♪ on this edition for saturday, november 16th, the latest from the philippines where more than 1,000 people are still missing in the aftermath of the typhoon there. the abortion debate in chile ignites after an 11-year-old's decision to keep her baby. ordinary people, extraordinary images of john f. kennedy's assassination. >> she had no idea what she was photographing was the assassination of the president of the united states. >> next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> made possible by lewis b. and louise hirschfeld komen.

judy and josh weston. joyce v. hail. the wallic family in memory of miriam and ira dean walli krirks. bernard and irene schwartz. roslyn p. walter. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america. designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from vars like you. thank you. from the tish wnet studios at lincoln center in new york. >> good evening. thanks for joining us. it's been more than a week since typhoon haiyan smashed into the philippines killing 3600 people and leaving 1200 more missing. today, some filipinos were searching through the rubble for lost loved ones.

others lined up at the airport in tacloban to escape the devastated city. >> it's difficult to receive relief. our safety at our house is really quite not good yet. there's still a lot of looters and robbers. [ inaudible ] >> some relief is arriving. u.s. military helicopters dropped food and water to desperate storm survivors. the military is delivers hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water a day. filipino military choppers are delivering aid to stricken remote regions areas without power eight days after it struck with winds of 200 miles per hour. >> we land the helicopters from the populated areas. the people come in.

>> as the days pass, stories are emerging about the extraordinary efforts people made to stay alive in the aftermath of last weekend's storm. we filed this report earlier in the week about the typhoon known as owe lan doe. >> she's called yolanda. the typhoon hit hours before she was born. a new life amid death and destruction. in the chaos, lourdes was forced to give birth, then walk two miles with her new daughter, umbilical cord still attached for medics to treat her. what does the future hold for baby yolanda? they have no home, no money, no medicine, she says. this is the church where she was born. the pews now beds for those in

pain where prayers are not being answered. there are people here with wounds that need treating. there are newborn babies. there are the elderly. there is no aid from the government. they wait, still believing in hope and a dire. where even the priest is losing faith. >> food, medicines, water. no aid coming from our government yet. >> reporter: the church is yards of what was a busy hospital. they can do nothing for the living now. the dead are left lying at the entrance. along the road, streets of shattered shops, soldiers looking for looters, days of desperation. almost a week waiting for the

aid that's needed. while tiny yolanda sleeps, thankfully unaware of the nightmare she's been born into. >> elsewhere overseas, in afghanistan six people killed and dozens wounded after a car packed with explosives rammed into another vehicle. 3,000 tribal elders will meet next week to consider a security plan to allow u.s. troops to remain in afghanistan beyond next year. in this country, during his weekly radio address, president obama said the economy is benefiting from the energy outlook. >> just this week, we learned for the first time in nearly two decades, the united states of america produces more of our own oil here at home than we buy from other countries. that's a big deal. it's a tremendous step toward american energy independence. >> the republican response,

senator ron johnson ridiculed the president's apology for the botched rollout. more than 4 million americans received notices their health insurance will be cancelled despite the reassurance everyone who had it could keep it. >> they were not slight exaggerations, they were statements fully vetted, coldly calculated and carefully crafted to deceptively sell your health care plan to a trusting public. political fraud echoed by house and senate democrats. >> there's been an outbreak of meningitis in new jersey. because it's a strain not commonly found in the united states, federal authorities will allow the importation of a advocate sags approved in australia but not the u.s. a university spokesman says a sixth student contracted the disease, which can be spread through coughing and the exchange of saliva.

one visitor came down with it. people in crowded living spaces like dormitories are susceptible. the brazilian environmental industry said the rate of deforestation in the amazon is on the rise z, up 28% during a 12-month period ending this summer. now to our signature section. it's been more than 40 years since the u.s. supreme court ruling since roe v. wade legalized abortion. many states recently passed legislation restricting abortion and a few nations prohibit it all together. when you know is chile. it is illegal there even in cases of rape and incest.

even so, the best estimates are 100,000 abortions are performs in chile, most done secretly through anonymous abortion providers. there's been little discussed until recently, the case of a fifth graders rape and pregnant nanty. what happened to an 11-year-old girl in chile ignited a debate in this conservative catholic country about an always taboo subject, abortion. the girl was raped repeatedly and impregnated by her stepfather. it was bigger news after the president went on national television to congratulate the fifth grader for not terminating her pregnancy.

>> translator: despite the pain, she was going to love and take care of her baby. >> reporter: the president's comments drew condemnation from organizations like amnesty international. in one case, a group of young women bared their breasted and marched in downtown santiago. a poll shows two-thirds of women choose abortion after being raped. >> translator: the case of a little girl who was raped by her stepfather in southern chile moved public opinion. maybe women can decide freely on their body, our bodies. >> reporter: they are mainly catholic. abortion is illegal. most countries allow exception in rape and in cases to help mother and fetus. for most of the 20th century, chile allowed those exceptions.

that changed in 1989 at the end of a 27 year dictatorship. he issued a decree banning all abortions. chile is one of four countries in americas that prohibit all abortions in all regions. it has been discussed little since the case of the 11-year-old made national news. >> that case cast a spotlight on the practices going on in chile for years, but rarely acknowledged. despite the ban on abortions, the government looks the other way for affluent or women unless there's a medical condition for the procedure. sometimes doctors falsify records to say they had been conducting other procedures instead. by most estimates, there are 120,000 elective abortions every year. >> reporter: this woman's story illustrates that statistic.

this 30-year-old woman who lives in santiago says she became pregnant after her doctor told her to stop taking birth control pills due to a circulatory problem. she spoke in shadow because she is subject to death if found out. more than 400 women and men are in jail or on probation on such charges. >> translator: the truth is that i think if someone gets pregnant at 30 years old and wasn on a hormonal birth control or counting the days, it's ignorant. i knew i was involved in a risky situation. >> reporter: arranging an elective abortion in chile is like making a drug deal. >> translator: it feels like you are doing something criminal, like the entire time you feel like you are doing something really, really wrong. >> reporter: she met a woman on a street corner, led by another

woman she didn't know to a building she could never find again. she went to a small apartment. >> translator: i had no idea what they were injecting me with. >> you have to hope and trust -- >> translator: i thought, well, what if something happens to me? who do i call? should i call the ambulance? okay, well, then we'll all go to jail. >> reporter: some people say this is a religious country. you know very well that it's true. you also know the risks and you know what the rules are, what would you say to them? >> translator: there's no sympathy. why can't i make a mistake? i feel this is a big injustice and makes me motivated to do more. i have to be responsible, there are women behind me. i do not want them to go through this.

>> reporter: they never discuss abortion. few of them know what she's gone through. she says it's a conspiracy of silence for fear of going to jail or shunned by those who oppose abortion. >> translator: it's sad. itis very lonely. >> she paid more than $1,000, approaching a months average salary. some women pay many times that. chile has a ministerial government agency dedicated to women's issues, the national institute for women. we wanted to know whether the federal government was doing anything to help women having these dangerous procedures. the director agreed to talk with us. >> we see statistics saying there are 120,000 abortions in chile every year. understanding that abortion is absolutely illegal in chile, does the government still have a responsibility to help the women who have had these illegal

abortions? >> translator: it's important to say the national women's service does not do direct work in terms of abortion. the stats you are mentioning could be right, but our goals are geared toward adolescent pregnancies. >> who else could i talk to in the government that would tell me how one can take care of women who are having abortion and who sometimes operating underground in frightening ways that could hurt their health. >> she hasn't been tackling the issue of abortions or adolescent pregnancies through one agency. >> reporter: the government has limited ability to help women, private groups provide hot line counseling. veronica is the director of a pro-life anti-abortion group,

chile united. her hot line is successful in comforting women and counseling them to keep their babies. >> translator: they are very lonely, very worried. perhaps they are young woman who thought they would not be having a baby. when the test tells them they are going to have a baby, they feel desperate. it's when they call us. we start to check in with those who are thinking they want an abortion. >> reporter: she says she sympathizes with the case of the 11-year-old and young girls like her. she thinks an abortion would be worse. >> translator: i want to make it clear, it's not that we are not empathizing with that little girl with the situation with the rape, but we know if they make the decision to terminate the pregnancy of the child, that damage will be more severe than continuing with the pregnancy. >> pro-choice advocates provide counseling. these organizations operate

underground. volunteers wear masks when promoting the hot line in public. claudia says politicians have been afraid to reverse this rule against abortion. the majority of chileans support it. >> they wanted to avoid talking about them or legislating them. we say the political elite or political class. they decided not to open the debate on the issues. there hasn't been a debate in the last 24 years. >> controversy has prompted michelle, the former president and likely to be chile's next president according to polls to declare she is in favor of ak sepgss to the strict abortion laws. laud ya fears the divided congress may block the commitment to change the law. she is glad finally there is a national dialogue on the subject. >> i think the issue of abortion has come into the public agenda.

we have approached all the candidates to talk about it. i think that is progress. in that sense, we have taken a step for the first time in 24 years. >> as for the little girl that started this, the head of the national institute for women says the government is keeping a close eye on her. >> translator: right now, she is carrying out her pregnancy with special support. >> certainly in her case, there were calls for allowing an extension so she could have an abortion. was there consideration by you or the president in this particular case there should be an exemption? >> translator: the position and conviction of the national women's service has been and is to protect and save the life of the child that is due to be born. >> final question, you still don't want to see any change in the law as it is? >> translator: the president's

position has been very clear about the politics of this issue. >> but in short, the answer is no need for any change in the law? >> the administration has a position and a conviction and in chile, this is our challenge, what kind of society do we want to be. next friday, november 22nd is, of course, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of president john f. kennedy. you are going to hear from a woman with a unique perspective that day. she was feet from the president's limousine when he was gunned down. she rarely talked about it over the years. the photograph she snapped that day has become an important part of history. >> being here today brings back

all the memories, really mixed emotions, more so than the last few times that i have been here. i saw a man killed right in front of my eyes. >> when she was 31 years old, she learned the presidential moe toll cade would drive-through downtown dallas. she was a fan of the first lady, so she and a friend headed to the plaza to watch the procession. >> my son was in school. i told him you can't be out of school. i'll take a picture for you, never dreaming that that picture would be part of history. >> this still frame took just one photograph of the president that day. a grainy polaroid. >> as the car got closer to us, i stepped closer to the curb here and jean was yelling, mr.

president, look this way. when i put the camera up to my face, i wanted to make sure it was as close as i could get to him. i snapped the picture, looking through the view finder, of course. >> when the photo was developed, it was clear she pressed it just at the 46-year-old president was hit and fatally wounded by a rifle's bullet. it's the only known photograph of the moment the president was struck that also captured the gras grassy knoll. >> when the motorcade started to pass, she realized that she had pt taken the one photograph she promised her son. >> allen is the writer and film maker behind this "silent witness speaks" that documents her story. >> when i asked her what did you see when you looked through the view finder, she thought there was a gust of wind. his hair lifted up.

she had no idea that what she was photographing was the assassination of the president of the united states. >> jackie hollers, my god, he's been shot. >> we heard that so plain. then just seconds later, he had slumped over on jackie and she started to climb out of the car. by that time -- >> this interview was filmed earlier this year where the 81-year-old originally took the iconic picture. the film is now displayed at an exhibit in new york city. it's called, jfk, a bystanders view of history. >> to me, photography was the way to manage that grief and trauma. a way to try to get a handle on what really happened. >> brian wallace, the chief curator poured over thousands of photographs for the exhibit.

>> one of the thing that is struck me about the photograph was that up close and personal intimacy of the snapshots. i was surprised to find that people were allowed tremendous access to the president. in fact, the motorcade through dallas in november, 1963 was just for that purpose, so large crowds could get close to the president. the most extraordinary by far, is the polaroid taken by mary ann mormon at the exact instant the president was struck by the first bullet. >> it all happened in such seconds, moments, really. it was over with. >> you can see more from the exhibit, jfk, november 22, 1963, a bystanders view of history.

>> this is pbs "news hour weekend saturday." in tonight's connection, sizing up what city that has tallest building in america. that title officially belongs to new york's one world trade center. news celebrated this week after a ruling known as the counsel on tall buildings and urban habitat. the heights committee determined the new york tower measures a symbolic 1776 feet from the ground floor to the very top of its spire, just as the builders intended. chicago mayor, rahm emanuel believes willis tower, known as the sears tower should be ranked number one as it was for deca s decades. after all, you can go to the top of that building to view it. the new york building would be

83 feet shorter than the willis tower if you didn't count the spire, something he dismisses as nothing more than an antenna. >> i would say to all the experts gathered in one room, if it looks like an antenna, acts like an antenna, it is an antenna. for those that want to crawl on top of it, go ahead. i suggest staying indoors. >> a comedian says this dispute is referred to vanity height and is only about fragile male egos. she has way to end the debate. >> we need female mayors. they would say what do you think is more attractive? i think this building is way more attractive and we should adorn it with a few other things. the mayor of new york declared at 5'8" declares victory over

the may i don't have of new york at 5'7". join us on air and online tomorrow. dramatic changes to the high school equivalency exam. >> what we are doing is complicated, confusing and worrisome. we are absolutely convinced what we are doing is the right thing for learners. >> that's it for this edition of "newshour weekend." thanks for watching. ♪

>> pbs "newshour weekend" is made possible by -- lewis b. and louise hirschfeld komen. judy and josh westin. the wallic family in memory of miriam and ira dean wallic. the cheryl and philip willstein family. bernard and irene schwartz. roslyn p. walter. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america. designing customized, individual and group retirement products. we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> narrator: on the entire west coast of the americas, there is no other estuary like san francisco bay. immense in size, covering over 1,600 square miles, it is one of the great estuaries of the world. >> estuaries are the part of the planet where land and sea come together. it's magic in a lot of ways. >> narrator: it was an estuary of breathtaking abundance, a marvel of nature. >> so on a per acre basis, this is more productive than the rain forest, more productive than the redwood forest, more productive than coral reefs. these are the most biologically productive regions on earth. >> narrator: next on "saving the bay." underwriting support for "saving the bay" comes from the bay area toll authority, serving