Abortions on television can be funny. They are sometimes heartbreaking or traumatic. They might help educate a woman watching at home who wants to make an informed decision about her own abortion. They can be all of these things and more – all that’s important is that they are normalised. But if you’ve ever watched a US TV show with an abortion storyline, there’s a good chance that it would play out very differently if it were written today.
Take the latest series of Katori Hall’s hit strip club drama, P-Valley. In an episode that aired on 24 July this year, Mercedes (Brandee Evans) drives her 14-year-old pregnant daughter Terricka (Azaria Carter) to the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, talking through her options on the way. They walk past anti-abortion protestors outside the clinic. “So, you just gonna suck it out?” Terricka asks nervously. “If that’s what you decide,” the nurse replies. After 24 hours, she goes ahead with the procedure. At the time of production this was a realistic, if precarious, reflection of life in a US state where it was legal to get an abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
