Television and film often allow people to make sense of the world. With abortion being center stage in many national conversations and with so many myths circulating about this type of care, it is especially important that TV and film represent abortion stories accurately. Steph Herold, researcher studying abortion in television and film at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), sits down to talk with us about abortion depictions onscreen and what Hollywood could include in storytelling to be more representative of those seeking abortion care. 

Television and films have been telling abortion stories for a very long time, but sometimes the depictions aren’t realistic. Often, abortion is portrayed as a risky or unsafe procedure (which is fundamentally untrue—it’s one of the safest medical procedures a person can receive). In addition, characters that receive abortions in television and film don’t often reflect those who receive abortions in real life; most abortion patients in real life are people of color, struggling to make ends meet, many of whom are already parents, yet the character onscreen who receives an abortion is often a young, white, single woman. In addition, characters don’t face barriers to the care they need, including waiting periods, traveling, financial concerns, and gestational bans. Lastly, medication abortion is largely underrepresented onscreen.

Still, over the last couple of years, TV and film have done a better job at telling compassionate and accurate abortion stories. 2020 saw the most abortion stories told on television in a year, and included Never, Rarely, Sometimes Always, Unpregnant, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Premature and St. Francis. Each showed a person accessing different types of abortion with the support of a friend or family member. More characters of color are accessing abortion on TV, including Olivia Pope on Scandal, a queer, Black character on the Bold Type, and Vic on Station 19. 

Links

ANSIRH on Twitter

ANSIRH on Facebook

Abortiononscreen.org

Take Action

Follow ANSIRH on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit abortiononscreen.org and find a list of over 500 TV shows and film that feature an abortion plotline. Watch these pieces of media and consider whether or not the abortion stories are representative—and have conversations about them! 

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