Abortion has been legal in the United States since 1973, but by the 2012 election cycle it has become one of the most divisive issues in American politics, with an unprecedented wave of state laws aimed at restricting it. Al Jazeera's Fault Lines travels to California to meet young activists training as the next generation of anti-abortion organizers, then to Ohio and Tennessee to examine bills like Ohio's proposed heartbeat measure. Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, argues abortion is the killing of an innocent child and a test of political trustworthiness on any issue. Ohio state senator Nina Turner counters that such laws reduce women to carriers and erode a basic right to control one's own body. The film also traces the violent edge of the conflict: at least eight abortion providers killed since 1993, and more than two hundred arsons and bombings against clinics since 1977. It treats the fight over contraception access under the Obama administration as part of the same widening battle.