UPDATE, 8/24/23: In the season finale, it’s confirmed that Lisa had a miscarriage, not an abortion. While celebrating the so-called “Last Supper” in Carrie’s apartment, Lisa and her husband, Herbert, discussed the loss of their baby, including the guilt Lisa felt.
“Did I wish the baby away?” she asked, clearly emotional. “You didn’t wish anything away,” Herbert responded. “Don’t you even think like that. Get that thought out of your beautiful head.”
“I just feel so guilty about everything I said,” she admitted, crying. And again, her husband consoled her, saying it was normal to have complicated feelings. “You have nothing to feel guilty about,” Herbert said. “It wasn’t meant to be. God has other plans for us.”
8/22/23: “And Just Like That…,” a spinoff of the popular HBO series “Sex and the City,” follows three of the original characters — Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte — while introducing a new group of friends and examining what romance, relationships, and womanhood are like at an older age. One of the new characters is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy but (so far) has refused an abortion — something the show is being seriously criticized for.
Lisa Todd Wexley, introduced in the first season of the show as a trendy, stylish mom of three children, is a documentarian who put her career on hold to raise her kids. Now that her children are older, she is putting more of her efforts into work, including a new documentary that she excitedly shared had been picked up by PBS. She then drops a bombshell: she is unexpectedly pregnant and furious at her husband for not getting a vasectomy, as he had promised her he would.
“How am I going to do a 10-part series with a newborn?” she asked, after announcing the news. “I will be missing deadlines. I will be pumping around the clock, and I will be failing at both jobs.”
Through tears, she swore, and said, “I thought it was finally my time!”
Though Charlotte reassures her friend that she can continue working with a newborn, Lisa is still skeptical — and angry. Later in the episode, she has an argument with her husband about the vasectomy, during which he gingerly asks if she wants to consider an abortion.
“You can do this. If anyone can, you can,” her husband says, but then adds, “Should we be having the other discussion? It’s your decision, Lisa, whatever is best for you. That’s what I want.” But Lisa refuses, saying, “I really appreciate you saying that. I thought about it, but I can’t. I mean, I’m really grateful that I have that option but I just need to wrap my head around this new reality. I will.”
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At the end of the episode, however, Lisa appears to have a miscarriage. And the show is being slammed for not putting Lisa through an abortion instead (at least, as far as viewers are aware).
“It’s not lost on fans that AJLT’s approach to unwanted pregnancy this week feels like something of a regression compared to the commendably open conversations Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha had about abortion two decades ago,” Kylie Cheung wrote for Jezebel. “Lisa and Herbert allude to the possibility of her getting an abortion, but they don’t even say the word aloud. No screen-time is given to her even considering the option.”
At the Huffington Post, Marina Fang likewise questioned why abortion wasn’t what Lisa chose. “It’s an odd choice, and uncharacteristic for a franchise that has often been trailblazing in its handling of hot-button issues,” she wrote, adding, “[N]arratively, it felt like a bit of a cop-out, allowing the show to further sidestep talk of abortion. … Adding to the disappointment is the fact that the original ‘Sex and the City’ would not have shied away from a frank discussion on abortion — and in fact, it had that conversation more than 20 years ago.”
The Independent published an article featuring angry tweets from fans:
“It was [like] I Love Lucy tiptoeing around pregnancy in the Fifties,” one tweeted. “What the f*** year is it? That was such a bizarre choice.”
“I am #ajlt biggest fan,” a second wrote. “BUT LTW should be getting a girlboss abortion. I’m not buying her reasoning ‘I just can’t’ s***ty cop out I’m sorry.”
A third questioned: “When will ‘progressive’ shows like #AJLT finally walk their talk and let a character go through with an abortion? Chickened out with Miranda in SATC…K. Now we have LTW dreading another kid, and we’re acting like she doesn’t have a choice. This IS a ‘woke’ show sooo? Let’s see it.”
Another said that they were “screaming at the TV”.
“Get a f***ing abortion. The convenient miscarriage is played out bulls***,” they added.
Slate called it an “insult” of a storyline, while Salon claimed that not letting Lisa have an abortion was an act of cowardice.
It’s true that “Sex and the City” had a discussion about abortion 20 years ago — but what is rarely acknowledged is the unintentionally pro-life message it shared. In that episode, Miranda obsessed over having an abortion, asking tearfully, “This happened against all the odds. My stupid egg found its way to the three sperm he had left. God, is this my baby? I mean, what am I waiting for?”
Meanwhile, though Carrie admitted to having an abortion, she didn’t frame it in a positive manner; she was racked with guilt. Meanwhile, Miranda questioned Carrie about what having an abortion was like, asking, “How long until you felt back to normal?”
Carrie answered, “Any day now.” As acknowledged by the critics, Miranda chose to have a baby then, and refused to go through with the abortion.
Though “And Just Like That” was criticized for a supposed cowardly take on abortion, the criticism they’ve fielded by not airing an abortion (at least, not yet) demonstrates that making a life-affirming storyline is in actuality, the braver choice.
