Abortion is a common and safe gynaecological procedure. Yet in film and television it is
disproportionately represented as risky, violent, requiring hospitalisation, and affecting
young, white, wealthy women. This reinforces stigma, fear and misunderstanding
surrounding the procedure. While the majority of television storylines still ...
Abortion is a common and safe gynaecological procedure. Yet in film and television it is
disproportionately represented as risky, violent, requiring hospitalisation, and affecting
young, white, wealthy women. This reinforces stigma, fear and misunderstanding
surrounding the procedure. While the majority of television storylines still inaccurately
portray abortion, a small minority are directly showing abortion and presenting it as a positive
decision. This paper analyses four such storylines in the television shows Sex Education, Shrill,
GLOW, and Euphoria, as well as media discourse around these plotlines, to understand how
contemporary, ‘feminist’ television shows are representing abortion. The paper argues that
contemporary television is increasingly representing abortion in an empathetic way that
upholds women’s choice to access abortion, but that these portrayals can be read as postfeminist.
Individual choice and empowerment are prioritised in these shows at the expense of showing the
complex and unequal power structures that affect how women make
reproductive choices. ‘Feminist’ television still prioritises the abortion storylines of young,
white women who face no obstacles to abortion access and so the realities of abortion are
still not fully represented on screen.