We need to see more parents having abortions in movies and on TV.

It was only two months postpartum that Kay Winston found herself pregnant again. After discussing the unexpected pregnancy and her options with her fiancé, Winston decided to have an abortion. The 27-year-old Texas native told Marie Claire magazine. 'What I knew, what people told me, what I saw on TV, what I didn't see. And I was scared."

Countless studies have highlighted the importance of representation in the media, including race, gender, relationships, body size and shape, mental health, and disability. The same is true for abortion, a safe medical procedure that one in four women (as well as trans men and nonbinary people) will experience by age 45. However, accurate portrayals of the most common abortion patients-parents-are still severely lacking, to the detriment of mothers like Winston and the abortion providers who care for them.

"One of the main ways people learn about information and experiences is through television and film, especially when it comes to sex and health care, given the lack of comprehensive national sexual health education programs," said We Testify, an organization dedicated to increasing representation and visibility of people who have experienced abortion and We Testify, says Renee Blasey Sherman, executive director of We Testify. The vast majority of people who experience abortion are already raising children, yet most of the time television and movies feature young, white, wealthy people who are trying to avoid raising children." But that is a very small minority of people who have abortions. This disappoints those of us who have had abortions because it does not allow the audience to stretch their imagination, empathize with our fictional experiences, and learn something other than the same stereotypical narrative."

A December 2020 survey of on-screen abortion representation published by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) shows an overall decline in abortion plots on television: in 2019 43 TV shows featured abortion stories; in 2020, only 31 shows featured characters who had undergone abortion procedures. In contrast, the number of abortion depictions in movies increased significantly: only 3 in 2019, compared to 12 in 2020. Still, the significant increase in abortion depictions in movies did not ameliorate the discrepancy between fictional characters who perform abortions and actual patients seeking abortion services: in 2020, 73% of the characters who had abortions in movies were white, one-third were teenagers, and none of them were parents None of them were parents. On television, only one abortion "story" featured someone who was a parent at the time of the abortion, and it was not even a "character" but a real person from MTV's reality show "Teen Mom 2" (an overall disconnect in Hollywood regarding the representation of real women (A particularly telling example of Hollywood's overall disconnect when it comes to the representation of real women.)

"The portrayal of parents, especially parents of color, having abortions is also surprisingly minimal, reinforcing the false dichotomy of those who have abortions and those who have children," adds Steph Herold, a researcher in ANSIRH's Abortion Onscreen program." We know that reality is that we are the same person at different points in our lives."

Erika Christensen, a mother and patient advocate for those seeking late-term abortions, tells Marie Claire that her own third-trimester abortion was an anomaly and therefore any representation makes sense because it shows how "normal" it is. [11] [12] The limited portrayal of mothers who have abortions, as in "Jane the Virgin" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," shows how a mother in her 40s concludes that having an abortion is the right thing for her and her family, but for Christensen it is important She feels that it is. Mothers] make decisions as experts in their own lives." They don't have to guess; they know how much time it takes to raise a child, even in the best of circumstances," she explains. She explains, "Society is so averse to depictions of motherhood that don't center on martyrdom, so it's great to see that."

Contrary to the efforts of the anti-choice movement, the majority of Americans support access to safe, legal abortion. Still, the anti-choice movement is rampant, and this movement has been emboldened by the Trump administration, which in 2017 nearly doubled the number of death threats and other intimidation tactics used to prevent entry into clinics that provide abortion services. In the same year, break-ins to clinics tripled.

These dire statistics are another reason why it is so important to accurately represent abortion providers, primarily black parents and parents of color, in the media. Says Blasey Sherman, "The danger of a single narrative allows people to demonize one idea of these people rather than recognizing that different people have different reasons for having an abortion and that there is a need to build empathy to create change." Storytelling of all kinds allows people to share their own experiences more freely, bringing us all closer together as we learn the deeper nuances and complexities of our lives and the decisions we make." When people can see their own real-life experiences reflected on television and in movies, they become more confident and willing to speak out about their decisions. It helps people realize that they too love people who have had abortions"

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For television writer and showrunner Merritt Tierce, the power of talking about abortion is both professional and personal. Before she wrote the screenplay for Orange is the New Black, she worked for 10 years at the Texas Equal Access Fund, an abortion foundation in Dallas.

According to Tierce, it is difficult to successfully include abortion stories in shows and movies, especially when they represent real abortions. TV shows and movies rely on drama and conflict. The reality of medical abortion is that most people are not conflicted about their decision, and the procedure, whether surgical or medical abortion, is incredibly safe and quick.

"Yes, of course, an unplanned pregnancy will often dominate your life for various reasons for a period of time, but it is something that is in the middle of the rest of your life," she explains. Even if showrunners, creators, and screenwriters succeed in placing abortion in the story or plot, it can actually do more harm than good. When studies show that most people are confident in their choices and that 95% of patients say that abortion was the right decision for them five years after the abortion, portraying a painful decision can be misleading. [Tierce, who is currently working on a script for a TV show set in a clinic that provides abortions, wants to normalize abortion as just another option among the many decisions people make throughout their lives, instead of making it the core of the plot. And for characters who have children, he wants to view abortion as a real "parenting decision."

"I think we need the most radical re-conceptualization of abortion, especially with regard to parenting for those who have had abortions. And for people who have children, that's the most decisive factor." And for people who have children, that is the number one factor in their decision to have an abortion." "

Studies have shown that when parents are denied abortion care, their children are more likely to live below the poverty level or in families that cannot afford adequate food, housing, and transportation. Studies also show that states with the strictest abortion laws have the lowest maternal and infant mortality rates. Simply put, attempts to restrict or otherwise prevent access to safe and legal abortion services harm not only pregnant people, but also the children they are already caring for.

[3] "It's about choosing when to become a parent and controlling that decision," Winston says. 'And I think it's important that people know that I'm getting married, that I have a spouse. My fiancée and I think [the abortion] was the right decision. So I think it's very important for people to know that we are the most common people who have abortions, and that we are not the only ones who do it.

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