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This research is an attempt to start filling that void by trying to understand how abortion was depicted thanks to Cristina’s plotline and what the consequences of such depiction were.ĥ For a very long time, Grey’s Anatomy was just another American TV show as far as the topic of abortion was concerned: it was almost never broached and the program resorted to the usual tricks in the book to never actually show one taking place. However, if the way abortion was depicted in Grey’s Anatomy seems to have fascinated pro-choice and pro-life bloggers as well as journalists, it does not seem to have prompted a great deal of academic research so far. As far as Christian “moral values” are concerned, a good deal has also been written on gay relationships in the show 6. Some have focused on the way the show has shaped viewers’ opinions on medicine and doctors, on the impact of medical TV shows on viewers’ awareness of specific medical issues, or on the treatment of ethics in the drama 5.
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Quick, “The Effects of Viewing Grey’s Anatomy on Perceptions of Doctor an (.) As far as TV shows are concerned, viewers are thus likely to very negatively respond to an abortion plotline that would offend their core beliefs. The issue of abortion is thus extremely sensitive as it is not simply a theoretical one: to those who consider themselves pro-life, it is literally a question of life and death. Moreover, the disagreement of the pro-life and pro-choice camps on the matter of the beginning of life makes the finding of a “common ground” that much more difficult: since life is a gift from God that begins at conception for proponents of the “pro-life” camp, abortion is nothing less than cold-blooded murder. Studies have shown that strong religious views were often correlated with negative views on abortion 4. For the past forty years, Christian activist leaders such as James Dobson or Pat Robertson, prominent political figures such as Rick Santorum or Tom Coburn as well as Supreme Court justices such as Antonin Scalia have been denouncing America’s “moral decay” and lamenting the promotion of a “pro-gay” and “pro feminist” culture of laziness, drugs and casual sex through Hollywood.
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Wade decision rendered anti-abortion laws unconstitutional throughout the country in 1973 3. Wade, 410 U.S 113 (1973), (.)ģ There is little doubt that the careful treatment of abortion in American TV shows is one of the many consequences of the pro-choice/pro-life debate that has been raging in the United States ever since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. In Girls, Jessa (Jemima Kirke ) simply has a miscarriage after not going to her appointment at the abortion clinic 2. If some characters eventually do end up childless, this is often because they become the instrument of fate and end up losing the baby during an unfortunate incident such as a fall down the stairs or a car accident (Blair played by Leighton Meester in Gossip Girl ). Even in cases when characters would have good reasons to consider abortion, they do not: in 90210, Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes)-a drug addict teenager who cannot even name her baby’s father-decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption instead. Instead, just like Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) in Sex and the City, Karen (Laura Wiggins) in Shameless or Karen (Natascha McElhone ) and Marcy (Pamela Adlon ) in Californication, they tend to decide that keeping the baby actually is their best option. 2 A number of blogs have carefully studied the most common treatments of abortion on American televis (.)Ģ Indeed, if American TV shows routinely tackle the topic of abortion, they most often do so following what seems to be a set of rules: abortion is most often alluded to and presented as an option, but in the end, female characters almost never resort to it.