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TWISTED JUSTICE

TWISTED JUSTICE
By Joel McElvaney

GENRE: Thriller, Drama
LOGLINE:

Pregnant from a sexual assault, the pro-life granddaughter of a conservative Supreme Court justice attempts to escape her forced-birth state to obtain an abortion, but gets apprehended by a vigilante group headed by her brother and incarcerated at a "Life Mall" where she must remain until she gives birth. 

SYNOPSIS:

It's 2032. America is divided into "free choice" and "forced birth" states. Groups of armed vigilantes have mobilized to apprehend pregnant women who try to leave their forced-birth states and to incarcerate them for the length of their pregnancy--until they give birth.

Ally, the pious, pro-life, teen daughter of a US congressman and the granddaughter of a conservative Supreme Court justice, discovers that she is pregnant--the product of her father's late-night incestuous assault.

After a failed suicide attempt, Ally and her best friend Nia (who Ally castigates in the opening scenes for recklessly getting pregnant and seeking an abortion) turn to the "Choice Train," a modern-day Underground Railroad for pregnant women escaping forced-birth states.

They find passage in a cargo van, but just yards from the Georgia border, they are pulled over and their hiding place discovered. The vigilantes, one of whom is Sam, Ally's older brother, shoot and kill the Choice Train driver and take the girls to the Life Mall, an abandoned suburban mall converted to house captured pregnant women.

The conditions at the Life Mall are horrific, with poor sanitation and blatant abuse of the women by fervent, misogynistic, young men. Upon witnessing the near-rape of his sister by the Life Mall guards, Sam seeks help from the Life Mall warden, Caleb.

Before Sam can notify his father (the congressman) and his grandfather (the justice), Ally and Nia are put on trial in a kangaroo "Life Court." They are found guilty of attempted murder (of their fetuses) and sentenced to 9 months in the Life Mall or until they give birth; plus, an additional term necessary to give birth to an additional child (in order to supplement the supply of American born infants).

While the Congressman (Greg) and the Justice work behind the scenes to free Ally, Sam breaks Ally and Nia out of the Life Mall. Nia is shot during the escape, and Sam and Ally take her to a safe emergency room.

The following day, the Life Mall men catch up to Ally and Sam in hiding, and when Sam is tased by the men, he goes into cardiac arrest.

With one child in the hospital and one in the Life Mall, Greg and the Justice take it upon themselves to go to the Life Mall to free Ally.

At the Life Mall, Caleb receives the men and proceeds to reveal that the Justice is, in fact, his father, the product of an affair the Justice had 30 years earlier. One of many affairs. Caleb reveals that the Justice gave his mother a thousand dollars to get an abortion and disappear from his life. Spoiler: she didn't get the abortion.

Now Caleb wants revenge. He records the Justice confessing to giving his mother the thousand dollars. When the Justice realizes that Caleb's phone holds his confession, he attacks Caleb, trying to take possession of the phone.

In the scuffle, Greg finds himself holding a gun on Caleb--at the Justice's urging. Before they can force Caleb to turn over his phone, the other Life Mall guards burst in. Guns are discharged, leaving the Justice and a guard seriously injured--and Greg dead.

In the epilogue, we discover that Caleb is under arrest. The Justice has survived, though his reputation hasn't, and people are calling for his resignation.

Nia (who miscarries in the hospital) recovers from her gunshot wound. And Sam accompanies Ally to a free state clinic for her abortion.

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