Slightly off-topic, am I the only one who thinks that Freaks and Geeks' portrayal of female geeks was laughably clueless and condescending, while the male geeks got to be real multifaceted people?

I don't know, I loved the Lindsay character.

This surprises me. On Ebert and Roeper they mentioned that the characters did discuss abortion and it wasn't tiptoed around or ignored. Maybe they didn't flesh out why she wanted to keep the baby.. I won't know until I see it. But I did at least see a scene in previews where the male character tells her he'll support her in whatever she choses to do: http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/

I've also noticed how the "A-word" is never brought up on TV. Even on a show as supposedly progressive as Sex and the City, I seem to recall that the word "abortion" was never even spoken during the episode dealing with Miranda's unplanned pregnancy. Samantha asked her what she was going to do, Miranda just cocked her head in a knowing way, and Samantha nodded. Later, Carrie and Samantha discuss their abortions and the word isn't spoken. The episode did show Miranda's conflicting feelings about the pregnancy - "This is not in my plan right now" she said at the beginning of the episode, and then later (sarcastically) "Forget my plans, I'm having Steve's baby! PIZZA FOR EVERYONE!" then still later in the doctor's waiting room, "Is this my baby?". I guess that could be considered a realistic portrayal of the thought process involved with abortion, although of course, she ends up having the baby.

It's before my time, but didn't the character Maude have an abortion? And also, didn't Erica from All My Children? I believe those were in the 1970s, when abortion had just been legalized in the US.

I think "House" has the best track record in regards to abortion. They've actually done a couple and shown people in discussions about why or why not. They had a couple decide to keep a baby as well, and I thought it was all handled really well.

Worst? I think it was One Tree Hill that had their conservative Christian character get an abortion and then die in a fiery car crash the next week. Grey's Anatomy for setting it up like they were actually going to do it and then, oh no! Miscarriage! Because you can always kill a baby on television, as long as it's insanely painful for the woman who's considering an abortion.

Actually, Erica's aborted child is now on the show as a grown man getting into his own troubles. Pretty cute, though. It's a long and extremely silly story how that happened.

...And I hate that I know that. Blame the time I spent living with my mom after I left my husband.

No prob, Kimmy. As you can see from my comment above, I have an almost obscenely detailed recollection of every SATC episode. =-)

I'm not sure if erica on all my children had one, she gave at least one kid away for adoption because Kendall came back to cause trouble.
I do remember abortion discussed in the movie "high fidelity", but it was discussed after it happened.
It's also discussed in Ang Lee's "the wedding banquet", a fairly non mainstream movie. I haven't seen the new movie "waitress" but the fact that an unplanned pregnancy for a waitress in a bad marriage fleshes out an entire movie, makes me think that abortion is either not discussed at all or dismissed very early on. Sadly, with the exception of movies about abortion, this is all I can come up with.

Oh, and the NY Times said this today abot Knocked Up:

"When he learns that Alison has decided to keep the baby — there is a funny, knowing riff on the reluctance of movies and television shows even to use the word “abortion� — he seems genuinely delighted."

So the movie is maybe poking fun at exactly what Dana Stevens is drawing attention to. I feel weird defending a movie I haven't seen, but I think she is being overly critical in regards to this particular movie, though the phenonomon she's discussing is obviously very real.

I love love LOVE the show House but what about that completely bullshit episode where House tries to convince the woman to have an abortion because the fetus needs surgery or something, and then they're opening up her uterus to do the surgery and a tiny hand comes out (cue dramatic music) and grips House's finger? GAH!! It made me cringe, mostly because I know a lot of people watching that were thinking "it's really a baby! House wanted to kill a real live baby!!!!"

I haven't seen the movie, so I really can't criticize it. I will, however, say that the whole concept makes me very uncomfortable.

I fanatically loved the movie Waitress, but found it to be a bit unbelievable that abortion was not really mentioned. Keri Russell's character basically immediately resigned herself to having a baby, said she would "care" for it but would not be happy about it. I am almost positive that the word abortion is never mentioned (though I could e wrong). That said, everyone should go see Waitress because it was fantastic!

And, yes, I will probably see the movie Knocked Up, even though I am a little pissed at Katherine heigl for losing weight for this role.

it's been years since i saw it, but ENTROPY dealt with abortion, i believe.

This is an artifact of movies and media largely being written by and for men. Why does no one comment on the irony of a movie called "Knocked Up" being told from the *man's* point of view? HE isn't knocked up. The NY Times review of this movie says that abortion is mentioned and that the female characters are "allowed to be funny" but you know, it's just..odd. All this male angst taking precedence over the feelings of the woman in question, the one having the pregnancy--SHE's the supporting character?

And one reason I don't want to see it is I anticipate a typical male Hollywood conception of birth...woman flat on back screaming and being yelled at to push, instead of the powerful type of birth that many women have but that never shows up in movies that are written by men who have never given much thought to what birth means or could be.

I think it's pretty clear that this movie, like the 40 year old virgin, is about men. That's cool and everything, but it lends itself to a movie where female characters' actions sometimes just are naked plot points (like the sell your stuff on eBay woman's falling in love with Andy for no apparent reason). Like Stevens says, if Heigl's character didn't carry the pregnancy to term, it would be a pretty boring movie.

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only feminist out there watching AMC. ;)

I remember a great episode of the now-cancelled Third Watch where one of the cops decided to have an abortion; she already had a couple of kids, they couldn't afford another, her hubby was a recovering alcoholic, etc. I thought they handled it really well...anyone remember that one?

I've enjoyed his work in the past (and actually think he did well with the females in F&G), but I'll most likely save my $12. Maybe when he does the sequel about how the hot guy knocks up the frumpy woman and decides to settle down, I'll go see that one.

I'm not terribly interested in seeing this movie, even though it's one of my favorite genres: Fantasy. Because what sane woman has a one night stand, gets pregnant and says, "Hey, I'm not only going to keep the baby, but I'm going to make this guy who I barely know my partner (it's implied in the previews, I have no idea if they end up marrying or what, but the woman seems to cheerfully accept that this total stranger, of questionable responsibility and character, is now going to be a major part of her life).

Speaking of soaps, General Hospital's teenage Lulu Spencer (daughter of Luke and Laura) had an abortion last summer. They addressed it really well, in that everyone was pressuring Lulu to have the baby, but in the end her family told her it was her choice and they would support her no matter what. She had the abortion and struggled with the aftermath of her choice, which I think is fairly realistic.

Also, Addison Montgomery(-Shepherd) on Grey's Anatomy had an abortion (she aborted McSteamy's baby b/c she wanted a child, but not with him). For a while, it was good--it showed a mature, educated woman making a mature decision. Of course, now she's infertile. I guess you can't win them all.

I get frustrated by these movies/television shows where the woman is intelligent and ambitious and the man is a buffoon - it's stereotypical and demeaning to both. I would like to see another "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" where the guy falls for the short chick over the super model.
I thought "Nine Months" was cute but it's another man's perspective on childbirth and such.

I believe if that the woman decided to have an abortion, we wouldn't really have a movie, would we?

Also, in The Godfather II (?) Michael Corleone smacks his wife Kay around when she tries to take the kids and leave him and she tells him that the miscarriage she had was actually an abortion. It's a very dramatic scene - she tells him that it was a baby boy, knowing that he wanted a boy, and how she couldn't stand the thought of carrying his child again.

There was a very small scene in "High Fidelity" that was very honest about abortion. One of Rob's (John Cusack) former girlfriends had an abortion, but didn't tell him about it until after the fact. He got very angry about it, and they broke up. Years later, he's looking back at it and realizing that he acted like an ass. I think it was a good portrayal because it was so "matter of fact" so to speak. It was probably a more realistic portrayal of the "everyday" woman's abortion experience than in other films.

Also, I always will remember the abortion sequence in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" which was cut out from the DVD version. I vividly remember Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) on the table and asking "Will it hurt?" and the nurse replying that having a baby hurts worse. The nurse also covered up the medical equipment used with a drape. I think that was also an honest portrayal of abortion in film - she didn't fall apart, she didn't have a miscarriage, she just had the abortion. (Of course, Damone backed out on driving here there...)

In the Sex and the City episode mentioned, they do say "abortion" a few times, but make it clear that it's an uncomfortable thing for them to say, which is why they generally use euphemisms.

I love "the truth about cats and dogs"!! there's another movie that similar but not as good. uh.. "dog park" ? I think? it's kinda along the same lines but told from the perspective of an older women who's been left by her husband. John Cusack movies make me all sappy. I'm terribly lame.

Well, since Judd Apatow's wife was very involved in this movie (she has a supporting role, and their daughters are even in the movie as her character's children) I'm hoping there is a bit more of an enlightened view of the female perspective, if only becuase his wife came up to him after reading the script and going "um.... women don't think like that". I could be getting my hopes up though, the movie looks funny to me and I do want to see it, so I'm hoping it's a little better than this review would lead me to believe. And I do think Katherine Heigl is a good actress, even if the writers of Grey's Anatomy have decided to completely massacre her character on the show.

Interestingly enough, though, this is the second time a character she's played has choosen not to abort an unplanned pregnancy. On GA, Izzie had a baby when she was 16 that was put up for adoption. Strange. And I agree that Addison's abortion on the show was done well, particularly the smackdown on Mark for being all mopey and blamey when he would've made a shit father anyway.

Actually, i was reading on another forum that they do discuss "mashmortion" or some silly nickname for it.

I think the point of Heigl's character here is that she wants to keep the baby, regardless of the father's involvement, but she does decide to give him a chance. I know it's a "dude" movie, but if this is the premise, I think it's admirable that they portray her as mature, emotionally stable, and independent.

I'm 100% pro-choice, but choice implies that a woman can decide whatever she wants. It's not "pro-abortion."

If this happened to me in a couple of years, and I could financially support it, I'd probably do the same thing: keep it, because I know I want one eventually and could support it, and *ask* the father if he'd want to be involved (if, you know, he wasn't a terrible person.)

Just because it's not planned doesn't mean it can't be a "pleasant surprise" (my mom's word for all 5 of her children...) regardless of the mother's marital status.

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C81374%7C1%7C,00.html

EVERWOOD

Best "family" drama of all time. In addition to that one episode, Amy volunteers at Planned Parenthood in the last season.

Thanks so much for writing about this! I haven’t seen it and haven’t planned on it (though now I admit I am curious to see if abortion is discussed at all as some have suggested), but this movie’s plot frustrates me for this and many other reasons.

Also, does any one know if birth control is ever discussed in the movie? If not, then I am really not seeing it.

My husband and I went and saw 'Waitress' last weekend and I thought I would puke.

STOP READING RIGHT HERE IF YOU PLAN TO WASTE $30 ON THIS FILM.

It's about a waitress, married to an abusive man, and he gets her drunk and she discovers she is pregnant. She spends the first half of the movie lamenting how unhappy she is about being pregnant and is trying to stash money so she can make a getaway from this abusive guy. She has told her 'secret' to her co-workers but her husband doesn't know.

So this guy is pretty much a control freak and is beating on her and making her life a living hell. Yet, she says at one point, something like, "I respect the right of this unborn child to live."

To make along story short, her husband finds the money she has saved and for fear of having the crap beat out of her she tells him she is pregnant. He makes her promise that she won't love the baby more than him. Ugh.

Throughout the film she is a real doormat but in the hospital room after giving birth she takes one look at her newborn baby girl, and gets this sudden strength and turns to her low life husband and tells him to get lost. Of course it takes several men to drag him from the hospital room.

The ill owner of the restaurant where she works dies and leaves her a sizable sum of money and she ends up buying the diner and the movie ends showing her and her little daughter walking together in the warm glow on a summer evening....living happily ever after.

What it doesn't show is the mad nut she is married to getting half of the money she was given, owing half of her business, and the hassle of fighting for visitation rights/custody of the little girl.

All through the movie I was hoping she would wise up and terminate the pregnancy she pissed and moaned about throughout the film.

I suppose it made for a nice fantasy-like story but had it been real that woman would have a major headache on her hands.

"Like Stevens says, if Heigl's character didn't carry the pregnancy to term, it would be a pretty boring movie."

Unless there was some stuff about dealing with antiabortionists after the abortion?

OTOH, how about if Rogen's character carried the pregnancy to term, like Schwarzenegger's character did once?

I thought Six Feet Under did a great job with the abortion storyline. Yes, the character had very conflicted feelings about it, and kept it a secret from her family, but it was never portrayed as the wrong thing to do, and she was never "punished" for it by the storyline.

In terms of movies, Breakfast on Pluto did a pretty decent job. The woman is young, poor, in very harsh circumstances, and lives in Ireland. She travels to England to get the procedure, and then decides that she really wants a baby after all, and the people around her acknowledge both choices are equally valid and they'll be supportive of whatever she does.

Best Portrayal of Choice Nomination:
Helen Mirren as Jane Tennyson in Prime Suspect. Can't remember which series, probably 3 or 4. Though her character has some pretty serious flaws to go with her strengths, you can't say she was in any way two dimensional. I've typed out several different ways of explaining the situation, but I can't quite get it right. It's complicated and her decision affects her in messy and complex ways, some good, some bad; just the way, I imagine such a huge decision would really affect a woman.

I loved "Waitress" and thought it was an interesting take on maternal ambivalence that you don't usually see in the movies. The fact that she was personally against abortion didn't bother me in the slightest. It didn't come off as rhetoric so much as just a facet of her personality.

The best representation of abortion on TV I've ever seen was on "The O.C.," oddly enough. When Ryan's first-season gf got pregnant, the mom sat her down and told her that she had an abortion when she wa her age, and that she didn't regret it. Later, she tells her husband the story of that abortion, and he says that it was a blessing, because without it, they wouldn't have their children now. It was really positive and low on pathos.

Hi all,
here's a relevent section of an interview with the star of the movie Knocked Up. From theonion.com

The Onion A-V Club: In the movie, the decision on whether to keep the baby is settled pretty quickly. You have that scene where Jonah Hill suggests something "that rhymes with sma-smortion," but the story doesn't linger there long. Was there any discussion of having that decision be a bigger part of the movie? Or is that sort of a non-starter as far as the comedy goes?

SR: We always knew that was not something we wanted to dwell on. It wasn't a movie about a woman deciding whether she should keep her baby; it was about a woman who decided she was going to keep the baby. We shot a lot of versions of the scene with Katherine and her mother, where her mother's talking about it. And there's the scene you mentioned where the guys talk about it. But ultimately, we just used as much or as little of it as we felt we needed to and was entertaining. Politically, I have no relevant opinions. I'm not going to shatter anyone's world by our take on Planned Parenthood. But it just seemed like, you need her to make that decision to get to the other hour and a half of the movie, so let's just try to get there.

Maybe when he does the sequel about how the hot guy knocks up the frumpy woman and decides to settle down, I'll go see that one.

Oh Jane, it'll never happen. Don't you know that hot men NEVER fall for the frumpy, regular girl? If they did it would go against nature because the menz are all about the looks and the women are all about personality and forgiving flaws and blah blah blah it's been like this for centuries, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. ;)

[/snark].

I'm going to see this tonight with a friend, also because I think Apatow has a good record.

"our take on Planned Parenthood"?

I mean, is there a "take" to have? Seems to me that's only the case if you're anti-choice, which is kind of the answer to the question right there...

I agree, I can't think of many examples of handling of abortion that I'm happy with. However, I will take this opportunity to bring up, once again, my very favorite show in the universe, Battlestar Galactica, which has some of the STRONGEST female characters on television (sadly, they just announced today that next season will be its last :'( ). There was an episode of BSG specifically about abortion. A young woman snuck onto the Galactica because she wanted to have an abortion, and her parents/colony were very religious/conservative and refused to allow it. She goes to the ship's doctor, an older gentlemen who's very sympathetic, who basically explains to her that she can request asylum on the Galactica, which she immediately does. This leads to a huge dispute among the various colonies, and then the president has to sort out what to do about abortion. Literally the entire episode discusses abortion and looks at it from a lot of angles.

The basic setup of BSG is that there's been a massive genocide of the human race, and there are less than 50,000 humans left in the universe. So among the things the president (a woman, btw, played brilliantly by Mary McDonnell) has to take into consideration is the fact that people need to have lots of kids in order for the human race to survive. So she's under intense pressure to sign a bill that will outlaw abortion, both from the religious colony and from people worried about the survival of the species. And it's cool because you see the struggle she's under -- she's clearly pro-choice and thinks it's absolutely wrong to tell a woman what to do with her own body. But at the same time she's very aware of the fact that humans may die out in the next generation or two if something isn't done. She's also extremely sympathetic to this young girl and doesn't want to force her to have a baby. Ultimately she decides to sign the bill, but not until after pulling kind of a sneaky political maneuver to get the girl in question the abortion she wants (the girl actually survives and everything, too). Even though I didn't like that, in the end, they outlaw abortion, I just loved how the episode treated it, and how it was acknowledged to be an important issue. As a pro-choicer, although I was irritated with the outcome, I didn't feel like it was pandering to the religious right. I felt like it was a difficult decision made under extreme circumstances and I felt like the writers handled it really well.

Anyway. Seriously, people, if you're not watching the show, watch it. I cannot emphasize enough how AWESOME this show is.

Conversely, I'm completely irritated with Grey's on a lot of levels right now, not least of which is the very clear message from the season finale that women can't have it all (loverly, that). I get that the show's creator has to make a show that appeals to the mainstream, but I hate the fact that this show gets so much credit for being pro-woman when it really hasn't been since the first half-season. I actually never liked the way they handled Addison's abortion, because she so clearly felt GUILTY about it. Like, the day comes around, and she's moping because she feels BAD. What the fuck?? She was cutting McSteamy all this slack to be a total crappy jerk about it, like she deserves some kind of punishment from him?? I hated it. Hated it hated it hated it. It made the abortion about HIM, when it was about HER, NOT HIM. I could go on and on about the disgusting male sense of entitlement over their semen when it goes into a WOMAN, when they're usually perfectly happy to ignore it as it flows down the shower drain. Talk about inconsistency. Far as I'm concerned, men only get to act that way if they never, ever jerk off. Volunteers?

Also hated how they handled Cristina's planned abortion. I loved that she was planning to do it... and then -- whoopsie! Miscarriage, AND, as punishment for planning to have an abortion, you're now infertile too!! Let this be a lesson to you women -- Izzie, who was good and HAD her baby, gets proposals from hot dying patients and then inherits millions of dollars. Addison and Cristina are abandoned by the men they love and can never have children. Take that, uppity women!

Best choice scene I've seen is in Coach Carter. One of the basketball players' girlfriends gets pregnant. She's buying little baby shoes and everything until she and her boyfriend start planning their future and she realizes she wouldn't have much of one. Then she gets an abortion. It's pretty well done.

Best choice scene I've seen is in Coach Carter. One of the basketball players' girlfriends gets pregnant. She's buying little baby shoes and everything until she and her boyfriend start planning their future and she realizes she wouldn't have much of one. Then she gets an abortion. It's pretty well done.

Alas, I don't know how to properly respond to this because I haven't seen the movie yet. Abortion is still a very complex issue and I suspect that the female character's desire to try and "work it out" is one of the reasons that abortion is not seriously considered. On the other hand, it is true that these characters would ponder the subject, especially since they weren't in a real relationship to begin with and had nothing else to bind them together.

As a writer myself, I suspect that Apatow has chosen as many difficult situations as possible to put the couple through to see if they can weather the storm (and give us comedic relief). Also, his characters tend to be very traditional in their thinking and behavior even though they're all Freeks and Geeks. Obviously his personal stamp is coming forward in every character's decision.

As a woman I (obviously) know that the thought of abortion would come into the equation. But I have to say that watching fictional characters deal with it still unnerves me.

I worked with a woman who tried to abort a fetus TWICE and for whatever reason the abortion wouldn't "take". So she had to give birth and now has a wonderful daughter. But after she told me her daughter's "birth" story, I didn't think her daughter would want to know how she almost didn't come into the world.

Has anyone written THAT abortion story?

I guess it comes down to the value systems of the characters and whether or not the writers can remove themselves from the equation.

Grey's Anatomy: I didn't like the miscarriage ex machina, but I did like that Christina had firmly decided to have the abortion before it happened -- even though she seemed conflicted and guilty about it, it never seemed like there was any real chance of her changing her mind. I also really liked how they dealt with it afterwards. There's a later episode where her boyfriend finds out about the pregnancy and asks her what she would have done if she hadn't had the miscarriage, and Christina is afraid to tell him. She then has a conversation with her boss/mentor, who has just had a baby. Her boss tells Christina that even though she and her husband had been trying to get pregnant she was still worried about it when she did; and she tells Christina in no uncertain terms that she has the right to decide for herself, based on her own needs and her own life, what the best course of action is. Christina then ends up telling her boyfriend, and even though she's anticipating that he'll be upset, he's actually perfectly reasonable about it and says that he "just wanted to know."

Not sure if it's been mentioned:

Carrie on Sex and the City had an abortion, and told Aiden (I think) some of the story, then told him the truth - that she was 22 and not using protection.

As for movies - why do y'all forget "Cider House Rules?"

"'our take on Planned Parenthood'?

"I mean, is there a 'take' to have? Seems to me that's only the case if you're anti-choice, which is kind of the answer to the question right there..."

I once knew someone whose "take" on PP was "teens should need parental consent for abortion so their parents can pick the right board-certified abortion doctors instead of the teens going to back alleys like Planned Parenthood." o_O

Mina, now there's a case of botched execution ;)

TLF, I'd forgotten about that episode of BSG but thanks for reminding me. One of my favorite moments is at the end after Roslin's signed the bill and the delegate from Sagittaron (?) asks her for the girl and Roslin says "I expect she'll want to rest, she's been through a very stressful procedure" and when the delegate starts to get indignant Mary McDonnel says "you have your pound of flesh" with all the pent up fury and frustration someone like Roslin would feel in that situation. Wonderfully nuanced, that whole episode.

I can find it perfectly believable that a woman would be unhappy to find herself pregnant and still keep the baby. Personally, I'm very pro-choice, but I know in my heart that if I turned up pregnant tomorrow (via miraculous conception at this point) even though I have a year left in college and plans to study abroad in the spring, I would keep the baby. I would be frustrated, I might even be angry, but I know my own feelings would cause me to be so much more upset if I did have an abortion than if I kept the baby. I'd give the father an oppurtunity to be involved, but if I felt he wasn't dedicated or if he just choose not to be, I'd make it on my own with my family. I know that's not everyone's choice, nor should it be, but I understand how characters can be written that way.

OK, so who watched Degrassi growing up? I know that it was uberpopular in Canada, but I don't know about the reach into the states.

Degrassi (and maybe the next generation that is currently on) is about high school kids and it's full of teen drama, but it treats the characters realistically. It was on in the late 80s/early 90s (I think, I could be wrong because I only watched it in reruns later). I would totally nominate Degrassi for a best television portrayal of dealing with unwanted pregnancy.

I don't know for sure the details of the specific episodes because they aired originally over 10 years ago, but there was a plot line where one of the twins decides to have an abortion. But it even showed the antichoice protesters outside of the abortion clinic. Then there was Spike's story line, who decides to carry to term and raise her daughter with the support of her family.

Degrassi was awesome for me when I was growing up. It was one of those shows that talked about issues but didn't make it after school special-y. The characters on Degrassi dealt with issues like abortion, suicide, HIV/AIDS and drunk driving - and those are only the ones I remember.

This is kind of off-topic but, since House MD was brought up... I got kind of ticked at an episode where there is a pregnant rape victim who refuses to see any doctors except House. It was an interesting scenario to bring up, but I feel like the show went out of their way to portray the rape victim as hysterical, unstable, and wasting the doctor's time. Kinda pissed me off.

Wow! So many great comments.

I, too, love John Cusack.

Cider House is one of the best Movies ever.

I can't believe that no-one's mentioned Murphy Brown considering all the controversy about her "single motherhood" and Doofus Quayle talking about what a "bad example" she was. She did decide to have the baby, but gave a great speech to (I think) Frank about how it's pro-choice, that at her stage in life this was likely to be her last chance at having a baby, she wanted him, and the choice to keep him was the best one for her. Of course, the writers got all weaselly and had her plan to marry the baby's father, who abandoned her instead, but they did talk very frankly (if you'll pardon the pun) about the challenges inherent in both single parenthood and abortion. (They also brought up some of the issues of having a baby in one's forties, which was not really discussed in polite society at the time, either.)

Cranberry Bird--Degrassi: The Next Generation is in its 6th season I believe, on CTV and airing on an American cable network The N. It has followed Spike's daughter Emma, Joey Jeremiah's step son, and Snake who is a teacher at Degrassi, and all the wonderful drama at Degrassi. A few years ago Joey's step son got Emma's best friend Manny pregnant. She had an abortion and it was portrayed very well. Except that the American network who runs the shows refused to air the episode at the time. In the past year they finally did air the two episodes that dealt with Manny's abortion. But I was just blown away by the fact that this show that has dealt with soooo many mature topics, from rape to STDs to domestic violence, couldn't get the yanks to show this very honest episode about the big A.

TV abortions- the best I have seen in my day were Everwood and House. I think I am the first to mention the abortion discussion on Scrubs- they actually discuss it, and Jordan comes to talk to them (Kim and JD) about her abortion. Its not a perfect ep- after all, its still trying to be funny- and I dislike how JD calls Jordan a whore because she got pregnant with her boyfriend's best friend, and there's a whole Jesus says no to abortion dream sequence- but still, very brave tv.

Degrassi the Next Generation handled it pretty well, when Manny gets pregnant, and she talks to Spike, who of course had a baby (Emma) young, and Emma (her bff) says that she is against it personally, but yells at Manny's boyfriend Craig for thinking he should stop her so they can start a family in high school. Manny feels no guilt but she does have to deal with the whole school knowing. The episodes were good, though the pregnancy was started because she wasn't on birth control and didn't insist on a condom whereas he thought she was on birth control, which arghh! especially since these kids got their sex ed from Sue Johnson, but still, great episodes. Naturally, they were not shown the in the US.

On the "Sex and the City" episode, not only did Carrie talk about her abortion, and not only did Samantha say, "I've had two of them -- they were fine," (paraphrasing) but also Miranda made an appointment to go get an abortion, hung out in the doctor's waiting room and then decided against it and left. It couldn't have been more about abortion if it tried. I felt a little disappointed that she didn't get one in the end, because that would have made a lot of sense for the character, but given that it set up a fair amount of "wacky baby" plotlines and a final satisfaction of their "everyone must be paired off with a member of the opposite sex" fairy tale approach with her marrying Steve, I can see why they did it, even if it was a dumb cop-out.

I loved in "Terms of Endearment" when Emma tells her mom that she thinks she's pregnant for the third time and her mom goes apeshit and tells her to get an abortion, saying it's something lots of girls get these days. Emma refuses and has a little girl, but it was nice to see two women talk about choice -- and have one of them openly advocating abortion (and that was in 1983).

My favorite treatment of abortion, though, was on the show "Arrested Development." Teen George Michael, who's in awkward love/lust with his cousin Maeby, learns from his grandmother that Maeby's parents Lindsay and Tobias couldn't get pregnant and therefore Maeby was "made in a cup -- like soup!" Therefore he has reason to believe they may not actually be related, stoking his flames of now-possibly-appropriate passion. For confirmation he asks his uncle GOB, "Has Aunt Lindsay ever been pregnant?" GOB replies, "Oh, sure...dozens of times." Dozens of times. How awesome to have a throwaway line like that, to just imply that she's had scads of abortions for laughs! Mitch Hurwitz won my heart forever for so deftly using abortion in such a playful and balls-out manner.

I don't think it's about understanding how characters can "think that way" - not choosing or considering abortion - as much as it's about the utter lack of diversity in popular media re: abortion. It's still hella taboo and frankly anti-choice stances by characters still have a strong edge. If there were fair representation - a load of movies where women keep babies (already made) and a load of movies where abortion is even CONSIDERED, let alone performed, dealt with (not really) - then I wouldn't care anymore. If media is supposed to represent us, where are the mainstream stories of alllll the women in the U.S. alone who have had abortions?

Btw, didn't Holly Hunter's character in "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her"? I might not be remembering correctly though.

ekf, there are so many things I love about Arrested Development. I miss that show so much.

And, on a random note, the other day The Music Man was on TV, and it cracked me up to see the genius who brought us AD screeching and lisping his way through "Gary, Indiana" :D

Did her character in TYCTJBLAT have an abortion, I mean! :s

Did her character in TYCTJBLAH have an abortion, I mean! :s

The L Word also had an abortion storyline when Kit got pregnant. She schedules an appointment at what she thinks is an abortion provider, but it turns out to be a crisis pregnancy center. Interesting episode.

Also on Arrested Development - the brief montage about Steve Holt's mother (Eve Holt) being the one (out of three?) girls who didn't abort Gob's baby in high school...

And why has no one brought up Citizen Ruth? The whole movie is about abortion--and hilarious to boot. Although I found it was a silly representation of pro-choicers... my rather Christian ex-boyfriend was highly offended by the portrayal of pro-lifers. So I guess you can't please everybody.

And there's always the classic Mr. Show scene:

Doctor: "Mr. and Mrs. Odenkirk, I'm afraid it's too late to have an abortion--your son is four years old"
Son: "Mommy, what's a gagortion?"

Rachel Fudge wrote a terrific essay on the whole kid gloves subject a couple of years ago in (now-defunct) Clamor magazine, archived online here:

You Can’t Do That On Television: The Conspicuous Absence of Abortion on TV.

Pop culture doesn't merely reflect reality; like it or not, it has the power to shape public opinion. As long as we remain satisfied with veiled references to abortion, depictions of anguished and guilt-ridden characters who are allowed to choose abortion, and punishment of same, abortion will remain a stigma. Amazing, considering that one in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime.

Dirty Dancing. To be honest, I wasn't wearing my feminist lens when I watched it how ever many years ago. What I remember was what I believed to be a realistic portrayal of an underground abortion.

As an aside, Ann, you've salvaged your tv cred by professing fandom for FAG. No there isn't a statute of limitations for dissing VM. ;p

LaraAriadne: "I'm not terribly interested in seeing this movie, even though it's one of my favorite genres: Fantasy. Because what sane woman has a one night stand, gets pregnant and says, "Hey, I'm not only going to keep the baby, but I'm going to make this guy who I barely know my partner (it's implied in the previews, I have no idea if they end up marrying or what, but the woman seems to cheerfully accept that this total stranger, of questionable responsibility and character, is now going to be a major part of her life)."

Hear hear.

What I want to know is not just "Does she consider abortion as an option?" but "Does she consider single parenthood as an option?" (Don't want to know enough to see the thing, though. Hated "40 Year Old Virgin" with a fiery passion.)

I mean, even the women I know who might possibly keep a kid conceived in a one-night stand, still wouldn't be tracking the one-night guy down and saying, "Okay, it's daddy time. Make an honest woman of me."

Sure, you can say, "Well, if she hadn't made those choices, there wouldn't be a movie." But isn't that a clue that maybe there shouldn't have been a movie? When you look at a script and realize that if the characters acted like plausible human beings you'd have a 20-minute film, isn't that a clue that maybe the script needs to be either re-written or shitcanned?

I want to second the Battlestar Galactica episode that's been mentioned. The series itself is absolutely phenomenal with the way it brazenly takes on what are clearly contemporary and contentious political issues. The abortion episode was absolutely gut wrenching - I hated the decision that Roslin had to make, but I totally understood why she made it. The episode dealt with it very fairly - opinions were given from all sides (though I'm pretty sure everyone on the Galactica thought the Sagitairon rep was an idiot - a feeling that was emphasized in season three).

Sam - I actually liked the House episode with the rape victim. Sure, House thought she was wasting his time...but House thinks dealing with people in general is a waste of his time. With her stubborn insistence that the only person she was going to speak to was House she was able to make some real inroads with him as a human being. They could have spent more time explaining her blind insistence that she wasn't going to have an abortion, but then again, that wasn't what the episode was about.

(The episode with the surgery on the fetus while it was still in the woman's body was a little heavy on the pathos though - really? It reached up out of the womb to grasp House's finger? Too over the top for me)

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in how many comments in this thread have some version of, "I'm not going to see it but I'm sure the movie does this." I'm not saying everyone has to go out and see the movie, but it seems a little biased and pointless to judge this particular movie without any interest whatsoever in giving it a fair chance.

syndprod--the abortion sequence was cut from the DVD of Fast Times at Ridgmont High? That's insane.

And jane, Dirty Dancing's portrayal of abortion is fabulous. Baby's dad, a doctor, has to save a woman's life after a back-alley abortion, and nobody ever condemns her or anything--just the smarmy, sleazy, upper-class guy who screwed her and then refused to help her out.

Hey, everybody, here's a good reason not to see Knocked Up: there's a very good chance that Judd Apatow ripped off much of the screenplay from Rebecca Eckler's autobiographical book of the same name. Certainly that is the premise upon which Eckler is taking Apatow and Universal to court.

There's a three-page article in the June 11th issue of Maclean's (unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere in their online version).

So far I've only skimmed it, but the article mentions that Apatow pitched the idea to Universal five months after Eckler's book was released in the States. (Sounds like robbing the cradle. *rimshot*) It also mentions that the front of the screenplay featured the same picture as the book's cover: a martini glass with a soother around the stem.

I'd like to think that a female Canadian author has something more than a snowball's chance in hell of winning a lawsuit against Universal, but I doubt it.

The last time I remember abortion, or at least having an abortion, being a storyline on one of the "major" networks was back in 1988-89. A show called "TV-101." It was on either ABC or CBS. One of the charaters became pregnant...her boyfriend was played by Matt LeBlanc in the first role I ever saw him in. She decides, with the help and support of her parents, to have an abortion. Her mom even takes her to the clinic (and may have been with her during the proceedure..I don't quite remember.)

The Beaumont, TX affilate refused to show the episode, but the Lafayette, LA affilate did (Beaumont also didn't show the first half of season one "NYPD Blue", because of the nudity, language, etc...until it became a bonafide hit.)

I remember being pissed that the station would take such a puritanical stance. Of course, I now see it for what it was: forshadowing.

This is a little late, but I LOVED Third Watch. I need to get that shit on DVD. Seriously. And I agree Jessica, I thought they way it was portrayed on TW was good. Also agreeing with the comment about Kit on the Lword episode. I can't even imagine having to go through some freaky shit like that. The experience would be difficult enough without having the crazies come after you in a bogus clinic. Eeesh.

Arrested Development is the best!

And (because I would crawl over hot coals to defend anything connected to Hugh Laurie) I only saw the dying-fetus episode of House the once, BUT I think I recall that even after the 'magic moment' with the little hand, he still insisted it was a fetus and that abortion was the only sensible option for the woman to take.

What bothered me about the episode was the woman's pig headed insistence on continuing the pregnancy even when it was virtually certain it would kill her. Because it was her only chance to have a baby. Hello? Adopt for heavens sake and stop obsessing over gestation. Bah.

But, anyway, I think I remember a conversation between House and Cuddy after the finger-grabbing, and she's all 'See? It's a baby!' and he's all 'No, its still a fetus and she's ridiculously lucky to still be alive'.

on the sopranos, adriana tells how she had an abortion years earlier that left her unable to ever bear children. her fiance responds by beating her and calling her "damaged goods" and she later gets killed off the show.

Arrested Deveopment was the best... but one of my favorite current abortion references was from Dennis on 30 Rock:

I got one last thing to say to you then I'll be out of your life forever.

Dear Liz Lemon,

While other women have bigger boobs then you, no woman has as big as heart.
When I seen you getting ready to go out and get nailed by a bunch of guys last night, I knew for sure it was over between us. And for the first time since the 86' World Series I cried . . . . I cried like a big dumb homo. And if it was up to me we would be together forever, but theres a new thing called women's liberation, which gives you women the right to chose and you have chosen to abort me and that I must live with. So tonight when you arrive home, I will be gone. I offically renouce my squatter's rights.

I will always love you, goodbye and good luck
I'll never forget you.

Sooooooo funny.

my vote goes to degrassi: the next generation. the 2 part episode about manny and craig and manny's abortion was fantastic, and later in the series liberty gets pregnant and debates what she will do and ends up giving her baby up for adoption and this season they added a new character, mia, who is a single mom who stays in school and involved in after school activities. i like that they portray teenage moms as real human beings instead of losers whos lives are over.

the oc story line was good too, kirsten was so honest and supportive about her own abortion.

im so ashamed cos i just basically admitted i only watch television shows aimed at teenagers even tho im 26.

Wow, Degrassi. I totally remember that.

Seeing the cover story on the Canadian Version of TV Guide for the week the abortion episode aired was the first time I had ever talked about abortion with anyone. I wasn't really into the show, but I remember my mom and I having a long talk about it at the time. I was totally passionately pro-Life (I recovered) and remember being really shirty with my mom for arguing the pro-Choice side.

Ah, those were the days. I think I was 12.

I was also impressed with how The L Word handled abortion. Kit's boyfriend emphasised that he would support whatever choice she made and would not pressure her. When she ended up at the crisis pregnancy center posing as an abortion clinic, they were portrayed as nuts and she was pissed. What I really liked was how when discussing what happened with her sister and friends, it was mentioned that they should do something to support Planned Parenthood, so they did leave suggestions for viewers.

Days of Our Lives had an abortion storyline. The character had the abortion, got a nasty infection and was left infertile. She also felt guilty, too guilty if you ask me.

Personally, the most honest portrayal of abortion that I have seen was in the HBO special "If These Walls Could Talk". It had Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Ann Heche who all portrayed women in different decades who faced unplanned pregnancies. Demi Moore's character got pregnant by her dead husband's brother in a time when abortion was illegal and premarital sex was a big no no. She had a back alley abortion and has uncontrollable bleeding.

Sissy Spacek's character is an older mother who has a bunch of kids and is working on her degree. She thinks about abortion, but decides against it.

Ann Heche's character is a student sleeping with a married professor. Her roommate, tries to talk her out of it, but supports her in the end. There is a great dialogue between her and a clinic worker where you think she may be coming around. The clinic gets shot up and the doctor (played by Cher) is murdered.

I also liked the Third Watch abortion storyline.

There was an ER episode where a mother of a horde of children passes out because she is trying to starve herself so that the fetus she is carrying would die. I think it was Abby (I could be wrong) got her to have a "secret abortion" so that her husband wouldn't find out, he didn't know that she was pregnant.

There's Mike Leigh's film, Vera Drake - the story about a woman in 1950's Britain who provides underground abortion
-she induces miscarriages- for women- usually working class- who otherwise would
not have access to abortion. She sees herself
as "just helping out" women
who simply can't or don't
want to have a child but
have no other option but to
seek out her services-which
she provides for free-
She ends up doing jail
time and disgracing her
family when one of her
patients dies. The film im-
plies that there were many
"Vera Drakes" in Britain at
that time who quietly went
about providing abortion
for women who's needs were
not being served by mainstream medicine. Of
course the results were
sometimes tragic thanks
to the repressive patri-
archy that would rather
punish women with jail and
shame- or death when one
of these "back-alley"
procedures went wrong-
instead of simply providing
women with a safe, afford-
able medical procedure.
Not exactly a mainstream
flick and a bit slow by
pop- film standards but
definitely one worth seeing

'

I saw Knocked Up last night, and while it didn't do an excellent job of explaining Allison's decision to keep the baby, the rational seemed to be that she was old enough and capable enough and not interested in running away from a mistake. The guys did discuss abortion as "smosh-mortion" and Allison's mother simply refered to it as "taking care of it".

I'll try to keep down on the details but spoilers follow.

Allison does decide to have the baby on her own at one point and breaks up with Ben for a legitimate reason. My main complaint was that it does seem that the relationship was largely driven by Ben's choices and short falls. I think that overall it does a much better job at portraying relationships between people in general, and what happens to people when something huge like an unplanned pregnancy happens, than just about any mainstream comedy in recent memory. It also reasonably explores Allison's fears over losing her job or being demoted, and has a hilarious scene with her bosses when they finally do find out.

The birthing sequence was interesting because it did portray Allison's desire to have a natural birth, the doctor's attemtp to force her into a procedure she doesn't want (a common occurance in hospitals) and the couple's insistance at trying to have some control over the birth of their child. They didn't play Ben's confrontation with the doctor up for humor too much either, although it was frustrating that the doctor listened to him over her. Overall, the movie is a relationship movie above anything, and it shows how people are petty and cruel, but also considerate and brave, and it lets all the characters be rather three dimensional. The only decision that seems forced by plot mechanics and not character-driven is Allison's desire to keep the baby.

The geeks also have some really good one liners, if you're into that sort of thing.

My problem was If These Walls Could Talk was that of the three women who were considering abortion, the only one would who decided not to have one was the woman who already had children, and that plays straight into the hands of anti-choice rhetoric, and ignores the reality of how many women who are already mothers opt for abortion when faced with an unwanted pregnancy. I really didn't see why all three women couldn't have chosen abortion, and the movie could have been a sort of consideration of what it was like to get an abortion at three different points in time.

I read a nurse-midwife's review of Vera Drake which said it was a good movie conceptually but objected to it on the grounds that the method of abortion depicted in it would have always been intensely painful and almost always have been fatal, and was definitely not what a real abortionist of the time would have used. At least not more than once.

anybody mention 'Saved!' with jenna malone and mccauley culkin? it's certainly not a tale of a simple unplanned-pregnancy-leads-to -uncomplicated-abortion situation (quite the opposite) but it's not yer standard fare either.
and what's the name of that kevin smith movie with buddy christ? the protagonist works at an abortion clinic in that movie.
as pointed out above, sex and the city handled miranda's pregnancy in a pretty realistic way, i thought. she considered her options, scheduled an abortion, and then chose to continue. and i seem to remember a time that carrie had a pregnancy scare that was not treated quite as simply as, well if i am, here comes a baby!

i think it's really true that the CHOICE to continue wouldn't feel quite so placed into a narrative if there were more than a handful of counter narratives of people having non-traumatic, not life-altering abortions.

books, however, i can think of probably a dozen off the top of my head where this happens.

I've seen the movie and posted my thoughts--
http://delightfullydogmatic.blogspot.com/

"I really didn't see why all three women couldn't have chosen abortion, and the movie could have been a sort of consideration of what it was like to get an abortion at three different points in time."

Yeah, you have a point, but I think that the emphasis with that was that it was a choice. Abortion was considered, it was discussed, but I do believe that the purpose of that was to hammer home the concept of choice.

"and what's the name of that kevin smith movie with buddy christ? the protagonist works at an abortion clinic in that movie."

That would be Dogma.