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Reproductive Rights Deep Dives
Soledad O’Brien on “The Devil is Busy”: Inside an Atlanta Abortion Clinic – My Body. My Pod. Episode 13
The Oscar-nominated documentary reveals the reality of abortion care in America today—and why storytelling matters.
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Award-winning journalist and executive producer Soledad O’Brien joins My Body. My Pod. with Mini Timmaraju to talk about her Oscar-nominated HBO documentary short “The Devil is Busy.”
The film takes viewers inside a health clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, where staff provide abortion care under relentless protests and a restrictive state abortion ban.
Mini and Soledad discuss why the film matters right now—from the role of clinic protections like the FACE Act, to how abortion bans deepen maternal health care deserts in Georgia, to why storytelling can cut through misinformation in ways political debate often cannot.
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🔍 A Closer Look: What It’s Really Like Inside an Abortion Clinic
“The Devil is Busy” follows one day at the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta through the eyes of Tracii, the clinic’s head of security. Her job is to make sure patients can safely access care in an environment shaped by years of threats and harassment.
Every day begins the same way: checking the building and surrounding grounds for intruders, coordinating security escorts for patients, and preparing staff for the protestors that will arrive outside the clinic. Patients arrive, seeking a range of medical services, including abortion, preventive screenings, checkups, and reproductive health care.
The film shows just how arbitrary and devastating abortion bans can be. In one ultrasound room, there’s relief when a patient learns she is still within the state’s limit to receive abortion care. In another moment, there’s devastation when a patient is turned away at six weeks and one day. The difference of a single day determines whether someone can receive medical care or not.
Mini and Soledad talk about how that “difference a day makes” echoes throughout the film—and what it reveals about the real-life consequences of abortion bans.
And importantly, the episode gets at something we don’t talk about enough: how policy actually lands on people. Abortion bans aren’t abstract political debates—they directly shape people’s lives, their health, their families, and their futures.
Watch the documentary
Stream “The Devil is Busy” on HBO Max and share it with friends and family.
The film is directed by Emmy®-winning filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir (HBO’s “Eyes on the Prize,” “Black and Missing”) and Christalyn Hampton, and executive produced by award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien (HBO’s “Black and Missing”)
📣Take Action
Georgia shows us something else too: we are not helpless here. We can fight back…and win!
Thanks to the organizing work of Reproductive Freedom for All Georgia, voters prevented a Republican supermajority in the State House in 2024—a critical win and no small feat. With leaders like Senator Jon Ossoff and reproductive freedom champions across the state, the fight for access and accountability is very much alive.
3 Ways to Take Action Now
Tell Your Story
Storytelling is crucial to pushing the reproductive freedom movement forward. Help strengthen the movement when you share your story.
Join the Repro for All Volunteer Elections Team
We're pulling out all the stops to ensure voters get out and vote for reproductive freedom candidates up and down the ballot, and we need your help to make it happen!
🤿 Dive Deeper: Why Abortion, DEI, and Democracy Are Inseparable
The conversation goes deeper into the big picture: why clinic protections like the FACE Act exist (and how it’s being misused by the Trump administration), how abortion bans deepen maternal health care deserts in Georgia, and why storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we have to inspire change and combat misinformation.
The FACE Act
During the episode, Mini and Soledad discuss the long history of violence and harassment directed at abortion providers.
Federal protections like the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act were created to protect patients, providers, and staff from threats, obstruction, and violence outside health care facilities.
Protests outside clinics are constant and intimidating, as illustrated in the film. For patients seeking care, simply walking through the door can require courage. Tracii and her team manage these threats every day so patients can access basic medical care safely.
But under the Trump administration, enforcement of these protections has been weakened and increasingly politicized.
In 2025 Trump pardoned over 20 people convicted under the FACE Act. At the same time, his Department of Justice was directed to deprioritize enforcement of the law against anti-abortion extremists—and now it’s being used to target people, including journalists, who hold the administration accountable.
When Abortion Bans Collide with Maternal Health Care Deserts
Georgia already faces significant gaps in maternal health care access.
Large areas of the state lack sufficient OB-GYN providers, leaving many patients traveling long distances for routine reproductive care.
Abortion restrictions make that landscape even more fragile.
Clinics like the one featured in “The Devil is Busy” provide far more than abortion care. They offer essential services like:
- Pap smears
- Cancer screenings
- Birth control
- Preventive reproductive health care
When clinics close or providers leave hostile environments, entire communities lose access to care—not just abortion services.
Learn more and get involved in our Georgia state chapter work.
About Soledad O’Brien
Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Soledad Productions, a production company focused on character-driven documentaries that amplify marginalized voices and examine race, class, gender, and power.
ABOUT THE PODCAST
MY BODY. MY POD. WITH MINI TIMMARAJU.
The fight for reproductive freedom is more urgent than ever.
That’s why we’re bringing you My Body. My Pod. with Mini Timmaraju, a reproductive freedom podcast.
If you’re into building a nationwide movement to protect and expand health justice, reproductive equity, and the power of people to control their own lives, this show is for you.
Hear from leaders and changemakers who share wisdom from the front lines, stories of the real struggles people are facing every day, and a vision for the future we’re determined to win.
Hosted by Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All. Available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Reproductive Freedom for All is made up of members across the country who believe that everybody should be free to control their own bodies and lives—and we want you to be a part of it.
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Watch More Episodes
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Soledad O’Brien on “The Devil is Busy”: Inside an Atlanta Abortion Clinic – My Body. My Pod. Episode 13
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