Skip to main content

We are urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly supporters) before the end of October to help save babies from abortion 365 days a year. Your first gift as a Life Defender today will be DOUBLED. Click here to make your monthly commitment.

Live Action LogoLive Action
tv, abortion

Abortion advocates want abortion to be portrayed positively on TV. They’re getting their wish.

Icon of a computer screen with a play buttonMedia·By Cassy Cooke

Abortion advocates want abortion to be portrayed positively on TV. They’re getting their wish.

Abortion advocates have long complained that abortion isn’t being featured enough on television. A recent conference hosted by a Hollywood talent agency, CAA Amplify, featured a panel that where women spoke about the #MeToo movement, as well as abortion on-screen. Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of National Women’s Law Center, complained that “the stories on abortion do not match our reality.” Yet experts disagree.

The New York Times recently interviewed Gretchen Sisson, a sociologist at University of California, San Francisco. Her research includes tracking how abortion is portrayed, and she’s come to the opposite conclusion that Goss Graves did. “You’re definitely seeing more of the matter-of-fact ‘I am pregnant, I don’t want to be, I’m going to have an abortion,’” Sisson told the New York Times. “And it’s gone way up in 2019.” The New York Times pointed out that, despite only being halfway through the year, there have already been over 20 instances of television or movie characters either having abortions or talking about having them.

In all of 2018, that number was just 18 for the entire year, with 2017 hitting a high of 34. Sisson said she expects 2019 to be even higher, and she pointed to one person as being a large part of the reason why. “Shonda Rhimes opened it up so it can be on network prime,” she said.

READ: Media lets ‘expert’ abortionists spread lies, dehumanize preborn children unchecked

Thumbnail for Abortion Procedures: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Trimesters

 

Rhimes is the creator of multiple popular prime-time shows, including “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How To Get Away With Murder.” In her show “Scandal,” which was cancelled in 2018, lead character Olivia Pope undergoes an abortion with a smile on her face as the song “Silent Night” plays. Afterwards, she relaxes by a Christmas tree and drinks a glass of red wine while “Ave Maria” is in the background.

Shows like “Glow,” “Empire,” “Claws,” and “Dear White People” have all portrayed abortion positively recently. But two notable recent examples are the shows “Shrill” and “Veep,” simply for how extremely over-the-top both were. In “Shrill,” which is a Hulu adaptation of “Shout Your Abortion” co-founder Lindy West’s memoir, the very first episode not only showed the main character, Annie, undergoing an abortion, but painted it as empowering and powerful. In “Veep,” the abortion was described as a “motherly moment” and the main character shouted vulgarities towards pro-lifers outside the abortion facility.

Television producers have long vowed to force abortions onto our screens, and clearly, they’re succeeding. The question now becomes, what will ultimately matter more: abortion, or money? Americans as a whole are not enthusiastic about abortion, and pro-abortion activism could hurt media companies’ profits. Only time will tell.

“Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary!

Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.

Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.

Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!

Dear Reader,

Every day in America, more than 2,800 preborn babies lose their lives to abortion.

That number should break our hearts and move us to action.

Ending this tragedy requires daily commitment from people like you who refuse to stay silent.

Millions read Live Action News each month — imagine the impact if each of us took a stand for life 365 days a year.

Right now, we’re urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly donors) to join us before the end of October. And thanks to a generous $250,000 matching grant, your first monthly gift will be DOUBLED to help save lives and build a culture that protects the preborn.

Will you become one of the 500 today? Click here now to become a Live Action Life Defender and have your first gift doubled.

Together, we can end abortion and create a future where every child is cherished and every mother is supported.

Read Next

Read NextXander Zeh
Human Interest

Baby born with Trisomy 18 defies the odds: 'He's stronger than anyone I know'

Bridget Sielicki

·

Spotlight Articles