In 2017, we identified 22 plotlines on American television where a character considers getting an abortion, and 11 plotlines where they actually do obtain one. New trends that we noted in 2015 and 2016 have continued: more comedies included abortion plot lines (e.g. Brockmire, Veep, Wrecked); more stories focused on the implications of the abortion (e.g., The Fosters), rather than the fraught decision-making process that has historically been the cornerstone of TV’s abortion stories; more depictions of the actual abortion procedure were shown (e.g., Degrassi: Next Class, GLOW); and more women of color in these stories, as both women obtaining abortions and providers (e.g., Underground, American Crime, Dirty Dancing, How to Get Away with Murder).
For more, read the report Abortion Onscreen in 2017 from our Abortion Onscreen project.