Can anyone recall any storyline in film / TV where a woman decides to have an abortion......

The only one I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is Polly in Bodies. It's a while since I watched it though. If I remember rightly she had an abortion using pills which she administered herself. I don't remember any adverse consequences. Although like I say it's about 6/7 years since I saw it. Also not the most true to life example.

Not a film, but in Caitlin Morans book 'How to be a Woman' she writes about having an abortion simply because she felt her family was already complete and that she has never regretted it. I found out about her book because some women at work were discussing how scandalous it was that she felt no shame and that they couldn't finish the book. Plenty of similar comments in the Amazon reviews section too. I think it's refreshing that a woman could just get it done and carry on with life without feeling she has to metaphorically beat herself with birch twigs over it. Mistakes happen.

sieglinde sorry, but you and your modern history teacher are both wrong about the scene where the emcee holds Sally Bowles's breasts.

Sally is pregnant by Max, or Brian, who have also slept together in Cabaret.

An episode of Family Guy Lois has an abortion

Interesting how few genuinely positive examples there are. And how loaded to last minute "saves" the rest are...

Jal in Skins. Even though her partner had died, she still went through with it, had no regrets, went to uni.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High. No regrets or "punishment" there either.

The Almighty Johnsons (NZ show) a character's boyfriend breaks up with her and she decides not to continue with the pregnancy and it's treated in a matter of fact way.

Oh yes, I did see The Slap, agree it was really good. Anouk wasn't it, who had the abortion? Shame that she had to be "punished" by splitting up with boyfriend though (I know this is a stereotype and there will be exceptions but I think most men that age would be relieved if their GF decided to abort, so I'd have preferred to see that storyline, both as it's more realistic and to avoid the usual "abortion always has negative consequences" message)

Did anyone see The Slap? The Australian drama that was on TV a little while back. One character had an abortion, knowing full well that it was probably her last chance to have children. There was emotional fall out (she broke up with the much younger father, who was devastated) but she didn't regret it and ended up pursuing her ultimate dream to be a writer.
Excellent series.

Yeah I saw it as just as much a "punish the pretty girl for having sex" move as punishment for the abortion per se.

DoctrineofSnatch dh and I had a very lengthy conversation about that scene. We both hated that she was shown to commit suicide. I think she did it as her parents are politically famous, and Catholics, and there would be a negative judgement if it was known that she was pregnant and/or had an abortion. BUT she commits suicide....that would cause equal negative judgement for the family, both politically and religiously. Dh felt that the abortion messed with her mind and she made a rash decision. But then, that casts abortion in the evil corner again.

I really remember Michelle in Eastenders. She really didn't want the baby. I remember the procedure was shown in detail - she was given a choice to have a general or to be conscious - and it was all sensitively done iirc. I don't think she regretted it - but Lofty was upset and I think he left her.

Why in the name of arse can I remember that so clearly?

There's a horrible "Hooray, she's changed her mind because the abortion receptionist is such a callous bitch!" scene in a Fay Wheldon novel. I think it's The Hearts and Lives of Men?

Agree that Lizzie in The Archers was realistic.

Oh and didn't Christina on Greys Anatomy have an ectopic pregnancy rupture? (after she had planned the abortion) So fits neatly into B) in the OP .

All I can think of is the journalist in Borgen. After what happened to the baby's father, I kept expecting she would dramatically change her mind, but she doesn't.

But I think it is a bit like labour - dramatic waters breaking, rush to hospital. It doesn't reflect women's real life experience, just one stereotype which writers like to think is dramatic.

I agree she didn't regret the abortion but I hated the treatment of women in The Ides of March - and the suicide outcome did feel like a judgement on her character.

Ides Of March.

Young intern gets pregnant by presidential candidate (it is implied that it is rape, or at least not entirely consensual). Her partner lends her money for an abortion. Then when he loses his job (works for the presidential candidate) he threatens to use that knowledge against him.

The girl commits suicide because she's terrified it will come out in the media. But it is never shown that she regrets the abortion.

Good thread. I can't think of exceptions, but there are bloody loads of films/TV programmes where the character changes her mind at the last second, and this is seen as a "happy ending" .

I agree with drjohnson that it is perfectly possible, indeed common, to have an abortion and not regret it, and this message should be more widely expressed to counteract the prevailing "wisdom" that any woman who has one will be wracked with guilt afterwards.

Didn't the receptionist in Doctors have a chemical one last year after she got pregnant after her dh's vasectomy healed? There was a lot of upset, but I think that was down to her dh accusing her of having an affair.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the graphic novels that Joss Whedon wrote after the series finished. It got a lot of negative publicity in the US.

No, you're right Guybrush. She did, and it was because she thought Joel Grey might be the father. Creepy. I remember my modern history teacher pointing that out to all of us; we hadn't noticed her decision-making reverie where there's a scene where Grey puts his arms around her.

It was a while ago so I can't remember the details but I'm sure Liza Minelli in Cabaret had an abortion and I remember thinking at the time that it was handled really well- emotive but not deemed as an unacceptable response to her situation.

Again I might be mis-remembering

Sorry - Paul ZINDEL

My Darling My Hamburger, by paul Zibndel. Crappy backstreet abortion, but it works out in the end IIRC.

The Delinquents, a dodgy Kylie Minogue film of around 1990. She gets a back street abortion after getting knocked up as an off the rails teenager, IIRC. Actually it was the first time I'd really encountered the idea of abortion so it was a useful formative experience.

Can I mention a book? The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble has a character who is upset by her abortion for a while but who gets on with life after a bit.