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As promised! Here's the latest Abortion Onscreen research, published today in @WHIjournal!
@gesisson and I studied how abortion ~procedures~ are portrayed on American TV. Here's the article: whijournal.com/article/S1049-…
And here's what we found: (1/x)
@gesisson and I studied how abortion ~procedures~ are portrayed on American TV. Here's the article: whijournal.com/article/S1049-…
And here's what we found: (1/x)
Over the last 10 years, 40% of TV plotlines w/an abortion show some aspect of the actual procedure, most often a surgical abortion.
These portrayals often reinforce a misperception that surgical abortion is a serious surgery requiring hospital admission & multiple providers.
These portrayals often reinforce a misperception that surgical abortion is a serious surgery requiring hospital admission & multiple providers.
Less than a quarter of plotlines depict characters having medication abortions, which is especially absurd given that about 1/3 of people seeking abortions in real life have abortions by pill.
We found that portrayals of illegal surgical abortions are overrepresented compared to legal surgical abortions & legal medication abortions. This finding is alarming given increasing legal restrictions on abortion & the well-documented safety of self-managed abortion.
Abortion’s prevalence & safety are well documented in scientific literature, yet TV and film often do not reflect this reality. TV portrayals are important b/c they may contribute to patient knowledge/expectations pre-abortion and the public’s beliefs, too.
As it stands now, if you've see an abortion on TV over the last 10 years, you may mistakenly think that you need to go to a hospital to obtain an abortion (you don't) or that the abortion pill is easy to access at a pharmacy (nope) or unsafe (nope again).
From 2008 to 2018, there were zero TV plotlines that depicted a present-day character safely self-managing her own abortion.
This is a trend we'll continue to monitor over the next few years as information about self-managed abortion permeates culture.
This is a trend we'll continue to monitor over the next few years as information about self-managed abortion permeates culture.
People deserve to have accurate knowledge of what abortion procedures (surgical + pills) look like. Having a clear understanding of the ways in which TV reflects and reinforces myths & misinformation about abortion gives us a starting point for arguing for better portrayals.
I'm here if you want to talk about this more, want a copy of the article (here it is, again!) or anything else! whijournal.com/article/S1049-…
