Hollywood included more plotlines about abortion on its television programs in 2022 than during any of the previous five years, as networks and studios ramped up the fury machine after the Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.
There were at least 60 plotlines about abortion or mentions of abortion on 52 TV shows that ran between January and December 2022, more than in any year since 2016, as per the annual “Abortion Onscreen” report from the pro-abortion group Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health.
It is higher than the 47 abortion plotlines on 42 TV shows in 2021, the report stated. A third of the plots regarding abortion on television depicted barriers to access, compared to two such plotlines in 2021.
The shows that featured abortions during the year included ABC's Grey's Anatomy, NBC's New Amsterdam, NBC's Law & Order, the MTV show Teen Mom, Netflix's The Hookup Plan, and P-Valley from Starz.
The variety comedy show Saturday Night Live featured then-cast actor Cecily Strong telling the story about her abortion while dressed as a clown in an effort to generate laughter from the gruesome life-ending procedure.
New Amsterdam filmed an outrageous montage to mourn the Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.
The “Abortion Onscreen” report noted that white women of wealth made up the majority of characters that have abortions on TV. But the report also said that the majority of those who have abortions in the U.S. in real life are minority women.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, the United States saw fewer abortions by the close of October, according to a Five Thirty-Eight report.
It is widely known that the Hollywood film industry is almost entirely pro-abortion. Several studios, including Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery, have vowed to pay travel expenses for employees looking to obtain abortions. As some commentators have noted, paying for an employee’s abortion is cheaper for a corporation than the costs and lost productivity associated with maternity leaves.
