Abortion is not ready for prime-time. Despite the fact that almost everything else can be talked about on television, abortion is, well, only talked about. Television characters often ponder the “right to choose,” and often decide to abort. But there is always the last-minute miscarriage, or some other ironic plot twist that renders the trip to the clinic unnecessary.
So argues an article by activist Rachel Fudge for the May/June 2005 issue of Clamor Magazine, reprinted in this month’s issue of Utne Reader. For Fudge, this is a problem because, in recent years, “it has become more difficult to introduce the issue of abortion on a TV show than it once was.” She’s right. Remember Bea Arthur’s character’s controversial decision to abort on Norman Lear’s 1970s sitcom Maude (Okay, since I was three I don’t exactly remember it, but you know what I mean)? Imagine now, however, a sympathetic leading role on a television sitcom aborting a baby, and then just moving on with the storyline. It is almost impossible to imagine.
For Fudge, this is problematic precisely because it highlights an American ambiguity about abortion rights. The “pro-choice” cause needs to see televised abortions she argues. “In the struggle to capture the hearts and minds of Americans, the reproductive-rights movement-like the rest of the progressive movement-needs to find new ways to present its cause openly and frankly.” But, unfortunately in the author’s mind, this just isn’t happening on television:
For now, it’s unlikely that TV viewers will ever see one of the Desperate Housewives unapologetically opting for a second trimester abortion when she realizes her fetus has profound genetic anomalies, or one of the lissome gals on The O.C. sporting an “I had an abortion” baby tee, proclaiming that ending her pregnancy was the best decision she ever made.
Fudge is right about television pop culture demonstrating American ambiguity at this point, which is precisely why comedian Chris Rock caused such discomfort when he publicly joked about picking up women at a “pro-choice” rally, since he knew they’d be sexually active. The question is where is this ambiguity coming from?
As Christians, I think we must find small glimmers of hope in such phenomena. The “convenient miscarriage” is a sign that there is at least some aspect of conscience still alive in American culture when it comes to the plight of the unborn. At the same time, we must recognize that consciences may be seared and calloused. We will see abortions celebrated on television in our lifetimes. But, until then, this cultural ambiguity may allow us to press our case, especially with young men and women who hold abortion out as the “final solution” for the consequences of sexual hedonism. Perhaps, just perhaps, we might be able to connect with a sensitive conscience when we ask: “So why do you think we so rarely see abortion on television?”
