehended. The Israeli agents reluctantly agree to Peter's demands and he then leaves for Roschmann's home where he finds him living an opulent life as a munitions factory owner using an alias. Peter manages to gain access to the mansion and evade his security before confronting Roschmann at gunpoint. Peter reveals Salomon Tauber's diary to Roschmann who attempts to deny everything, claiming Peter has been misled. Peter then discloses to Roschmann, Salomon's description of the murder of a fellow German Wehrmacht officer at the end of the war. Peter goes through the unique details of the cowardly murder and then discloses that the Wehrmacht officer was in fact Peter's father. Roschmann realising he is about to be exposed, panics and goes for his gun forcing Peter to defend himself. Peter returns fire at Roschmann killing the former SS officer who had killed his father.

The detailed ODESSA files obtained by Peter are used to arrest numerous Nazi war criminals including high-ranking members of the police. Later Roschmann's factory mysteriously burns to the ground before any rockets are delivered to Egypt.

## Cast

- Jon Voight as Peter Miller

- Mary Tamm as Sigi

- Maximilian Schell as Eduard Roschmann

- Maria Schell as Frau Miller

- Derek Jacobi as Klaus Wenzer

- Peter Jeffrey as David Porath

- Klaus Löwitsch as Gustav Mackensen

- Kurt Meisel as Alfred Oster

- Hannes Messemer as General Glücks

- Garfield Morgan as Israeli General

- Shmuel Rodensky as Simon Wiesenthal

- Ernst Schröder as Werner Deilman

- Günter Strack as Kunik

- Noel Willman as Franz Bayer

- Günter Meisner as General Greifer

- Gunnar Möller as Karl Braun

- Til Kiwe as Medal Shop Proprietor

- Cyril Shaps as Tauber's Voice (narrating the diary)

- Oskar Werner as an Wehrmacht Officer (uncredited)

- Nadia Henkowa as Israeli Secretary (uncredited)

## Production

Filming was done on location in Hamburg, Germany; Salzburg, Austria; Heidelberg, Germany; Munich, Germany; at Pinewood Studios, England; and the Bavaria Studios in Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany. It was filmed with Panavision equipment, produced with Eastmancolor technologies.

The film's title song, " Christmas Dream ", written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, was sung by Perry Como and the London Boy Singers, and heard as diegetic music over a car radio during the main titles of the film.

Simon Wiesenthal served as a technical advisor for the production.

## Reception

The film premiered at the 1974 San Francisco International Film Festival. The American Nazi Party staged a protest outside the theater but it was mistaken for a promotion of the film.

The film has an aggregated score of 67% from 15 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Nora Sayre of the New York Times said, "The film makes its points methodically, almost academically. It also drags because there are many unnecessary transitional passages, devoted to moving the characters from one situation to another. Almost every occurrence is predictable."


Abortion

# Abortion

## Abstract

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of all pregnancies. When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced abortion, or less frequently "induced miscarriage". The unmodified word abortion generally refers to an induced abortion. The most common reasons women give for having an abortion are for birth-timing and limiting family size. Other reasons reported include maternal health, an inability to afford a child, domestic violence, lack of support, feeling they are too young, wishing to complete education or advance a career, and not being able or willing to raise a child conceived as a result of rape or incest.

When done legally in industrialized societies, induced abortion is one of the safest procedures in medicine. Unsafe abortions — those performed by people lacking the necessary skills, or in inadequately resourced settings — are responsible for between 5–13% of maternal deaths, especially in the developing world. However, medication abortions that are self-managed are highly effective and safe throughout the first trimester. Public health data show that making safe abortion legal and accessible reduces maternal deaths.

Modern methods use medication or surgery for abortions. The drug mifepristone (aka RU-486) in combination with prostaglandin appears to be as safe and effective as surgery during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. The most common surgical technique involves dilating the cervix and using a suction device. Birth control, such as the pill or intrauterine devices, can be used immediately following abortion. When performed legally and safely on a woman who desires it, induced abortions do not increase the risk of long-term mental or physical problems. In contrast, unsafe abortions performed by unskilled individuals, with hazardous equipment, or in unsanitary facilities cause between 22,000 and 44,000 deaths and 6.9 million hospital admissions each year. The World Health Organization states that "access to legal, safe and comprehensive abortion care, including post-abortion care, is essential for the attainment of the highest possible level of sexual and reproductive health". Historically, abortions have been attempted using herbal medicines, sharp tools, forceful massage, or other traditional methods.

Around 73 million abortions are performed each year in the world, with about 45% done unsafely. Abortion rates changed little between 2003 and 2008, before which they decreased for at least two decades as access to family planning and birth control increased. As of 2018, 37% of the world's women had access to legal abortions without limits as to reason. Countries that permit abortions have different limits on how late in pregnancy abortion is allowed. Abortion rates are similar between countries that restrict abortion and countries that broadly allow it, though this is partly because countries which restrict abortion tend to have higher unintended pregnancy rates.

Globally, there has been a widespread trend towards greater legal access to abortion since 1973, but there remains debate with regard to moral, religious, ethical, and legal issues. Those who oppose abortion often argue that an embryo or fetus is a person with a right to life, and thus equate abortion with murder. Those who support abortion's legality often argue that it is a woman's reproductive right. Others favor legal and accessible abortion as a public health measure. Abortion laws and views of the procedure are different around the world. In some countries abortion is legal and women have the right to make the choice about abortion. In some areas, abortion is legal only in specific cases such as rape, incest, fetal defects, poverty, and risk to a woman's health.

## Types

### Induced

An induced abortion is a medical procedure to end a pregnancy. In modern English, the term abortion, when used without further qualification, generally refers to induced abortion.

A pregnancy can be intentionally aborted in several ways. The abortion method depends upon the gestational age of the embryo or fetus, which gains mass as the pregnancy progresses. Abortion laws, regional availability, and the personal preference of the women and her doctor may inform the women's choice of a specific abortion procedure.

Abortions can be characterized as either therapeutic or elective. When an abortion is performed for medical reasons, the procedure is referred to as a therapeutic abortion. Medical reasons for therapeutic abortion include saving the life of the pregnant woman, preventing harm to the woman's physical or mental health, preventing the birth of a child who will have a significantly increased chance of mortality or morbidity, and reducing the number of fetuses to lessen health risks associated with multiple pregnancy. An abortion is referred to as elective or voluntary when it is performed at the request of the woman for non-medical reasons. Confusion sometimes arises over the term elective because " elective surgery " generally refers to all scheduled surgery, whether medically necessary or not.

About one in five pregnancies worldwide ends with an induced abortion. Most abortions result from unintended pregnancies. In the United Kingdom, 1 to 2% of abortions are done because of genetic problems in the fetus.

### Spontaneous

Miscarriage, also known as spontaneous abortion, is the unintentional expulsion of an embryo or fetus before the 24th week of gestation. A pregnancy that ends before 37 weeks of gestation resulting in a live-born infant is a " premature birth " or a "preterm birth". When a fetus dies in utero after viability, or during delivery, it is usually termed " stillborn ". Premature births and stillbirths are generally not considered to be miscarriages, although usage of these terms can sometimes overlap.

Studies of pregnant women in the US and China have shown that between 40% and 60% of embryos do not progress to birth. The vast majority of miscarriages occur before the woman is aware that she is pregnant, and many pregnancies spontaneously abort before medical practitioners can detect an embryo. Between 15% and 30% of known pregnancies end in clinically apparent miscarriage, depending upon the age and health of the pregnant woman. 80% of these spontaneous abortions happen in the first trimester.

The most common cause of spontaneous abortion during the first trimester is chromosomal abnormalities of the embryo or fetus, accounting for at least 50% of sampled early pregnancy losses. Other causes include vascular disease (such as lupus), diabetes, other hormonal problems, infection, and abnormalities of the uterus. Advancing maternal age and a woman's history of previous spontaneous abortions are the two leading factors associated with a greater risk of spontaneous abortion. A spontaneous abortion can also be caused by accidental trauma; intentional trauma or stress to cause miscarriage is considered induced abortion or feticide.

## Methods

### Medical

Medical abortions are those induced by abortifacient pharmaceuticals. Medical abortion became an alternative method of abortion with the availability of prostaglandin analogs in the 1970s and the antiprogestogen mifepristone (also known as RU-486) in the 1980s.

The most common early first trimester medical abortion regimens use mifepristone in combination with misoprostol (or sometimes another prostaglandin analog, gemeprost) up to 10 weeks (70 days) gestational age, methotrexate in combination with a prostaglandin analog up to 7 weeks gestation, or a prostaglandin analog alone. Mifepristone–misoprostol combination regimens work faster and are more effective at later gestational ages than methotrexate–misoprostol combination regimens, and combination regimens are more effective than misoprostol alone, particularly in the second trimester. Medical abortion regimens involving mifepristone followed by misoprostol in the cheek between 24 and 48 hours later are effective when performed before 70 days' gestation.

In very early abortions, up to 7 weeks gestation, medical abortion using a mifepristone–misoprostol combination regimen is considered to be more effective than surgical abortion (vacuum aspiration), especially when clinical practice does not include detailed inspection of aspirated tissue. Early medical abortion regimens using mifepristone, followed 24–48 hours later by buccal or vaginal misoprostol are 98% effective up to 9 weeks gestational age; from 9 to 10 weeks efficacy decreases modestly to 94%. If medical abortion fails, surgical abortion must be used to complete the procedure.

Early medical abortions account for the majority of abortions before 9 weeks gestation in Britain, France, Switzerland, United States, and the Nordic countries.

Medical abortion regimens using mifepristone in combination with a prostaglandin analog are the most common methods used for second trimester abortions in Canada, most of Europe, China and India, in contrast to the United States where 96% of second trimester abortions are performed surgically by dilation and evacuation.

A 2020 Cochrane Systematic Review concluded that providing women with medications to take home to complete the second stage of the procedure for an early medical abortion results in an effective abortion. Further research is required to determine if self-administered medical abortion is as safe as provider-administered medical abortion, where a health care professional is present to help manage the medical abortion. Safely permitting women to self-administer abortion medication has the potential to improve access to abortion. The review also noted a research gap concerning methods to support women who take medication at home for a self-administered abortion.

### Surgical

Up to 15 weeks' gestation, suction-aspiration or vacuum aspiration are the most common surgical methods of induced abortion. Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) consists of removing the fetus or embryo, placenta, and membranes by suction using a manual syringe, while electric vacuum aspiration (EVA) uses an electric pump. Both techniques can be used very early in pregnancy. MVA can be used up to 14 weeks but is more often used earlier in the U.S. EVA can be used later.

MVA, also known as "mini-suction" and " menstrual extraction ", or EVA can be used in very early pregnancy when cervical dilation may not be required. Dilation and curettage (D&C) refers to opening the cervix (dilation) and removing tissue (curettage) via suction or sharp instruments. D&C is a standard gynecological procedure performed for a variety of reasons, including examination of the uterine lining for possible malignancy, investigation of abnormal bleeding, and abortion. The World Health Organization recommends sharp curettage only when suction aspiration is unavailable.

Dilation and evacuation (D&E), used after 12 to 16 weeks, consists of opening the cervix and emptying the uterus using surgical instruments and suction. D&E is performed vaginally and does not require an incision. Intact dilation and extraction (D&X) refers to a variant of D&E sometimes used after 18 to 20 weeks when removal of an intact fetus improves surgical safety or for other reasons.

Abortion may also be performed surgically by hysterotomy or gravid hysterectomy. Hysterotomy abortion is a procedure similar to a caesarean section and is performed under general anesthesia. It requires a smaller incision than a caesarean section and can be used during later stages of pregnancy. Gravid hysterectomy refers to removal of the whole uterus while still containing the pregnancy. Hysterotomy and hysterectomy are associated with much higher rates of maternal morbidity and mortality than D&E or induction abortion.

First trimester procedures can generally be performed using local anesthesia, while second trimester methods may require deep sedation or general anesthesia.

### Labor induction abortion

In places lacking the necessary medical skill for dilation and extraction, or when preferred by practitioners, an abortion can be induced by first inducing labor and then inducing fetal demise if necessary. This is sometimes called "induced miscarriage". This procedure may be performed from 13 weeks gestation to the third trimester. Although it is very uncommon in the United States, more than 80% of induced abortions throughout the second trimester are labor-induced abortions in Sweden and other nearby countries.

Only limited data are available comparing labor-induced abortion with the dilation and extraction method. Unlike D&E, labor-induced abortions after 18 weeks may be complicated by the occurrence of brief fetal survival, which may be legally characterized as live birth. For this reason, labor-induced abortion is legally risky in the United States.

### Other methods

Historically, a number of herbs reputed to possess abortifacient properties have been used in folk medicine. Such herbs include tansy, pennyroyal, black cohosh, and the now-extinct silphium.

In 1978, one woman in Colorado died and another developed organ damage when they attempted to terminate their pregnancies by taking pennyroyal oil. Because the indiscriminant use of herbs as abortifacients can cause serious—even lethal—side effects, such as multiple organ failure, such use is not recommended by physicians.

Abortion is sometimes attempted by causing trauma to the abdomen. The degree of force, if severe, can cause serious internal injuries without necessarily succeeding in inducing miscarriage. In Southeast Asia, there is an ancient tradition of attempting abortion through forceful abdominal massage. One of the bas reliefs decorating the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia depicts a demon performing such an abortion upon a woman who has been sent to the underworld.

Reported methods of unsafe, self-induced abortion include misuse of misoprostol and insertion of non-surgical implements such as knitting needles and clothes hangers into the uterus. These and other methods to terminate pregnancy may be called "induced miscarriage". Such methods are rarely used in countries where surgical abortion is legal and available.

## Safety

The health risks of abortion depend principally on how, and under what conditions, the procedure is performed. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines unsafe abortions as those performed by unskilled individuals, with hazardous equipment, or in unsanitary facilities. Legal abortions performed in the developed world are among the safest procedures in medicine. According to a 2012 study in Obstetrics & Gynecology, in the United States the risk of maternal mortality is 14 times lower after induced abortion than after childbirth. The CDC estimated in 2019 that US pregnancy-related mortality was 17.2 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, while the US abortion mortality rate was 0.43 maternal deaths per 100,000 procedures. In the UK, guidelines of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists state that "Women should be advised that abortion is generally safer than continuing a pregnancy to term." Worldwide, on average, abortion is safer than carrying a pregnancy to term. A 2007 study reported that "26% of all pregnancies worldwide are terminated by induced abortion," whereas "deaths from improperly performed procedures constitute 13% of maternal mortality globally." In Indonesia in 2000 it was estimated that 2 million pregnancies ended in abortion, 4.5 million pregnancies were carried to term, and 14–16 percent of maternal deaths resulted from abortion.

In the US from 2000 to 2009, abortion had a mortality rate lower than plastic surgery, lower or similar to running a marathon, and about equivalent to traveling 760 miles (1,220 km) in a passenger car. Five years after seeking abortion services, women who gave birth after being denied an abortion reported worse health than women who had either first or second trimester abortions. The risk of abortion-related mortality increases with gestational age, but remains lower than that of childbirth. Outpatient abortion is as safe from 64 to 70 days' gestation as it before 63 days.

### Safety of abortion methods

There is little difference in terms of safety and efficacy between medical abortion using a combined regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol and surgical abortion (vacuum aspiration) in early first trimester abortions up to 10 weeks gestation. Medical abortion using the prostaglandin analog misoprostol alone is less effective and more painful than medical abortion using a combined regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol or surgical abortion.

### Safety and gestational age

Vacuum aspiration in the first trimester is the safest method of surgical abortion, and can be performed in a primary care office, abortion clinic, or hospital. Complications, which are rare, can include uterine perforation, pelvic infection, and retained products of conception requiring a second procedure to evacuate. Infections account for one-third of abortion-related deaths in the United States. The rate of complications of vacuum aspiration abortion in the first trimester is similar regardless of whether the procedure is performed in a hospital, surgical center, or office. Preventive antibiotics (such as doxycycline or metronidazole) are typically given before abortion procedures, as they are believed to substantially reduce the risk of postoperative uterine infection; however, antibiotics are not routinely given with abortion pills. The rate of failed procedures does not appear to vary significantly depending on whether the abortion is performed by a doctor or a mid-level practitioner.

Complications after second trimester abortion are similar to those after first trimester abortion, and depend somewhat on the method chosen. The risk of death from abortion approaches roughly half the risk of death from childbirth the farther along a woman is in pregnancy; from one in a million before 9 weeks gestation to nearly one in ten thousand at 21 weeks or more (as measured from the last menstrual period). It appears that having had a prior surgical uterine evacuation (whether because of induced abortion or treatment of miscarriage) correlates with a small increase in the risk of preterm birth in future pregnancies. The studies supporting this did not control for factors not related to abortion or miscarriage, and hence the causes of this correlation have not been determined, although multiple possibilities have been suggested.

### Mental health

Current evidence finds no relationship between most induced abortions and mental health problems other than those expected for any unwanted pregnancy. A report by the American Psychological Association concluded that a woman's first abortion is not a threat to mental health when carried out in the first trimester, with such women no more likely to have mental-health problems than those carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term; the mental-health outcome of a woman's second or greater abortion is less certain. Some older reviews concluded that abortion was associated with an increased risk of psychological problems; however, later reviews of the medical literature found that previous reviews did not use an appropriate control group. When a control group is utilized, receiving abortion is not associated with adverse psychological outcomes. However, women seeking abortion who are denied access to abortion have an increase in anxiety after the denial.

Although some studies show negative mental-health outcomes in women who choose abortions after the first trimester because of fetal abnormalities, more rigorous research would be needed to show this conclusively. Some proposed negative psychological effects of abortion have been referred to by anti-abortion advocates as a separate condition called " post-abortion syndrome ", but this is not recognized by medical or psychological professionals in the United States.

A 2020 long term-study among US women found that about 99% of women felt that they made the right decision five years after they had an abortion. Relief was the primary emotion with few women feeling sadness or guilt. Social stigma was a main factor predicting negative emotions and regret years later. The researchers also stated: "These results add to the scientific evidence that emotions about an abortion are associated with personal and social context, and are not a product of the abortion procedure itself."

### Safety in the abortion debate

Some purported risks of abortion are promoted primarily by anti-abortion groups, but lack scientific support. For example, the question of a link between induced abortion and breast cancer has been investigated extensively. Major medical and scientific bodies (including the WHO, National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Royal College of OBGYN and American Congress of OBGYN) have concluded that abortion does not cause breast cancer.

In the past even illegality has not automatically meant that the abortions were unsafe. Referring to the U.S., historian Linda Gordon states: "In fact, illegal abortions in this country have an impressive safety record."

According to Rickie Solinger,

A related myth, promulgated by a broad spectrum of people concerned about abortion and public policy, is that before legalization abortionists were dirty and dangerous back-alley butchers.... he historical evidence does not support such claims.

A 1940s American physician spoke of his pride in having performed 13,844 illegal abortions without any fatalities. In 1870s New York City, the abortionist/midwife Madame Restell (Anna Trow Lohman) is said to have lost very few women among her more than 100,000 patients —a lower mortality rate than the childbirth mortality rate at the time. In 1936, obstetrics and gynecology professor Frederick J. Taussig wrote that a cause of increasing mortality during the years of illegality in the U.S. was that

With each decade of the past fifty years the actual and proportionate frequency of this accident has increased, due, first, to the increase in the number of instrumentally induced abortions; second, to the proportionate increase in abortions handled by doctors as against those handled by midwives; and, third, to the prevailing tendency to use instruments instead of the finger in emptying the uterus.

### Unsafe abortion

Women seeking an abortion may use unsafe methods, especially when abortion is legally restricted. They may attempt self-induced abortion or seek the help of a person without proper medical training or facilities. This can lead to severe complications, such as incomplete abortion, sepsis, hemorrhage, and damage to internal organs.

Unsafe abortions are a major cause of injury and death among women worldwide. Although data are imprecise, it is estimated that approximately 20 million unsafe abortions are performed annually, with 97% taking place in developing countries. Unsafe abortions are believed to result in millions of injuries. Estimates of deaths vary according to methodology, and have ranged from 37,000 to 70,000 in the past decade; deaths from unsafe abortion account for around 13% of all maternal deaths. The World Health Organization believes that mortality has fallen since the 1990s. To reduce the number of unsafe abortions, public health organizations have generally advocated emphasizing the legalization of abortion, training of medical personnel, and ensuring access to reproductive-health services.

A major factor in whether abortions are performed safely or not is the legal standing of abortion. Countries with restrictive abortion laws have higher rates of unsafe abortion and similar overall abortion rates compared to countries where abortion is legal and available. For example, the 1996 legalization of abortion in South Africa led to an immediate reduction in abortion-related complications, with abortion-related deaths dropping by more than 90%. Similar reductions in maternal mortality have been observed after other countries have liberalized their abortion laws, such as Romania and Nepal. A 2011 study concluded that in the United States, some state-level anti-abortion laws are correlated with lower rates of abortion in that state. The analysis, however, did not take into account travel to other states without such laws to obtain an abortion. In addition, a lack of access to effective contraception contributes to unsafe abortion. It has been estimated that the incidence of unsafe abortion could be reduced by up to 75% (from 20 million to 5 million annually) if modern family planning and maternal health services were readily available globally. Rates of such abortions may be difficult to measure because they can be reported variously as miscarriage, "induced miscarriage", "menstrual regulation", "mini-abortion", and "regulation of a delayed/suspended menstruation".

Forty percent of the world's women are able to access therapeutic and elective abortions within gestational limits, while an additional 35 percent have access to legal abortion if they meet certain physical, mental, or socioeconomic criteria. While maternal mortality seldom results from safe abortions, unsafe abortions result in 70,000 deaths and 5 million disabilities per year. Complications of unsafe abortion account for approximately an eighth of maternal mortalities worldwide, though this varies by region. Secondary infertility caused by an unsafe abortion affects an estimated 24 million women. The rate of unsafe abortions has increased from 44% to 49% between 1995 and 2008. Health education, access to family planning, and improvements in health care during and after abortion have been proposed to address consequences of unsafe abortion.

## Incidence

There are two commonly used methods of measuring the incidence of abortion:

- Abortion rate – number of abortions annually per 1,000 women between 15 and 44 years of age; some sources use a range of 15–49.

- Abortion percentage – number of abortions out of 100 known pregnancies; pregnancies include live births, abortions, and miscarriages.

In many places, where abortion is illegal or carries a heavy social stigma, medical reporting of abortion is not reliable. For this reason, estimates of the incidence of abortion must be made without determining certainty related to standard error. The number of abortions performed worldwide was characterized as stable in the early 2000s, with 41.6 million having been performed in 2003 and 43.8 million having been performed in 2008. The abortion rate worldwide was 28 per 1000 women per year, though it was 24 per 1000 women per year for developed countries and 29 per 1000 women per year for developing countries. The same 2012 study indicated that in 2008, the estimated abortion percentage of known pregnancies was at 21% worldwide, with 26% in developed countries and 20% in developing countries.

On average, the incidence of abortion is similar in countries with restrictive abortion laws and those with more liberal access to abortion. Restrictive abortion laws are associated with increases in the percentage of abortions performed unsafely. The unsafe abortion rate in developing countries is partly attributable to lack of access to modern contraceptives; according to the Guttmacher Institute, providing access to contraceptives would result in about 14.5 million fewer unsafe abortions and 38,000 fewer deaths from unsafe abortion annually worldwide.

The rate of legal, induced abortion varies extensively worldwide. According to the report of employees of Guttmacher Institute it ranged from 7 per 1000 women per year (Germany and Switzerland) to 30 per 1000 women per year (Estonia) in countries with complete statistics in 2008. The proportion of pregnancies that ended in induced abortion ranged from about 10% (Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland) to 30% (Estonia) in the same group, though it might be as high as 36% in Hungary and Romania, whose statistics were deemed incomplete.

An American study in 2002 concluded that about half of women having abortions were using a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant. Inconsistent use was reported by half of those using condoms and three-quarters of those using the birth control pill; 42% of those using condoms reported failure through slipping or breakage. Of the other half of women, who were not using contraception at the time of becoming pregnant, the vast majority had used contraception at some point in the past, indicating some level of dissatisfaction with the contraceptive options available to them. Indeed, 32% of these contraceptive nonusers cited concerns about contraceptive methods as their reason for nonuse, and a more recent study found similar results. Taken together, these statistics suggest that new contraceptive methods, such as non-hormonal contraceptives or male contraceptives, could reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion rates.

The Guttmacher Institute has found that "most abortions in the United States are obtained by minority women" because minority women "have much higher rates of unintended pregnancy". In a 2022 analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, while people of color comprise 44% of the population in Mississippi, 59% of the population in Texas, 42% of the population in Louisiana, and 35% of the population in Alabama, they comprise 80%, 74%, 72%, and 70%, respectively, of those receiving abortions.

### Gestational age and method

Abortion rates vary depending on the stage of pregnancy and the method practiced. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 26% of reported legal induced abortions in the United States were known to have been obtained at the end of 6 weeks of gestation or less, 18% at 7 weeks, 15% at 8 weeks, 18% at 9 through 10 weeks, 10% at 11 through 12 weeks, 6% at 13 through 15 weeks, 4% at 16 through 20 weeks and 1% at more than 21 weeks. 91% of these were classified as having been done by " curettage " (suction-aspiration, dilation and curettage, dilation and evacuation), 8% by " medical " means (mifepristone), >1% by " intrauterine instillation " (saline or prostaglandin), and 1% by "other" (including hysterotomy and hysterectomy). According to the CDC, due to data collection difficulties the data must be viewed as tentative and some fetal deaths reported beyond 20 weeks may be natural deaths erroneously classified as abortions if the removal of the dead fetus is accomplished by the same procedure as an induced abortion.

The Guttmacher Institute estimated there were 2,200 intact dilation and extraction procedures in the US during 2000; this accounts for <0.2% of the total number of abortions performed that year. Similarly, in England and Wales in 2006, 89% of terminations occurred at or under 12 weeks, 9% between 13 and 19 weeks, and 2% at or over 20 weeks. 64% of those reported were by vacuum aspiration, 6% by D&E, and 30% were medical. There are more second trimester abortions in developing countries such as China, India and Vietnam than in developed countries.

There are both medical and non-medical reasons to have an abortion later in pregnancy (after 20 weeks). A study was conducted from 2008 to 2010 at the University of California San Francisco where more than 440 women were asked about why they experienced delays in obtaining abortion care, if there were any. This study found that almost half of individuals who obtained an abortion after 20 weeks did not suspect that they were pregnant until later in their pregnancy. Other barriers to abortion care found in the study included lack of information about where to access an abortion, difficulties with transportation, lack of insurance coverage, and inability to pay for the abortion procedure.

Medical reasons for seeking an abortion later in pregnancy include fetal anomalies and health risk to the pregnant person. There are prenatal tests that can diagnose Down Syndrome or cystic fibrosis as early as 10 weeks into gestation, but structural fetal anomalies are often detected much later in pregnancy. A proportion of structural fetal anomalies are lethal, which means that the fetus will almost certainly die before or shortly after birth. Life-threatening conditions may also develop later in pregnancy, such as early severe preeclampsia, newly diagnosed cancer in need of urgent treatment, and intrauterine infection (chorioamnionitis), which often occurs along with premature rupture of the amniotic sac (PPROM). If serious medical conditions such as these arise before the fetus is viable, the person carrying the pregnancy may pursue an abortion to preserve their own health.

## Motivation

### Personal

The reasons why women have abortions are diverse and vary across the world. Some of the reasons may include an inability to afford a child, domestic violence, lack of support, feeling they are too young, and the wish to complete education or advance a career. Additional reasons include not being able or willing to raise a child conceived as a result of rape or incest.

### Societal

Some abortions are undergone as the result of societal pressures. These might include the preference for children of a specific sex or race, disapproval of single or early motherhood, stigmatization of people with disabilities, insufficient economic support for families, lack of access to or rejection of contraceptive methods, or efforts toward population control (such as China's one-child policy). These factors can sometimes result in compulsory abortion or sex-selective abortion. In cultures where there is a preference for male children, some women have sex selective abortions, which have partially replaced the earlier practice of female infanticide.

### Maternal health

Some abortions are performed due to concerns over maternal health. In 1990s, women cited maternal health as their main motivating factor in about a third of abortions in three of 27 countries analyzed. In seven additional countries, about 7% of abortions were maternal health related.

In the U.S., the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton: "ruled that the state's interest in the life of the fetus became compelling only at the point of viability, defined as the point at which the fetus can survive independently of its mother. Even after the point of viability, the state cannot favor the life of the fetus over the life or health of the pregnant woman. Under the right of privacy, physicians must be free to use their "medical judgment for the preservation of the life or health of the mother." On the same day that the Court decided Roe, it also decided Doe v. Bolton, in which the Court defined health very broadly: "The medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age—relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. This allows the attending physician the room he needs to make his best medical judgment."

#### Cancer

The rate of cancer during pregnancy is 0.02–1%, and in many cases, cancer of the mother leads to consideration of abortion to protect the life of the mother, or in response to the potential damage that may occur to the fetus during treatment. This is particularly true for cervical cancer, the most common type of which occurs in 1 of every 2,000–13,000 pregnancies, for which initiation of treatment "cannot co-exist with preservation of fetal life (unless neoadjuvant chemotherapy is chosen)". Very early stage cervical cancers (I and IIa) may be treated by radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection, radiation therapy, or both, while later stages are treated by radiotherapy. Chemotherapy may be used simultaneously. Treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy also involves fetal considerations, because lumpectomy is discouraged in favor of modified radical mastectomy unless late-term pregnancy allows follow-up radiation therapy to be administered after the birth.

Exposure to a single chemotherapy drug is estimated to cause a 7.5–17% risk of teratogenic effects on the fetus, with higher risks for multiple drug treatments. Treatment with more than 40 Gy of radiation usually causes spontaneous abortion. Exposure to much lower doses during the first trimester, especially 8 to 15 weeks of development, can cause intellectual disability or microcephaly, and exposure at this or subsequent stages can cause reduced intrauterine growth and birth weight. Exposures above 0.005–0.025 Gy cause a dose-dependent reduction in IQ. It is possible to greatly reduce exposure to radiation with abdominal shielding, depending on how far the area to be irradiated is from the fetus.

The process of birth itself may also put the mother at risk. According to Li et al., "aginal delivery may result in dissemination of neoplastic cells into lymphovascular channels, haemorrhage, cervical laceration and implantation of malignant cells in the episiotomy site, while abdominal delivery may delay the initiation of non-surgical treatment."

### Fetal health

Congenital disorders, revealed by prenatal screening, motivate some women to seek abortions. Health outcomes of preterm births include a significant probability of long-term neurodevelopmental impairment before gestational age of 29 weeks, with a higher probability with decreasing gestational age.

In the United States, public opinion shifted after television personality Sherri Finkbine 's was exposed to thalidomide, a teratogen, in her fifth month of pregnancy. Unable to obtain a legal abortion in the United States, Finkbine traveled to Sweden. From 1962 to 1965, an outbreak of German measles left 15,000 babies with severe birth defects. In 1967, the American Medical Association publicly supported liberalization of abortion laws. A National Opinion Research Center poll in 1965 showed 73% supported abortion when the mother's life was at risk, 57% when birth defects were present and 59% for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

## History and religion

Since ancient times, abortions have been done using a number of methods, including herbal medicines acting as abortifacients, sharp tools through the use of force, or through other traditional medicine methods. Induced abortion has a long history and can be traced back to civilizations as varied as ancient China (abortifacient knowledge is often attributed to the mythological ruler Shennong), ancient India since its Vedic age, ancient Egypt with its Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE), and the Roman Empire in the time of Juvenal (c. 200 CE). One of the earliest known artistic representations of abortion is in a bas relief at Angkor Wat (c. 1150). Found in a series of friezes that represent judgment after death in Hindu and Buddhist culture, it depicts the technique of abdominal abortion.

In Judaism (Genesis2:7), the fetus is not generally considered to have a human soul until it is safely outside of the woman, is viable, and has taken its first breath. The fetus is considered valuable property of the woman and not a human life while in the womb (Exodus 21:22-23). While Judaism encourages people to be fruitful and multiply by having children, abortion is allowed and is deemed necessary when a pregnant woman's life is in danger. Several religions, including Judaism, which disagree that human life begins at conception, support the legality of abortion on religious freedom grounds. In Islam, abortion is traditionally permitted until a point in time when Muslims believe the soul enters the fetus, considered by various theologians to be at conception, 40 days after conception, 120 days after conception, or at quickening. Abortion is largely heavily restricted or forbidden in areas of high Islamic faith such as the Middle East and North Africa.

Some medical scholars and abortion opponents have suggested that the Hippocratic Oath forbade physicians in Ancient Greece from performing abortions; other scholars disagree with this interpretation, and state that the medical texts of Hippocratic Corpus contain descriptions of abortive techniques right alongside the Oath. The physician Scribonius Largus wrote in 43 CE that the Hippocratic Oath prohibits abortion, as did Soranus of Ephesus, although apparently not all doctors adhered to it strictly at the time. According to Soranus' 1st or 2nd century CE work Gynaecology, one party of medical practitioners banished all abortives as required by the Hippocratic Oath; the other party to which he belonged was willing to prescribe abortions only for the sake of the mother's health. In Politics (350 BCE), Aristotle condemned infanticide as a means of population control. He preferred abortion in such cases, with the restriction that it "must be practised on it before it has developed sensation and life; for the line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive."

In the Catholic Church, opinion was divided on how serious abortion was in comparison with such acts as contraception and oral sex. The Catholic Church did not begin vigorously opposing abortion until the 19th century. As early as ~100 CE, the Didache taught that abortion was sinful. Several historians argue that prior to the 19th century most Catholic authors did not regard termination of pregnancy before quickening or ensoulment as an abortion. Among these authors were the Doctors of the Church, such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Alphonsus Liguori. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585–1590) was the only Pope before Pope Pius IX (in his 1869 bull, Apostolicae Sedis) to institute a Church policy labeling all abortion as homicide and condemning abortion regardless of the stage of pregnancy. Sixtus V's pronouncement was reversed in 1591 by Pope Gregory XIV. In the recodification of 1917 Code of Canon Law, Apostolicae Sedis was strengthened, in part to remove a possible reading that excluded excommunication of the mother. Statements made in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the codified summary of the Church's teachings, considers abortion from the moment of conception as homicide and called for the end of legal abortion.

Denominations that support abortion rights with some limits include the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Presbyterian Church USA. A 2014 Guttmacher survey of abortion patients in the United States found that many reported a religious affiliation: 24% were Catholic while 30% were Protestant. A 1995 survey reported that Catholic women are as likely as the general population to terminate a pregnancy, Protestants are less likely to do so, and evangelical Christians are the least likely to do so. A 2019 Pew Research Center study found that most Christian denominations were against overturning Roe v. Wade, which in the United States legalized abortion, at around 70%, except White Evangelicals at 35%.

Abortion has been a fairly common practice, and was not always illegal or controversial until the 19th century. Under common law, including early English common law dating back to Edward Coke in 1648, abortion was generally permitted before quickening (14–26 weeks after conception, or between the fourth and sixth month), and at women's discretion; it was whether abortion was performed after quickening that determined if it was a crime. In Europe and North America, abortion techniques advanced starting in the 17th century; the conservatism of most in the medical profession with regards to sexual matters prevented the wide expansion of abortion techniques. Other medical practitioners in addition to some physicians advertised their services, and they were not widely regulated until the 19th century when the practice, sometimes called restellism, was banned in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Some 19th-century physicians, one of the most famous and consequential being the American Horatio Storer, argued for anti-abortion laws on racist and misogynist as well as moral grounds. Church groups were also highly influential in anti-abortion movements, and religious groups more so since the 20th century. Some of the early anti-abortion laws punished only the doctor or abortionist, and while women could be criminally tried for a self-induced abortion, they were rarely prosecuted in general. In the United States, some argued that abortion was more dangerous than childbirth until about 1930 when incremental improvements in abortion procedures relative to childbirth made abortion safer. Others maintain that in the 19th century early abortions under the hygienic conditions in which midwives usually worked were relatively safe. Several scholars argue that, despite improved medical procedures, the period from the 1930s until the 1970s saw more zealous enforcement of anti-abortion laws, alongside an increasing control of abortion providers by organized crime.

In 1920, Soviet Russia became the first country to legalize abortion after Lenin insisted that no woman be forced to give birth. Iceland (1935) and Sweden (1938) would follow suit to legalize certain or all forms of abortion. In Nazi Germany (1935), a law permitted abortions for those deemed "hereditarily ill", while women considered of German stock were specifically prohibited from having abortions. Beginning in the second half of the 20th century, abortion was legalized in a greater number of countries. In Japan, abortion was first legalized by the 1948 "Eugenics Protection Law" meant to prevent the births of "inferior" humans. As of 2022, due to Japan's continuing strongly patriarchal culture and traditional views on women's societal roles, women who want an abortion must normally get written permission from their partner.

## Society and culture

### Abortion debate

Induced abortion has long been the source of considerable debate. Ethical, moral, philosophical, biological, religious and legal issues surrounding abortion are related to value systems. Opinions of abortion may be about fetal rights, governmental authority, and women's rights.

In both public and private debate, arguments presented in favor of or against abortion access focus on either the moral permissibility of an induced abortion, or the justification of laws permitting or restricting abortion. The World Medical Association Declaration on Therapeutic Abortion notes, "circumstances bringing the interests of a mother into conflict with the interests of her unborn child create a dilemma and raise the question as to whether or not the pregnancy should be deliberately terminated." Abortion debates, especially pertaining to abortion laws, are often spearheaded by groups advocating one of these two positions. Groups who favor greater legal restrictions on abortion, including complete prohibition, most often describe themselves as " pro-life " while groups who are against such legal restrictions describe themselves as " pro-choice ".

### Modern abortion law

Current laws pertaining to abortion are diverse. Religious, moral, and cultural factors continue to influence abortion laws throughout the world. The right to life, the right to liberty, the right to security of person, and the right to reproductive health are major issues of human rights that sometimes constitute the basis for the existence or absence of abortion laws.

In jurisdictions where abortion is legal, certain requirements must often be met before a woman may obtain a legal abortion (an abortion performed without the woman's consent is considered feticide and is generally illegal). These requirements usually depend on the age of the fetus, often using a trimester -based system to regulate the window of legality, or as in the U.S., on a doctor's evaluation of the fetus' viability. Some jurisdictions require a waiting period before the procedure, prescribe the distribution of information on fetal development, or require that parents be contacted if their minor daughter requests an abortion. Other jurisdictions may require that a woman obtain the consent of the fetus' father before aborting the fetus, that abortion providers inform women of health risks of the procedure—sometimes including "risks" not supported by the medical literature—and that multiple medical authorities certify that the abortion is either medically or socially necessary. Many restrictions are waived in emergency situations. China, which has ended their one-child policy, and now has a three-child policy, has at times incorporated mandatory abortions as part of their population control strategy.

Other jurisdictions ban abortion almost entirely. Many, but not all, of these allow legal abortions in a variety of circumstances. These circumstances vary based on jurisdiction, but may include whether the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, the fetus' development is impaired, the woman's physical or mental well-being is endangered, or socioeconomic considerations make childbirth a hardship. In countries where abortion is banned entirely, such as Nicaragua, medical authorities have recorded rises in maternal death directly and indirectly due to pregnancy as well as deaths due to doctors' fears of prosecution if they treat other gynecological emergencies. Some countries, such as Bangladesh, that nominally ban abortion, may also support clinics that perform abortions under the guise of menstrual hygiene. This is also a terminology in traditional medicine. In places where abortion is illegal or carries heavy social stigma, pregnant women may engage in medical tourism and travel to countries where they can terminate their pregnancies. Women without the means to travel can resort to providers of illegal abortions or attempt to perform an abortion by themselves.

The organization Women on Waves has been providing education about medical abortions since 1999. The NGO created a mobile medical clinic inside a shipping container, which then travels on rented ships to countries with restrictive abortion laws. Because the ships are registered in the Netherlands, Dutch law prevails when the ship is in international waters. While in port, the organization provides free workshops and education; while in international waters, medical personnel are legally able to prescribe medical abortion drugs and counseling.

### Sex-selective abortion

Sonography and amniocentesis allow parents to determine sex before childbirth. The development of this technology has led to sex-selective abortion, or the termination of a fetus based on its sex. The selective termination of a female fetus is most common.

Sex-selective abortion is partially responsible for the noticeable disparities between the birth rates of male and female children in some countries. The preference for male children is reported in many areas of Asia, and abortion used to limit female births has been reported in Taiwan, South Korea, India, and China. This deviation from the standard birth rates of males and females occurs despite the fact that the country in question may have officially banned sex-selective abortion or even sex-screening. In China, a historical preference for a male child has been exacerbated by the one-child policy, which was enacted in 1979.

Many countries have taken legislative steps to reduce the incidence of sex-selective abortion. At the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 over 180 states agreed to eliminate "all forms of discrimination against the girl child and the root causes of son preference", conditions also condemned by a PACE resolution in 2011. The World Health Organization and UNICEF, along with other United Nations agencies, have found that measures to restrict access to abortion in an effort to reduce sex-selective abortions have unintended negative consequences, largely stemming from the fact that women may seek or be coerced into seeking unsafe, extralegal abortions. On the other hand, measures to reduce gender inequality can reduce the prevalence of such abortions without attendant negative consequences.

### Anti-abortion violence

Abortion providers and facilities have been subjected to violence, including murder, assault, arson, and bombing. Some scholars consider anti-abortion violence to be within the definition of terrorism, a view shared by some governments., In the U.S. and Canada, over 8,000 incidents of violence, trespassing, and death threats have been recorded by providers since 1977, including over 200 bombings/arsons and hundreds of assaults. Abortion clinics have also been targeted by acid attacks, invasions, and vandalism The majority of abortion opponents have not been involved in violent acts.

Physicians and other abortion clinic staff have been murdered by abortion opponents. In the United States, at least four physicians have been murdered in connection with their work at abortion clinics, including David Gunn (1993), John Britton (1994), Barnett Slepian (1998), and George Tiller (2009). In Canada, gynecologist Garson Romalis survived murder attempts in both 1994 and 2000. Besides physicians, killings have targeted other clinic staff, such as John Salvi's 1994 murder of two receptionists in Massachusetts clinic and Peter Knight's 2001 murder of a security guard in a Melbourne clinic. Notable perpetrators of anti-abortion violence include Eric Rudolph, Scott Roeder, Shelley Shannon, and Paul Hill, the first person to be executed in the United States for murdering an abortion provider.

Some countries have laws to protecting access to abortion. Such laws prevent abortion opponents from interfering with access to legal abortion services. For example, the American Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act bars the use of threats or violence to interfere with abortion access. Abortion access laws may also establish safe access zones around abortion clinics, with limits on protests and enhanced penalties for anti-abortion violence.

Psychological pressure may also be used to limit abortion access. In 2003, Chris Danze organized anti-abortion organizations throughout Texas to prevent the construction of a Planned Parenthood facility in Austin. The organizations released the personal information online of those involved with construction, sent them up to 1200 phone calls a day and contacted their churches. Some protestors record women entering clinics on camera.

## Non-human examples

Spontaneous abortion occurs in various animals. For example, in sheep it may be caused by stress or physical exertion, such as crowding through doors or being chased by dogs. In cows, abortion may be caused by contagious disease, such as brucellosis or Campylobacter, but can often be controlled by vaccination. Eating pine needles can also induce abortions in cows. Several plants, including broomweed, skunk cabbage, poison hemlock, and tree tobacco, are known to cause fetal deformities and abortion in cattle and in sheep and goats. In horses, a fetus may be aborted or reabsorbed if it has lethal white syndrome. Foal embryos that are homozygous for the dominant white gene (WW) are theorized to also be aborted or resorbed before birth. In many species of sharks and rays, stress-induced abortions occur frequently on capture.

Viral infection can cause abortion in dogs. Cats can experience spontaneous abortion for many reasons, including hormonal imbalance. A combined abortion and spaying is performed on pregnant cats, especially in trap–neuter–return programs, to prevent unwanted kittens from being born. Female rodents may terminate a pregnancy when exposed to the smell of a male not responsible for the pregnancy, known as the Bruce effect.

Abortion may also be induced in animals, in the context of animal husbandry. For example, abortion may be induced in mares that have been mated improperly, or that have been purchased by owners who did not realize the mares were pregnant, or that are pregnant with twin foals. Feticide can occur in horses and zebras due to male harassment of pregnant mares or forced copulation, although the frequency in the wild has been questioned. Male gray langur monkeys may attack females following male takeover, causing miscarriage.


Church arson

# Church arson

## Abstract

Church arson is burning or attempting to burn religious property, because empty churches are soft targets, racial hatred, pyromania, prejudice against certain religious beliefs, greed, or as part of communal violence or dissent or anti-religious sentiment.

In the United States, arson of black churches was common in the south during the civil rights era. Arson continued in the 1990s, damaging many black churches. Congress passed the Church Arson Prevention Act in 1996, and President Bill Clinton formed the National Church Arson Task Force due to a sharp increase in church arson. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) was created as a division of the Treasury Department in 1972 to investigate arson (it is now a part of the Department of Justice).

## By country

### Australia

In 2015, St. James Roman Catholic Church in Brighton, Melbourne was burnt to the ground after allegations of sexual abuse came out regarding former Roman Catholic priest Ronald Pickering. Australian actress Rachel Griffiths, formerly a member of the church, said she was 'quite elated'.

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Dandenong, also connected to Pickering, was burnt as well. St. Mary's Church in St Kilda East was damaged by a suspicious fire after being connected to former priest and convicted child sex offender Kevin O'Donnell.

### Canada

The historic St. John's Anglican Church of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia caught fire in a suspected arson on Halloween night, 2001. It was later rebuilt and reopened on June 12, 2005.

Police in Merritt, British Columbia in January 2019 arrested and charged a man with a fire that destroyed the 143-year-old Murray United Church, and two other more minor church fires nearby.

In November 2020, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and South Caradoc United Church, both in Muncey, Ontario, were destroyed by fire. Its pastor said "anger from things that happened, that may have something to do with it,” while the diocese cautioned against speculation and called for responsible reporting. Former Anglican clergyman and pedophile priest David Norton was convicted of sex crimes against children in his parish.

After the 2021 Canadian Indian residential schools gravesite discoveries, some B.C. Catholic churches on First Nations land were deliberately burned to the ground. AnAnglican church in B.C. was also set on fire but the fire was isolated and put out. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and band governments and chiefs have condemned the arsonists. Harsha Walia, the executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, tweeted "burn it all down," and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs expressed "strong solidarity with (Harsha Walia) in condemning the brutally gruesome genocide of residential ‘school’ system by Canada and Church".

### Chile

Prior to Pope Francis 's visit to Chile in January 2018, a number of arsons at churches in took place in the capital city of Santiago. Most involved firebombs accompanied by sprayed accelerants. A barrel believed to contain flammable liquid was discovered in one evangelical church. However the damage was insignificant. Pamphlets addressing the pontiff left at the scene of one of the fires read: "The next bombs will be in your cassock." The papal visit was dominated by the sex crimes of Fernando Karadima, whose protégé, Bishop Juan Barros was protected by the Pope, despite accusations of complicity. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet addressed the "strange" firebombing of the churches on radio: "In a democracy, people can express themselves as long as they do it in a peaceful way."

### India

During the 1998 attacks on Christians in southeastern Gujarat, the Human Rights watch reported dozens of churches and prayer halls burned down by the Sangh Parivar organizations.

Hundreds of churches were set on fire and burnt in the 2008 Kandhamal violence in the Kandhamal district of Odisha.

St. Sebastian's Church in Delhi was badly damaged by fire in December 2014. Although authorities initially said that the fire was structural, the police later announced that it had been caused by arson.

### Niger

At least ten people were killed and 45 churches were burned by Islamists in Niger following the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015.

### Norway

On 6 June 1992, the Fantoft Stave Church was burnt down. The wooden structure had been built built in 1150 in Fortun, when the Vikings converted to Christianity, and moved to Bergen in 1883. At first the fire was attributed to lightning and electrical failure. In January 1993 Varg Vikernes, also known as "Count Grishnackh", was interviewed by a local journalist in his apartment decorated with 'Nazi paraphernalia, weapons, and Satanic symbols'. Vikernes, a proponent of White nationalism, survivalism and racialist neopagan ideology, declared that he wanted to blow up Blitz House and Nidaros Cathedral. He had publicly supported black metal fans burning down eight churches in Norway. He used a photo of the charred remnants of one church taken soon after the fire on his band Burzum 's album titled Aske (Norwegian for ashes). Following his statement, Norwegian authorities began to clamp down on the black metal scene.

In 1994, Vikernes was found guilty of murder, arson and possession of illegal weapons (including explosives) and given the maximum sentence under Norwegian law of 21 years in prison. He was released in 2009.

### Pakistan

On August 16, 2023, in the city of Jaranwala, Pakistan, thousands of Muslims engaged in church arsons and Bible desecrations. These included at least twenty-one churches that were burnt down. According to the BBC, "police appear to watch on" as this took place.

### Sweden

The Södra Råda Old Church, built around 1320, was considered of high cultural value thanks to its beautiful and well preserved medieval wall-paintings and original wooden walls. It was burnt down in 2001. A replica of the church opened in 2022.

### United Kingdom

In 1973, St Mary's Church in Putney, London was badly damaged in by arson. On 20 October 1987 the Church of England parish of St Peter's Church, Eaton Square in central London was set on fire by an anti-Catholic arsonist, who mistook the building for a Roman Catholic church.

In 1998 the church of St Bartholomew Allen's Cross in Northfield, a district of the UK's second city, Birmingham, was attacked by arsonists. The church was deemed beyond repair and demolished in 2008. St Barnabas' Church in Erdington, Birmingham was badly damaged by fire in 2007, arson is suspected.

### United States

#### History

Within the Hate Crime Statistics Act, Blacks are the targets of many hate crimes of any type, one of which is arson to their places of worship. An African-American scholar and historian, C. Eric Lincoln, wrote in his book, Coming Through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America, that the first recorded church arson to a black church happened in 1822 in South Carolina. Arsons also occurred by white mobs in Cincinnati in 1829 and through the 1830s in Philadelphia. In the 1950s and 1960s, as civil rights activism and the desegregation of public places such as schools and restaurants were starting to increase, so was the burning and bombing of black churches. A notorious bombing in September 1963 at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young girls. Arson of African American churches continued in the southern United States in the early 1990s. The arsonists were generally young white males with racist beliefs, often under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Although arson began happening at white churches in January 1995, it was still mostly directed towards black churches. The motive for these church burnings began crossing from racial hatred to other motives such as revenge, vandalism, and the influence of media. A gang of Georgia teenaged high school dropouts robbed, vandalized, and burnt 90 churches, both black and white. They told police that they did this if they couldn’t get money.

#### Church Arson Prevention Act

The S. 1980 (104th): Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 was introduced to Congress on June 19, 1996, but died because the Senate Committee found some places for improvement of the bill. It was sponsored by congressman Duncan Faircloth. On May 23, 1996, the House of Representatives introduced H.R. 3525 (104th): Church Arson Prevention Act. The Act was passed by both houses in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton on July 3, 1996. This bill became law number Pub.L. 104-155. It was sponsored by Republican Henry Hyde. The bill was summarized by the Congressional Research Service as follows: “ makes Federal criminal code prohibitions against, and penalties for, damaging religious property or obstructing any person’s free exercise of religious beliefs applicable where the offense is in or affects, interstate commerce.” One of the changes in the bill was the sentence increase for “defacing or destroying any religious real property because of race, color, or ethnic characteristics…” from 10 to 20 years. It also changed the statute of limitations from five years to seven years after the date the crime was committed. It reauthorizes the Hate Crimes Statistics Act.

#### National Church Arson Task Force

President Clinton created the National Church Arson Task Force (NCATF) to look for any connections among the church arsons and help take off some loads of overburdened state and local police forces. According to a first-year report to the president in June 1997, they opened investigation to 429 cases of arson, bombings, or attempted bombings of churches since January 1, 1995. In a second-year report in October 1998 to the president, they opened 241 more cases that happened between January 1, 1995, and September 8, 1998, making a total of 670 opened investigations. In a third-year report in January 2000 to the president, NCATF opened an investigation to another 157 cases making it a total of 827. They helped to solve many of these arson and bombing cases. The Task Force is now disbanded, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) continues to investigate church burnings that occur. The number of church arsons decreased drastically (82 percent) from 1,320 in 1980 to 240 in 2002 according to the National Fire Protection Association.

A 2013 National Fire Protection Association report found that 16% of fires at religious buildings were intentionally lit.

#### 2015

After the Charleston church shooting in June 2015, a number of suspected church arson attacks were documented.


Gabriel Asakura

# Gabriel Asakura

## Abstract

Gabriel Asakura (born November 12, 1988) is a Brazilian professional baseball pitcher. He attended West Los Angeles College and Cal State Los Angeles and played with the Palm Springs Power in the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association and the Peninsula Oilers in the Alaska Baseball League. He represented Brazil at 2013 World Baseball Classic.


Walt Disney Home Video (VHS)

# Walt Disney Home Video (VHS)

## Abstract

Walt Disney Home Video is a discontinued video line launched to release Disney animated features on home video. This was done by a division of the same name under the parent Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company (WDTNT). As an entity, the name Walt Disney Home Video is now known as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The scope of this list is mostly limited to Disney's North American live action movie releases. Cartoon collections were concurrently released as Walt Disney Cartoon Classics which include the "Limited Gold Editions". The initial price for early Disney cassettes at the time was "prohibitory expensive" for many, this changed in the mid-1980s when VCRs became affordable.

## History

Disney started out by establishing its own video distribution operation in 1980 as part of Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company (WDTNT) with Jim Jimirro as its first president. WDTNT Co. also handled marketing of other miscellaneous ancillary items such as short 8 mm films for home movies. When Disney started with video cassettes, "Home video" was not considered to be a major market by them at the time. Their first releases on videotape were 13 titles that were licensed for rental to Fotomat on March 4, 1980. Disney was unusual among the major studios in offering a program for authorized rentals. Most of the other studios involved in the videocassette market at the time were trying to find ways to stop dealers from renting out their movie tapes. Magnetic Video (with titles from 20th Century Fox and others) ceased doing business with Fotomat after Fotomat began renting Magnetic Video cassettes without authorization.

The switchover from rental to sales was a "thorny" issue that was solved by giving dealers an option on the type of outlet they desired. For those who just wanted to rent video cassettes, a title was given (for US$52) on a 13-week cycle. The dealer could then set the price as many times as they wanted in those 13 weeks before purchasing a new title from Disney. Video cassette rentals were more "functionally" packaged with a heavier box and less elaborately detailed illustrations. For those who wanted to sell video cassettes, a "fairly straightforward" program involved 4 color packaging and a suggested retail price. In order to separate the two mediums, the cassette either featured " FOR RENTAL ONLY/Not intended for Sale " or "FOR SALE ONLY/Not intended for Rental". The 13 titles that had been licensed for rental to Fotomat subsequently became available for purchase.

Throughout their release history, "Walt Disney Home Video" cassettes were promoted by Disney. An early example is the 1981 release of "A Walt Disney Christmas" where a "Free Mickey Mouse Plush Toy" was offered as an incentive. Disney later offered a promotion for Summer 1982 called "Disney's American Summer", where they sold some of their live action movies for the first time. At the time this promotion was done in an effort to make video cassettes more affordable, and boosted the video software involved. Marketing included a 7 foot tall gazebo which was set up in stores and a free mug as an incentive. Towards the end of 1984, Disney did a “Wrapped And Ready to Give” christmas promotion which included 7 newly released titles on video cassette. Later promotions include Disney's 1986 "Wonderland Campaign" as a further attempt to bring prices down.

When the Disney Channel was launched on April 18, 1983 it gave the company an opportunity to air made for TV films such as Tiger Town and Gone Are the Dayes, both of which were released to home video in 1984. During that same year Disney also started releasing their animated feature films under the Walt Disney Classics line starting with Robin Hood. On March 8, 1985 Disney released " Love Leads the Way " which became their first title that went straight to Home Video. The Walt Disney Home Video division was legally incorporated as Buena Vista Home Video on February 13, 1987. This name change however, did not stop some VHS releases under the Walt Disney Home Video line from being released throughout the year.

## North American releases

## Worldwide releases

Disney first offered Dumbo, Mary Poppins, Mi Amigo El Dragon (Pete's Dragon), Su Mas Fiel Amigo (Old Yeller), La Montana Embrujada (Escape to Witch Mountain), Los Tres Caballeros (The Three Caballeros), Mickey's Christmas Carol, and 2 cartoon collections in Spanish on November 30, 1985 In the United Kingdom, titles from the "Walt Disney Home Video" product line such as Mary Poppins, Pete's Dragon and Bedknobs and Broomsticks were not released to video cassette until November 26, 1988. Additional VHS releases in other countries under the "Walt Disney Home Video" are possible, but need further sourcing.

## Rarity

In terms of consignment, Heritage Auctions has placed in their "Vintage VHS Tapes Value Guide" that the most desirable VHS tapes released between 1979 and 1990 are still in their original factory shrink wrap. When VCRs were first released in 1977, they were priced between $1,000 to $1,400 which would roughly equal $4,900 to $6,900 in 2023 USD. As this amount was initially unattainable for most homes fewer people were buying VHS tapes, which in turn meant fewer copies being produced. A "likely sum of money for a video cassette at the time was between $80 and $100 or $400+ in 2023 USD. These higher costs lasted until 1985 when VCRs finally began dropping in price. While this meant more tapes were produced, it did not mean that they became any less of a rarity.

In regard to Disney "Only the earliest of Disney VHS cassettes produced prior to 1985 hold any value to most collectors." Titles such as "Tron" which remains "elusive" for early copies have sold for high amounts in mint condition. Things to look for in general include a sealed tape, a studio logo on the shrink-wrap, and if the latest year listed on the back of the cover is prior to 1986.


The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (film)

# The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (film)

## Abstract

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (released as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in North America) is a 2008 Holocaust historical drama film written and directed by Mark Herman. It is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by John Boyne. Set in Nazi-occupied Poland, the film follows the son of a Schutzstaffel officer who befriends a Jewish prisoner of his age.

It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2008. It received generally positive reviews from critics for its emotional weight, but was panned by scholars for misrepresenting elements of the Holocaust.

## Plot

Bruno, an eight-year-old German boy living in Berlin, is uprooted to rural occupied Poland with his family after his father Ralf, an SS officer, is promoted. Bruno notices an extermination camp near the back garden from his bedroom window, but believes it to be a farm; his mother Elsa forbids him from going in the back garden.

Ralf organises Herr Liszt, a private tutor, to teach Nazi propaganda and antisemitism to indoctrinate Bruno and his elder sister, Gretel. This, along with Gretel's crush on Lieutenant Kurt Kotler, a young colleague of her father's, makes Gretel fanatical in her support for the Nazi agenda. Bruno struggles to adjust to the rhetoric in the teaching after Pavel, a doctor-turned-family slave, comes to Bruno's aid after he sustains a minor injury.

Bruno sneaks into the woods, arriving at a barbed wire fence surrounding the camp. He befriends Shmuel, another boy his age. Bruno meets Shmuel regularly, sneaking him food, and learns that Shmuel is a Jew who was brought to the camp with his parents.

Elsa inadvertently discovers from Kurt that the smell from the camp is in fact burning prisoners, and she angrily confronts her husband. Later that night, Kurt reveals his father left Germany for Switzerland to avoid national service and is berated by Ralf; embarrassed, Kurt viciously beats Pavel for spilling a glass of wine. Bruno sees Shmuel working in his home and offers him cake. Kurt finds Bruno and Shmuel talking and berates Shmuel. After seeing him eating, Shmuel informs Kurt that Bruno offered the cake, which Bruno fearfully denies. Bruno tries to apologise to Shmuel later, but he does not reappear at the fence for several days. Later, Bruno clandestinely watches his father and other officers reviewing a propaganda film depicting the camp's conditions as positive.

Ralf informs his family that Kurt was transferred to the Eastern Front; angered, Elsa reveals the reason for his transfer was because Kurt did not initially alert the authorities about his father. Bruno continues returning to the fence and eventually, Shmuel reappears, but with visible injuries. Bruno apologises and Shmuel forgives him. In Berlin, Ralf's mother Nathalie – who disapproves of the Nazi regime – is killed by an Allied bombing raid. At the funeral, Elsa tries to remove a wreath from the Führer out of respect for Nathalie and her beliefs, but Ralf stops her, causing them to fall out after the service.

Back home, Elsa informs Ralf she does not want the children living in the vicinity of the camp. In turn, Ralf then tells Bruno and Gretel their mother is taking them to live with their extended family until the war is over. Bruno visits Shmuel before he leaves and learns that Shmuel's father has disappeared after being transferred to a different work gang. Bruno decides to help Shmuel find him and Shmuel provides Bruno with a prisoner's striped outfit and a cap to cover his unshaven head. Bruno digs under the fence to join Shmuel, but the boys are suddenly rounded up by the guards.

Gretel and Elsa learn of Bruno's disappearance and burst into Ralf's meeting to alert him. A search is launched and a dog tracks Bruno's scent to his discarded clothing. Ralf enters the camp as the prisoners are sent to a gas chamber, where pesticide pellets are poured from a hole in the ceiling, filling the chamber with toxic gas. Bruno and Shmuel are killed in the gas chamber, leaving Ralf, Elsa, and Gretel distraught.

## Cast

- Asa Butterfield as Bruno, a young German boy

- Vera Farmiga as Elsa, Bruno's mother

- David Thewlis as Ralf, Bruno's father

- Jack Scanlon as Shmuel, a young Jewish boy

- Amber Beattie as Gretel, Bruno's older sister

- Rupert Friend as Lieutenant Kurt Kotler

- David Hayman as Pavel

- Sheila Hancock as Nathalie, Bruno's grandmother

- Richard Johnson as Matthias, Bruno's grandfather

- Cara Horgan as Maria

- Jim Norton as Herr Liszt

## Production

### Filming

Filming occurred during 29 April 2007 to 7 July 2007, in Hungary. Locations included Kerepesi Cemetery in Budapest, Sacelláry Castle in Budafok and several other areas of Budapest. Interiors were filmed at Fót Studios, Budapest. Post-production was completed in London. The total cost of the production was approximately $12.4 million.

## Soundtrack

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the licensed soundtrack album to the film. The score was composed by James Horner. It was released through Hollywood Records in 2008.

## Reception

### Box office

The film opening on 12 September 2008 in the United Kingdom with $253,085 at the box office in 17 theatres. It later opened for a limited time on 26 November 2008 in North America.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas grossed a worldwide total of $44.1 million.

### Critical response

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has a 64% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 142 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A touching and haunting family film that deals with the Holocaust in an arresting and unusual manner, and packs a brutal final punch of a twist." On Metacritic, the film has a normalised score of 55 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

James Christopher, of The Times, referred to the film as "a hugely affecting film. Important, too". Manohla Dargis, of The New York Times, said the film "trivialized, glossed over, kitsched up, commercially exploited and hijacked for a tragedy about a Nazi family".

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four and said that it is not simply a reconstruction of Germany during the war, but is "about a value system that survives like a virus".

Kelly Jane Torrance in the Washington Times said the film was moving and beautifully told. In spite of some criticism, Ty Burr of The Boston Globe filed this conclusion: "what saves The Boy in the Striped Pajamas from kitsch is the cold, observant logic of Herman's storytelling".

### Scholarly reception

Scholars have criticised the film, saying that it obscures the historical facts about the Holocaust and creates a false equivalence between victims and perpetrators. For example, at the end of the movie, the grief of Bruno's family is depicted, encouraging the viewer to feel sympathy for Holocaust perpetrators. Michael Gray wrote that the story is not very realistic and contains many implausibilities, because children were murdered when they arrived at Auschwitz and it was not possible for them to have contact with people on the outside. However, according to Nazi records there were 619 male children at the camp; all female and many other male children were gassed upon arrival. A study by the Centre for Holocaust Education at University College London found that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas "is having a significant, and significantly problematic impact on the way young people attempt to make sense of this complex past". However, a more recent study found that the film's reception is strongly based on the viewers' previous knowledge and beliefs.

Research by Holocaust educator Michael Gray found that more than three-quarters of British schoolchildren (ages 13–14) in his sample had engaged with The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, significantly more than The Diary of Anne Frank. The film was having a significant effect on many of the children's knowledge and beliefs about the Holocaust. The children believed that the story contained a lot of useful information about the Holocaust and conveyed an accurate impression of many real-life events. The majority believed that it was based on a true story. He also found that many students drew false inferences from the film, such as assuming that Germans would not have known anything about the Holocaust because Bruno's family did not, or that the Holocaust had stopped because a Nazi child had accidentally been gassed. Other students believed that Jews had volunteered to go to the camps because they had been fooled by Nazi propaganda, rather than being violently rounded up and deported. Gray recommended studying the book only after children had already learned the major facts about the Holocaust and were less likely to be misled by it, while the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and others cited it as a book/film that should be avoided entirely, and recommendations were made that true accounts, and works from Jewish authors should be prioritised.


The Paperboy (1994 film)

# The Paperboy (1994 film)

## Abstract

The Paperboy is a 1994 Canadian horror film starring Alexandra Paul, Marc Marut and William Katt.

## Plot

Johnny McFarley, a 12-year-old paperboy, arrives at elderly Mrs. Thorpe's home and asphyxiates her with a plastic bag.

When her daughter Melissa returns home from teaching seventh grade English, she receives a phone call telling her her mother has died. Melissa and her daughter, Cammie, travel back to Melissa's hometown for the funeral. Once they arrive at Mrs. Thorpe's home, they are greeted by an enthusiastic Johnny, who offers to take their luggage inside. Johnny asks permission to join them at the funeral. Riding in the funeral limousine, Johnny reveals that his mother is dead and his father, a salesman, is rarely around because of his job.

At the funeral home, he and Cammie sneak inside the room where the caskets are kept. Johnny gets in one, making Cammie uncomfortable; he intimidates her into keeping this secret.

Afterwards, Johnny hides a baby monitor inside the Thorpe house so he can eavesdrop. Later, Melissa invites Johnny to a barbecue she and Cammie are having; Johnny accepts on condition he is allowed to cook. Johnny takes a video of the BBQ while he waits for Melissa, only to discover that she is going on a date with her boyfriend. After seeing Brenda come over, that was Cammie's babysitter who dislikes Johnny, Johnny lets him react violently by smashing a barbecue plate and then runs to his home.

Johnny returns to Melissa's house to apologize, only to find Brenda making out with her boyfriend. Brenda catches him and tells Melissa about Johnny spying on her. Brenda catches Johnny on his bicycle and sprays him with water. Johnny seeks revenge by causing Brenda to fall and injure herself which is successful in his scheme, then explains casually to Melissa that Brenda broke her neck and is now paraplegic.

When Johnny takes Cammie along to collect money from his paper route, he tells her that his customer Mrs. Rosemont is a witch. When Johnny goes to retrieve his money from the mailbox, Mrs. Rosemont warns Cammie that Johnny is "not right in the head", has the Mark of Cain, and that she should avoid him. When Melissa hears about this, she confronts Rosemont, who says she was only warning Cammie: "That McFarley boy, he's bad!"

Johnny sneaks into Melissa's house to make an apple pie, telling Melissa his mom always made him one when he behaved. Melissa is not pleased. She tells Johnny she is not his mother and asks him to leave. Johnny gets mad and breaks a plate. He then pulls back a knife as if he is going to stab Melissa and Cammie, but instead stabs the table and glares at them. Later that night, Johnny, along with his father, apologizes. Melissa tells Johnny he's not allowed to visit unless invited. She tells his father he should spend more time with him. Johnny's father gives his son a set of golf clubs to apologize for being absent, and tells Johnny that they will be spending much more time together in California because of a recent promotion. Fearing that he will not see "his family" again, Johnny kills his father with a fold-out putter, declaring he already has a new life. Johnny moves his father's car into the garage and calls his company, telling them he is ill and no longer interested in his promotion.

Melissa learns from Mrs. Rosemont that Johnny was emotionally and physically abused by his authoritarian, religious mother, and that he murdered her by pushing her downstairs. Melissa calls Brian and tells him they can have Johnny placed in foster care if they can prove he's neglected or abused. Johnny overhears this (owing to his eavesdropping device); he grows angry and rides his bike to Mrs. Rosemont's house. He snatches her asthma inhaler and makes her believe he killed her dog - he actually smashed ketchup bottles while the dog was in a different room, completely fine. Mrs. Rosemont has a fatal asthma attack.

Johnny goes to Brian's workplace, knocks him out, and sets him and the marina on fire. Unknown to Johnny, Brian manages to regain consciousness and escapes. Johnny then calls Melissa and tells her to come to his house. Melissa refuses until she hears Cammie calling her name. Johnny reveals that he killed Melissa's mother to lure them to the house in hopes of starting a new family. Melissa frantically searches Johnny's house wherever she hears Cammie's voice only to find that the sound has been coming from Johnny's home movie and the baby monitor in the basement. Melissa refuses to be Johnny's mother, declaring that she and her family do not love him. After being enraged and heartbroken, Johnny tries to bury Melissa in a hole created for his father, but she escapes.

Now completely unhinged, Johnny pursues Melissa and Cammie with a pickaxe. Johnny and Melissa struggle with the axe until the police arrive. Johnny frantically claims Melissa is crazy and tried to kill him, even saying she murdered his father. However, to his horror, Johnny sees Brian step out of the squad car, saying that it's over, having already told the police everything. The cops take Johnny away as he breaks down hysterically and vainly begging for Melissa to tell them that he is a good boy and for the cops to let him go, while the cops have a talk with Melissa, Brian and Cammie about the whole situation with Johnny as the movie ends.

## Cast

- Marc Marut as Johnny McFarley

- Alexandra Paul as Melissa Thorpe

- William Katt as Brian

- Karyn Dwyer as Brenda

- Krista Errickson as Diana

- Frances Bay as Mrs. Rosemont

- Brigid Tierney as Cammie Thorpe

- Barry Flatman as Mr. McFarley

- Derek Johnston as Brenda's Boyfriend

- Claire Riley as Jeanne Stalcup

- Jenny Campbell as Tiffany

- Mathieu Kermoyan as Uri

- Bobo Vian as Dora

- James Rae as Travis

- Frelin The Dog as Peaches The Dog

- Sam Stone (uncredited) as Police Sergeant

## Production

### Filming

Principal photography started on July 26, 1993, and ended on August 27, 1993.

## Reception

When the film appeared on VHS, Entertainment Weekly gave it an enthusiastic review: "incredibly fun... the best movie about an evil kid since The Omen ".