Response to Riley's "What's the deal with Abortion"

Response to Riley's post found here http://jesusblawg.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-deal-with-abortion.html

Hi Riley!

            Your post on abortion and Seinfeld got me thinking of the discussion we had in class on Tuesday regarding the amount of times abortion has been shown on primetime. Professor Harris mentioned that although over 40 million abortions have occurred in the United States over the past 40 years, only 9 have been broadcasted. Harris mentioned abortions taking place on Maud, All My Children, Degrassi High, Six Feet Under, Weeds, Degrassi the Next Generation, Private Practice and Friday Night Lights. However, I believe that in discussing abortion, one should rather look at the times abortion has been referenced within television and film. As mentioned in one of my previous posts (found here), the popular television series Sex & the City has an entire episode, entitled Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda devoted to abortion. Miranda, one of the four star characters, finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with her ex boyfriend Steve. When the girls meet for their weekly breakfast, Miranda tells them that she is pregnant and is definitely going to have an abortion. Miranda’s announcement opens discussion to how many abortions each woman has had. Charlotte, disgusted at Miranda that she even considering an abortion gets up and storms out.  Sounding like they are talking of shoes, Carrie responds that she’s had one and Samantha has had two. The remainder of the episode is Miranda debating as to if she will have the baby. In the end, Miranda has a beautiful baby boy named Brady. The actors of Sex & the City have also been criticized for supporting Planned Parenthood and giving the proceeds of an auction to the organization.

            A film that I immediately thought of when on the topic of abortion is Dirty Dancing. In the film, one of the lead dancers has an abortion in a back alley with what is described as ‘an old coat hanger’. This was my first interaction with abortion in my early teens. I didn’t really understand what was going on and until I was 15 and watched an abortion video in my grade 10 religion and morality class, I thought that the only place you could get an abortion was in a back alley with a dirty hanger. Seeing the abortion video and pictures of the process of abortion brought the entire class to tears. After this experience, it wasn’t the back alley and coat hanger that disgusted me, but rather that a little human being could be sucked through a vacuum and then disposed into a garbage bin out back. Over the past six years I have become more informed of abortions, including laws and procedures and the platforms for both pro-life and pro-choice organizations. However, that video from grade 10 has stayed engrained in my mind. I am not sure if I disagree with the tactic that my high school used or if in a way it benefited the class to see the reality of what is happening. I just know what I would do if I fell into a situation such as this one, and I believe that it is not up to any other individual to criticize a woman for the choice that she may decide.

- Kathleen :)  

Teen Pregnancy: Media Influence or Bad Parenting?

 

           

     Last weeks lecture on sexuality in media reminded me of one of my pervious posts that can be found here  on the pop culture phenomenon Sex & the City. As found in that post, popularized television series are being blamed for teen pregnancies, abortions and teens having sex at a young age. As mentioned by Professor Harris, 13 of every 1000 pregnancies in Canada involve a teenager, whereas in the United States, 41-42 pregnancies of 1000 are teen (820, 000 in 2010 alone), with the US having the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world. With television programs such as MTV’s Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant, the hardships of teen pregnancy are being undermined by the glory of actually being on television. Something to keep in mind is that the teen stars of the series will eventually have their babies and turn 20. This means that eventually MTV will need a new crop of teen moms auditioning for the show. 

         In June 2008, seventeen girls at Gloucester High School north of Boston intentionally got pregnant after agreeing to a pregnancy pact with none of the girls being over the age of sixteen (in Grade 10). Even more scary, MSNBC reports that the reason for they becoming pregnant is that it was ‘the glamourous thing to do’ due to movies such as Juno and Knocked Up. Additionally, MSNBC reports that usually a quarter of that number (17) is the number of average teen pregnancies at the school. To add to the glamorization of teen pregnancy, Lifetime, has created a made-for-TV movie entitled Pregnancy Pact that is inspired by this story. On primetime, Law & Order: SVU had an episode in season 10 called Babes that followed an investigation of a group of girls who made a pregnancy pact. Liz Goodwin, the assistant editor of The Daily Beast, reports that in 2010, the teen pregnancy rate has actually risen by 3% and is on the rise for the first time in fifteen years. Goodwin mentions the influence of Jamie Lynn Spears, Glee and Bristol Palin, but the lack of television speaking of abstinence, birth control and abortions.

            Last year, my aunt who is an elementary school guidance counselor in Torontp, asked her grade eight girls where they see themselves in five years. Four of the twenty five students answered with a baby. After getting over her initial shock, she then asked why they would want to have a baby in high school and they answered because they would receive ‘free money’ (i.e. welfare) from the government just like their moms did when they had them.

            This begs the question, is it the media that is influencing these girls to get pregnant or rather a lack of guidance from parents, school guidance counselors or is teen pregnancy a vicious cycle with teens being influenced by their mother and grandmothers? 

                              How to tell your parents you are pregnant - a HowTo YouTube video

Is MTV causing teen pregnancy rise? - Liz Goodwin Interview

What Happens When Children are Being Parented by Children? - An Interesting Look at Teen Pregnancy