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Dec 15 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
New research from @gesisson & me: we found at least 60 abortion plotlines in 2022, and for the first time since we've been analyzing abortion onscreen, more than 1/3 portrayed barriers to access. That's 20 plotlines, up from 2 in 2021 and 9 in 2019.

ansirh.org/research/resea…
Shows like @GreysABC @PValleySTARZ @MostWantedCBS @lawandordertv @NBCNewAmsterdam & more depicted obstacles to abortion care (like extremely far distance to clinics, waiting periods, abortion bans) & the overwhelmingly negative impact they have on patients.
.@lawandordertv even depicted the first ever (that I know of) abortion fund volunteer -- a woman from TX who helps a Texas teen cross state lines to go to NYC to have an abortion.
We also saw many more conversations on reality TV (@LoveisBlindShow, @TeenMomNextChap, #LifeAfterLockUp @SweetLifeonMax) about abortion, specifically about the Dobbs decision & the challenges of abortion access. Haven't seen that before this year.
Despite the increase in depictions of barriers, these portrayals misrepresent who is most impacted by abortion restrictions. On TV, the vast majority (80%) of characters who faced barriers to abortion care were white and portrayed as middle class (45%) or wealthy (35%).
This is obviously a distinct departure from real life in which the majority of patients who face barriers to abortion care identify as people of color and are living at or below the Federal Poverty Line.
Past patterns of misrepresentations are still present for ex., the majority (59%) of abortion patients are parenting at the time of their abortion, whereas only 18% of this year’s abortion plotlines included characters raising children at the time of their abortion.
TV also continues to misrepresent the types of abortions most people have in the US. Medication abortion makes up more than half of all U.S. abortions, yet only 4 plotlines (6%) specifically portrayed a character having an abortion by pill. None shows safe self-managed abortion.
Some good news w/medication abortion plotlines: both @Station19 & @GreysABC included dialogue from clinician characters stating the accurate abortion pill protocol, which may contribute to increased knowledge among viewers about medication abortion. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1363/ps…
Lots more to dig in to and explore -- read our full report here! ansirh.org/sites/default/…

And if I missed an abortion plotline from this year, please don't hesitate to tell me :)

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More from @StephHerold

Steph Herold Profile picture
Sep 29
I had the extreme misfortune of watching Blonde on Netflix last night and let me tell you that movie is so anti-abortion, so sexist, so exploitative. CanNOT recommend it LESS. Do not watch. The abortion scenes in particular are terrible, but so is the whole entire movie.
It depicts Marilyn being coerced into her first abortion, screaming on the table that she's changed her mind & then she hallucinates finding a crying baby in her childhood home, which is engulfed in flames. For some INEXPLICABLE reason the camera pans INSIDE HER VAGINAL CANAL??
The operating room is filled with male doctors treating her as an object/spectacle, not listening to her, never treating her like a human being. Ok, I get it, you want viewers to feel like we too are violating Marilyn. But this depiction is grotesque & unnecessary.
Read 11 tweets
Steph Herold Profile picture
Feb 20, 2021
Curious op-ed in @washingtonpost's @KateCohen92 this morning that ignores 10 years of research on abortion on tv. Yes, there are fewer abortions onscreen than in real life. But they're there, increasingly portrayed by characters of color. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
First, to address the obvious, at @ANSIRH, @gesisson & I have documented decades of abortion portrayals on TV and film and put them all in a searchable database. Abortion has been portrayed onscreen for over 100 years. abortiononscreen.org
The more interesting question is *how* is abortion portrayed on tv/film, compared to real life abortion experiences. Just saying, "there are no abortions on tv!" is inaccurate and misleading. There are -- they just don't reflect the reality of most abortion patients in the US.
Read 12 tweets
Steph Herold Profile picture
Sep 4, 2019
I ordered abortion pills from @AidAccessUSA to see what the process is like (not actually pregnant!). They just arrived at my house today, a minute ago.

Here's what it took:

August 11: Filled out the online consultation at aidaccess.org to request the pills.
@AidAccessUSA August 13: Received a follow up email from them asking if I still wanted help. I said yes.

August 14: They requested that I send them proof of ID. I send my NY driver's license.
@AidAccessUSA August 14: They emailed me information about how to send payment (80 euro). That part was the most complicated, since they request that you go through a third party transfer site. They request a screen shot to confirm payment.
Read 7 tweets
Steph Herold Profile picture
Jul 22, 2019
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)
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.
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.
Read 9 tweets
Steph Herold Profile picture
Jun 15, 2019
We have a term for this and it's called "chasing the fee."

A. wanted an abortion at 6 weeks, but had to come up with the money for it. By the time she got the $, the fee had gone up. So she had to scrape together more money. And the pattern continues.
A. is not unique in this shitty circumstance -- because Medicaid denies insurance coverage of abortion, many people are forced to cobble together more than their monthly income to cover the cost of an abortion. That is nearly impossible when you're struggling to make ends meet.
Research confirms this -- needing time to raise funds to pay for the procedure or for travel arrangements is one of the top reasons people end up seeking abortions later in pregnancy. laterabortion.org/why-do-women-n…
Read 8 tweets
Steph Herold Profile picture
May 17, 2019
👋🏽 It's me again, here to share more abortion information.

Thread!

1️⃣ It's *medically* safe to take abortion pills on your own without the supervision of a clinician.
2️⃣ It's *legally* risky. People have been arrested for ending their own pregnancies.
3️⃣ If you have questions about your rights, call the @ifwhenhow legal helpline. It is safe and private: reprolegalhelpline.org

4️⃣ If you want to know where to find reputable abortion pills online, @Plancpills has resources: plancpills.org/reportcard
5️⃣ If you need instructions for how to use abortion pills safely, @WomenHelpOrg can help via secure and private messages: abortionpillinfo.org
Read 6 tweets

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