Abortion 'severely stigmatized' in Hollywood with 'dangerously misleading distortions,' new doc claims
The new documentary "Hollywood Does Abortion" claims that past movies and television shows have pushed a stigma around abortion despite its liberal politics.
A new documentary called "Hollywood Does Abortion" asserted that abortion has been "severely stigmatized" by the entertainment industry until recently.
The movie, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, is described as diving into how "from the 1970s to the present, film and television have too often relied on dangerously misleading distortions about abortions and the people who seek them."
"In programs like 'Roseanne' and 'Party of Five" or movies like 'Juno,' characters often agonized over whether to have the kid and either had a false positive or miscarriage that prevented them from needing to make a choice or opted to give birth," Variety reported on the documentary.
The article continued, "Other films and series like 'Dirty Dancing' or 'The Sopranos' depicted women nearly dying from their abortions or having longterm medical consequences that left them unable to have children. The negative portrait of abortion in these films and series contributed to is counterintuitive because Hollywood is often seen as a bastion of liberal politics."
Directors Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Mike Attie argued that although there have been more media portrayals of abortion in recent years, many of them are still depicted in a negative light.
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"We think of Hollywood as being very progressive, yet we went through a pretty big era where abortion was severely stigmatized," Barbara Attie said, according to Variety. "It was made to be shameful. There would be a plot line where somebody would thinking about getting an abortion. They would ask their friends what they should do, and they would agonize over it, and then they would miscarry. The kind of messaging that TV and films were giving us was eye-opening."
Even in movies or television shows depicting women having abortions, the documentary claimed that Hollywood films and TV have either exaggerated medical complications or inaccurately depicted post-abortion regret.
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"It continues this idea that there will be long-term regret," Goldwater said. "There’s a study that shows people who are turned away and who don’t have abortions are actually the ones who experience regret and long-term negative financial and emotional repercussions. And it turns out that people who have abortions don’t experience much regret. They experience a lot of relief."
In a comment to Fox News Digital, the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called the film's suggestion a "hard position to argue."
"From Jean Harlow to Judy Garland, Hollywood has relied on abortion and coercion to control actresses, cover abuse and maintain glamorous illusions," communications director Kelsey Pritchard said. "Many have suffered terribly because of it; women who have abortions are significantly more likely to experience negative mental health effects, especially the majority who face pressure and endure abortions they don’t really want."
She added, "Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion business, and other pro-abortion groups put considerable effort into normalizing abortion on our screens. Where there are exceptions, they tend to meet real popular success even in spite of censorship, while attempts to make light of killing unborn children are box office flops."
