“Fast Times at Ridgemont High” a “positive” abortion film?
There is distinction between “shame-free” and “consequence-free,” and abortion will never be the latter. Most, like the character of Stacy Hamilton, agonize over up up [sic] until the last minute.
It seems to me that the MSNBC hosts and the filmmakers in this case are reaching to glamorize one of the few acts which is so emotionally draining and morally challenging that even Hollywood has been unable to destigmatize it.
Good luck, team Obvious Child. It seems like it’s going to be an uphill battle.
~ Noah Rothman, criticizing the claim by pro-abortion media that the pro-abortion film Obvious Child and the 1980’s film Fast Time at Ridgemeont High, are “a great example of a positive, regrets-free abortion,” Hot Air, June 19
Fast Times came out in 1982. It was a lowbrow screwball comedy, in which teens could end smiling — “la-de-da!” — after getting busted for pot, caught masturbating, being robbed at gunpoint, sexually assaulted, and enduring an abortion.
In 1982, we didn’t know as much about the aftermath of abortion. In 1982, even pro-lifers were naive enough to believe that some women could skip away from the abortion and not feel any consequences. We did not have the voices of Silent No More to tell us the pain that so many women hide.
Hollywood still makes lowbrow comedies that make light of devastating realities. But Hollywood won’t touch abortion like that anymore. Too many women have been hurt.
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I’ve never actually seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but there is one thing I find interesting about this. I swear that I’ve always been told that movies never feature abortion, yet there was one that did as far back as 1982? And it was a comedy? I’m honestly kind of surprised about that.
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It wasn’t a great movie, but somehow it became iconic for the age. It is remembered mainly for a nude scene during which a teen-aged Phoebe Cates peeled off her bikini top, and the glamorized stoner played by Sean Penn.
Otherwise, it a story about the serious traumas that high schoolers encounter. The “humor” comes from the way the victims shrugged off the damage, too naive to comprehend how much they’d just been injured. The overall message to kids was, “This stuff won’t hurt you.”
I was 20 years old when I went to the theatre to see this hit movie. I was shocked, even then.
Follow the link to Hot Air, and then watch the clip. It is a deleted scene from inside the abortion clinic. It gives you an idea of how much the kids suffer without fully realizing the murder of their innocence.
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Del there are many women who are not bothered by having an abortion and there are even some for whom it is a positive experience. I’ve met them. I don’t know why prolifers can’t accept this.
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phillymiss — I can explain:
There are people who used cocaine for a time and were not destroyed by it. There are millions of people who do not regret their tobacco habit, and insist that they enjoy it.
What we understand is that individuals and cultures can be gravely damaged by our choices, even if it feels good at the time.
A woman may say that she does not regret her abortion, perhaps even that she is still glad for it. But that does not convince us that she was not harmed by it. And the child is still dead.
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Ive seen Fast Times when I was a teenager. The girl who had the abortion was very aggressive when it came to sex. Remember she called him into the shed for sex. The abortion scene was short. The guy who impregnated her couldnt come up with the $ so on the day of the abortion she got a ride from her brother. She asked to be let off on the corner and her puzzled brother watched in his rear view mirror as she darted across the ST. to the clinic after he had driven off. Then they show her on the table as she asks the doctor “Is having an abortion more painful than having a baby?” Or something like that. Then she closes her eyes as he explains she will feel a stick. She winces a bit and the nurse is standing there. It ends when she walks out and her brother is sitting in his truck waiting.
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I should back up by saying that the guy who got her pregnant was a no show for $ and a ride. I believe those were her requests. That he pay for half and give her a ride. Her brother didnt know she was pregnant. Anyway that scene made me uncomfortable. She seemed to bounce back. Im with Phillymiss..Ive met a few women who are fine with their abortions. We had a poster named Laura here who would always tell us that she knew women who were totally satisfied with their abortions. She would say no fuss no muss!
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I know a girl who aborted over 20 yrs ago. She maintains shes glad she did it and she doesnt exhibit signs of emotional problems. No alcohol or substance abuse. No depression. Doesnt smoke. She has 5 kids and she is now a grandmother. As Phillymiss stated she looks at her abortion as a positive choice.
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Because committing acts of violence against defenseless innocent human beings who happen to be one’s offspring is a “positive choice” – and we wonder why there is violence in our communities and in our schools – oh, wait, we are less violent because we aborted all the criminals. This can be very confusing.
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I agree, Barb. I often wonder if the high rate of violence in the black community can be tied to the high abortion rate, but no one wants to go there.
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I agree that if a woman can kill her own child then violence of any type will rise. I belive PL poster Chris even said that we have a lot of angry young men sitting in prison. Most men who dont have loving fathers grow up to have problems. And abortion sends the wrong message. If women can kill their children then why dont we just kill each other?
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There is a movie called The Last American Virgin. All about promiscuous sex and an abortion that a teenage girl goes through with.
Also in the movie Fame there is a dancer contemplating abortion by talking to her baby.
Dirty Dancing anyone?
Abortion will never be anything than what it is. Death.
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Yes- I was just going to mention “TLAV”, Carla. I remember it especially because the girl “conned” a guy who had a crush on her (who was not the father of the baby) into paying for her abortion and, when “it” was over she was lying in a hospital bed (yea…right) and when she woke up and looked at him – she GIGGLED!
I doubt that. Even if someone is “okay” with having an abortion, and doesn’t feel regret about it right at that moment, I still don’t think they would GIGGLE about it immediately afterwards.
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Hi JDC, 10:59am
Lonnnnnng before 1982. And these are just a few examples.
If you check Youtube you can find the movie “The Detective’s Story” starring Kirk Douglas, 1952. Get the full version, not the segmented. Abortion is referred to in it and Kirk Douglas’ character is determined to put a stop to an illegal abortionist. Censorship was strict back then. A very emotionally intense movie and its obvious what is being referred to, though abortion is never spoken.
Also, the 1967 movie “Valley of the Dolls” character portrayed by Sharon Tate has an abortion after discovering her husband suffers from Huntington’s Disease, and this is mentioned in the movie.
I can think of another early 60’s movie but not the name where a woman leapt out of a car rather than let her “fiancé” take her to an abortionist. She thought they were eloping.
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Hi Mary I will be watching some good movies on You Tube tonight thanks to you. How odd that Tate died pregnant. I was born i 69 but ppl have told me that back in the day you couldnt even say the word pregnant on TV. Look at it now. Also in Fast Times the actress obtaining the abortion was played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. They only showed her head with a surgical cap. Nothing graphic. And the guy who had gotten her pregnant never spoke to her again. At the end of the movie shes working at the soda shop. She meets a guy and she tells him “I dont want sex. I want romance.” Her part of the movie ends with her kissing him.
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My point about the guy leaving her is that he makes our point about pro abortion men. He even blamed her when she told him she was pregnant saying “Oh come on you were the one who wanted it (sex)” She replies “Thats not fair cuz you wanted it too.” As she is in a panic waiting for him to pick her up she realizes she was blown off. He did try to come up with the $ but failed.
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Hi heather,
I remember when TV married couples slept in twin beds. No wonder they had such small families! Also, Ricky and Lucy could share the same bed since they were in fact a married couple. You’re right, “pregnant” was forbidden but up until when I don’t know. I remember soaps getting a little steamier, extramarital affairs, unwed pregnancies, in the early 60’s. My dear great aunt Fran stopped watching General Hospital in the 60’s for this reason! Too much for her! Pretty tame by today’s standards.
I remember when “Irma LaDouce”, starring Shirley McLaine came out. I remember signs on the theaters saying “THIS MOVIE IS FOR ADULTS ONLY!” Again, modern TV is steamier.
Anyway, I hope you will see “The Detective’s Story” and make sure to see the one intact movie, not the segments. Important parts are missed. Again, I can’t say much without giving the movie away but you will definitely see the thinly veiled references to abortions being performed.
I think Valley of the Dolls is also on Youtube. I remember my folks wouldn’t let me see that at the movies, or Dr.Zhivago either!
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Wow Mary how the times have changed. Id rather TV and movies clean themselves up again. Like the movie Ghost. I dont think they ever showed a sex scene between Sam and Molly . The movie to this day is one of my favorites. But Hollywood knows sex sells.
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You have to see “Love With A Proper Stranger” with Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen. Natalie plays a young woman who has a one night stand with McQueen and becomes pregnant. He takes her to have an illegal abortion but as he seed the abortionist (a woman) laying out her gruesome looking instruments he tells her not to go through with it, which she doesn’t. This movie was made in the late fifties or early sixties so many I was surprised at the frank treatment of the subject. Its a good movie.
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