You Would Have Done Nothing

By Greg King

This scene depicts what, in Dr. Larch’s mind, comes from keeping abortion illegal and from legitimate, trained doctors refusing to perform them. A young girl is found outside of St. Cloud’s orphanage (she is credited as a “12 Yr. Old Girl”), who appears to be in distress. She is brought into the orphanage, and Dr. Larch examines her -- it is found that she has had a botched abortion, which she says a man who “said he was a doctor” performed on her. In this scene we see many things. We see Dr. Larch the comforting father figure to a young girl. We see Homer struggle with his views on abortion and, for once, not argue with Dr. Larch about them. We see a young girl die as the result of a botched abortion.

Throughout the scene, Dr. Larch is gentle and comforting to the girl and harsh to Homer. He treats her with care and a soft voice, trying to calm a girl who is clearly in great distress. His careful treatment of her covers the seriousness of what is going on. He tells her, “You’ve been very brave, now I’m going to put you to sleep” (23:20). We can hear his voice trying to keep a light edge to what he is saying to her, “You won’t feel it anymore, you’ve been very brave,” yet his facial expression as he stands up from examining her is very telling. This is serious, this girl is badly injured. This is confirmed as he speaks to the nurse assisting him with the ether, telling the nurse, “We’ll make it deep,” and responding to her asking him if he is sure, “You bet.” As the girl begins to drift off into the deep sleep from which she will never wake, he tells the nurse in a tense voice what has occurred. The girl has severe internal injuries and what appears to be a crochet hook still inside her.

Dr. Larch tells Homer to examine the girl as well, as he prepares her for the ether. While Dr. Larch is telling the nurse the extent of the girl's injuries, we see Homer look away from the girl with what is nearly grief on his face. He stands and moves away while Dr. Larch confronts him. Dr. Larch makes the point, in a low, very tense voice, that this is what happens when qualified doctors refuse to perform abortions: “Some moron who doesn’t know how” will do it instead. Homer is a qualified doctor, despite having never been to school, and Dr. Larch confronts him with the fact that, had the girl approached him months ago, he would have refused to perform the abortion -- and she would have therefore been forced to go to “some moron” like the man who left the crochet hook inside her. Homer does not respond, and we see him moments later in the hall outside the examining room, pacing in distress, seemingly upset over what he has just witnessed.

The scene begins with a group of children playing happily. It ends with a child dead, in a coffin, while her grave is being dug. While the scene never details how the girl got from the examining table to the coffin, we are lead to assume that she was beyond even Dr. Larch’s ability to save her. By his actions in the scene and the way he spoke to her, we can also assume he did what he could to make her death as painless as it could be. We do not, however, witness these events. This lends an air of mystery about the botched abortion that connects to the air of mystery surrounding all abortions at the time.

This scene is the first in which Homer is confronted with the brutal, bloody, devastating effects of the abortion laws and of his own refusal to perform abortions. Few things are able to pull on the heartstrings of viewers more than a young girl dealing with situations with which she should not have to deal until she is much older (pregnancy, abortion, death). This is a heart-wrenching scene in which viewers are made to ask themselves, “How do I really feel about abortion in these circumstances?” This is the scene that connects the film directly to Roe vs. Wade.