Directed by Aaron Lipstadt
Written by David Black, Robert Nathan, & Dick Wolf
During a religious pro-life protest outside an abortion clinic, an anonymous caller reports a bomb threat. The patients and staff are evacuated just before the explosion, but the bomber fails to escape in time, and is killed. It is difficult to identify the bomber due to her use of a fake ID; she turns out to be Mary Donovan, who may have been involved with an anti-abortion group led by Rose Schwimmer. Evidence soon links Schwimmer's friend Celeste McClure to the bomb, and McClure is arrested. She wants to go to jail so she can be seen as a martyr for the pro-life movement, and refuses to implicate Schwimmer.
When fingerprints from Mary's boyfriend are found on her fake ID, he's forced to admit Mary herself went to the clinic for an abortion. With the truth revealed that Mary did not deliberately bring the bomb into the clinic, McClure will now be charged with murder. She accepts a plea deal to testify against Schwimmer, who had delivered the bomb to the clinic. Against the advice of her lawyer and the judge, Schwimmer insists on testifying on her own behalf. She proudly admits to planting the bomb on Mary, and delivers a passionate speech about how her actions were justified in order to save the lives of unborn children. Stone responds:
Schwimmer has no answer to this, and the jury finds her guilty on all charges, including murder in the second degree.
This episode contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Stone's "only one question" to Schwimmer during her trial. In this case, one was entirely sufficient.
- Don't Create a Martyr: Stone does not want to allow Schwimmer or McClure to be held up as role models to the pro-life movement.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: The entire plot revolves around this trope.
- Inspirational Martyr: Schwimmer planned for Mary to be seen as one, and her father and brother try to uphold this image. Her mother, however, gives a furious speech about how no cause was worth the loss of her daughter. The entire thing falls apart when they find out that Mary was in the clinic for an entirely different reason, suggesting that she was not a willing participant in the plot.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Schwimmer's reaction when it is pointed out that she herself killed Mary Donovan's child. You can just tell that thought never crossed her mind until that moment.
- The Needs of the Many: What Schwimmer claims her motivation was.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Mary's parents are still alive after her death.
