Planned Parenthood: “Refreshing” to see reality of abortion on tv show?
Last night in an ironically titled episode, “Small Victories,” the NBC show Parenthood included an abortion story line, after one of the characters playing a high school girl found she had been impregnated by her teen boyfriend.
Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards was ecstatic, because her abortion biz was mentioned and featured prominently, including its new logo (see screen shot above)!
Planned Parenthood Action was a little less obvious, simply retweeting that the episode was “refreshing”…
Refreshing? I saw a lot of heartbreak. I saw a lot of crying.
Here was the “refreshing” reality.
Drew didn’t want Amy to get the abortion. To his credit he said he loved her and wanted to make things work.
But Drew had no say, no choice. The “refreshing” reality is fathers must helplessly stand by and watch their children get slaughtered if that is the mother’s decision.
Amy felt trapped, as if she had no other way out. As Frederica Mathewes-Green famously said, “No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.” That’s the “refreshing” reality of the glorified right to abortion.
Neither Drew nor Amy told their parents, who seemed quite caring and supportive.
Then, after Drew drove her home from the abortion, Amy called off their relationship, saying she needed not just “space,” but “a lot” of space. This is also the “refreshing” reality of abortion. It breaks up most relationships.
The end of the episode shows Drew collapsing into the arms of his mother. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her about the situation before the abortion, even though she had tried to talk to him, sensing something was wrong.
But after the abortion Drew realized it was all too big, too much for him. So he belatedly turned to his mom, as is also often the “refreshing” reality of abortion, who was now left with trying to help pick up pieces of her son’s broken heart as well as the death of her own grandchild.
Yes, that was just a glimpse into the the “refreshing” reality of abortion.
[HT: Reader Jason]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
They can be proud all they want…meaning PP. I see more post abortive fathers lately and the heartbreak never leaves them. Men are meant to protect their children not stand by helpless while they are killed. Their pain is real.
As long as PP gets their money, they don’t care who is hurt in the process.
‘Refreshing’ is not a word I would use to describe this situation.
Wait a minute. These are teens. What state did this take place in. No parental consent?? Did they show counseling, informed consent, waiting periods??? Anything???
The show takes place in CA near San Francisco. They showed the counseling provided by PP, “procedure” was done the next day. As we watched the show we questioned the parental consent issue. It appears that CA has no parental consent or notification laws.
No, CA doesn’t have a parental consent law. It keeps getting voted down even though it has been on the ballot many, many times. Unfortunately, my state happens to be one of those states where you can get an abortion behind everyone’s back, but have to fill out paperwork and notify parents if the school gives you an asprin :/
Some character background… Drew’s mom (played by PP supporter Lauren Graham) is more concerned about her personal needs and love life than her children’s needs and well-being. So, unfortunately, Drew’s mom will not be mourning the loss of her grandchild. I doubt she will even be fully present to help her son cope.
It will be interesting to see where the producers take the aftermath storyline. When my brother’s girlfriend became pregnant in high school and had an abortion (despite his objections), he was suicidal. Thank God my mom got him to open up in time. Just before Christmas, he and his wife welcomed a precious little girl into the world.
I know that she is not a real person but I absolutely dont think she is more concerned about her love life than her children.
BUT the show does portray teen sex as a normal progression of life and this is the “cool” mom who does not take issue with her grown daughter engaging in casual sex.
It was more than I expected from a tv show, at least they showed that it was easy to do (in a practical sense) and difficult to do in a psychological sense.
But more than I expect from television is a long way from the truth.
When is the episode where Amy’s dad blows away the abortionist?
And then gets off because the jury sees it as a crime of passion.
Yep. If mommy dearest wants you dead, you’re dead. Mr. X knows nearly to the day how old his child would be now. It’s heartbreaking.
NBC. Weren’t they the ones who altered and falsified the Trayvon Martin tapes?
Also, no woman wants an abortion? Where is freedom of choice? Why is she being forced to do what she doesn’t want to?
Call me jaded, but just maybe this storyline will prompt fence-sitters to contemplate what they DON’T want in their (or significant others’) futures. I don’t think the show promoted abortion, which is probably why there wasn’t much hype on PP’s end – although yes, “refreshing” is such an odd choice of words! Most viewers were probably silently willing them to get up, walk out together, cancel the procedure, and acknowledge the joy of a new life despite the circumstances. And, hopefully for the post-abortive dads who felt they could never speak about their loss, maybe some of the scenes opened an unexpected door for future healing. Since no unborn child was hurt in the filming of the show, the only thing that upset me was the PP promo.
I wonder if they would have thought it was refreshing if this girl had gone to a CPC and KEPT her baby. No, they would have screamed bloody murder (no pun intended).
Having watched this show from the beginning I can most certainly state that Drew’s mom has more care for her sex life then she does for her children’s life. While it is heartbreaking that the character actually went through with the abortion the real tragedy of the show was the complete lack of parental involvement.
No matter what Planned Parenthood wants us to believe nothing about the show was refreshing. It was heart wrenching and tough to watch as a father.
I have to admit I was happy when one of the girls in the waiting room got up and left.
PP proudly says that they killed over 300,000 babies last year, and yet all the talk in Washington is about gun violence that pales in comparison.
Great points Jill
We hear thousands of similar stories each month!
For those who have been impacted by abortion, there is help at: http://abortionrecovery.org
We assist over 40,000 individuals and families, per year, who are hurting from a past abortion!
FYI: We contacted the show with the suggestion of them offering post abortion help!
Stacy Massey
President / Founding Partner
went is it tv a again
[...] Jill Stanek has more to say on the subject. Right now I’m too angry to write any more. [...]
OPEN LETTER TO “PARENTHOOD” WRITERS
I was hoping against hope, as I watched your “Small Victories” episode, on 1/8/2013, that you would have the courage to send a novel message to teens: “Think of someone other than yourselves.” But unfortunately, you chose to send the same simple-minded message pretty much everyone else in the entertainment industry sends teens today: “Think only of yourselves.”
Your “Amy-is-pregnant-what-will-she-do?” storyline couldn’t have been any less original, anyless creative, anyless inspiring than it was: Amy tells Drew she’s pregnant; Amy concludes that keeping her baby will ruin her life; Amy decides to have an abortion; Amy tells Drew he’ll need to pay for the abortion; Drew sobs in his mother’s arms, devastated that he has lost his unborn child and, most likely, his beloved girlfriend.
Imagine the dramatic “mileage” you could have gotten out of writing a story about, let’s say, a pregnant teen who chooses to carry her baby to term, then give it up for adoption.
Indeed, you could have shown Amy dealing with the changes taking place in her body throughout the rest of her pregnancy. You could have shown Drew supporting her decision to give the baby up for adoption, despite the fact that he would like her to keep it. You could have shown the Bravermans drawing close to Drew, helping him get through the pain he’ll inevitably experience when the baby is born, then taken away. You could have shown Amy experiencing her own pain, in the wake of being forever separated from her baby, regardless of the fact that she neither planned nor desired to keep it.
If you’re saying: “That’s far too much to ask of a young girl who’s about to graduate high school and go on to college. You can’t expect young girls to go through nine months of pregnancy only to give their babies away,” I argue that you’re selling teens short—assuming not only that they don’t have what it takes to face the consequences of their actions, but also that they’re not mature enough to look beyond their immediate circumstances and do what would—in the long run–be best for everyone concerned.
Think about it. Had Amy chosen to give the baby up, she could have finished high school and pursued whatever dreams she might have had for the future; the baby would have been raised by two loving, financially-secure parents, in a stable home environment; Drew wouldn’t have had to grieve the death of his child; and the adoptive parents would have received the baby they so desperately desired.
Sadly, instead of taking the time to develop a poignant, meaningful (multi-episode) dramatization of the choices pregnant teens must make, in the wake of discovering they are pregnant, you presentedan exceedingly-tacky, thoroughly-predictable “infomercial” for our Nation’s largest, most lucrative abortion provider provider of “women’s healthcare.”
Thankfully, FX’s Justified began its fourth, “sure-to-be-‘smashing’” season on the same night–in the same time slot—that “Small Victories” aired.
Amazing how that worked out, huh?