Monday was a holiday, both for Mr. Andi the kids. He opted to take Nathan fishing (a story in itself – be looking for a guest post from Mr. Andi later this week) while Sarah Kate and I stayed home. After the mad rush of the holidays and marathon weekend, I thought I’d spend the day getting caught up on housework. However, the sweet voice of laziness called, and I decided I’d take the quiet opportunity afforded me by the absence of my youngest to catch up on my overfilled DVR.
I had the last three episodes of NBC’s Parenthood, so I decided to start there.
I’ve loved Parenthood since it premiered in the spring of 2010. I loved the realism and the fact that one of the families has a child with special needs (a son with Asperger’s). I could relate in many ways to his mother, played by Monica Potter. I loved the 1989 film upon which the series was loosely based, and have been a faithful advocate for the show. It has been threatened with cancellation every season, but devoted fans like me have pushed to keep afloat. Parenthood has been the dramatic alter ego to one of my other favorites, the ABC comedy Modern Family.
{Spoiler Alert: I’m going to reveal plot details, you’ve been warned.}
Before I started watching “Small Victories,” I had an inkling of what the storyline was going to be. A teenaged couple, Drew and Amy, finds out that she is pregnant, and they must decide what they will do. I’m no dummy…I knew that the odds for that baby weren’t good. But Parenthood has handled many other difficult moments with poignancy, realism, and grace, so I hoped for the best.
Initially, I was pleased.
The couple’s decision was portrayed as difficult and gut-wrenching. In a nod to reality, they expressed fear and sorrow. The male character, Drew, was supportive and not demanding, expressing his devotion to Amy (actions in keeping with his character) – he was, in fact, the only one of the two who indicated a desire to keep the baby. Amy, for her part, was appropriately devastated, both before and after the abortion that she opted to have.
But then they undid all of the good they had done.
When Amy and Drew went to the local Planned Parenthood to confirm the pregnancy and discuss their options, much video and audio time was devoted to The Compassionate Professional in the Roomy Immaculate Office reviewing their options if they were to choose to have the baby. As The Compassionate Professional in the Roomy Immaculate Office shifted to detailing what would happen if they chose abortion, the screen shifted to the teens’ faces, fading out the voice of The Compassionate Professional in the Roomy Immaculate Office.
So much for reality, I guess.
I contemplated turning it off right away, but opted to finish the episode. I didn’t want to give up on one of my favorite shows of all time – a show that I felt had been a powerful advocate for those with disabilities and their families; a show that I had professed my love for on this blog.
The “Small Victories” episode hinted at some of the realities of abortion: that women struggle with the decision to do it, that men have no control over what happens to their unborn children (because it’s a “woman’s choice,” remember?), that abortion destroys relationships (Amy and Drew break up at the end of the episode). But I was left with the distinct impression that, as far as the show was concerned, the Amy’s pregnancy storyline will end there. I didn’t watch the next episode, and deleted both it and my scheduled recording settings from the DVR, but I did read the next episode’s synopsis and saw no mention of the tragic duo.
Did Parenthood intend to advocate for abortion in the “Small Victories” episode?
Some people say yes; others disagree. The fact that Planned Parenthood was featured prominently doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. But regardless, the show skated by on the easy things – portraying abortion as an emotional decision made under duress, which few would argue – and failed at the things that matter. Abortion isn’t a one-and-done proposition that can be adequately covered in a single “very special episode.” The show has devoted what seems like an endless storyline to Lauren’s love triangle (please tell me I’m not the only one weary of it…), but only one to the plight of two young people whose choices would affect them for a lifetime. Of course, that may have been the whole point: to communicate that abortion isn’t that big of a deal. 55 million dead children would likely disagree.
So why did Parenthood air this episode? My guess is that they wanted to gin up controversy and interest in hopes of keeping the show around for another season. Maybe their strategy will succeed, I don’t know.
But I do know that I won’t be watching.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the controversial Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. Though I’ve never shrunk from discussing abortion here – usually in relation to the atrocious rate of abortion of babies with Down syndrome – I wanted it to pass without commentary on my part, because that’s not what this blog is about. Watching the producers of Parenthood cop out on their storyline, though, made me realize I was doing the same by not bringing it up.
I believe that abortion is bad for women (not to mention morally wrong), in all cases. Hard cases exist, such as rape, but aborting a child conceived through rape won’t right the wrong that was done – it simply creates another victim. As for the “health of the mother” cases, I’ve been there. The pain never goes away, and neither does the regret.
And finally, wise words from…our pro-abortion President? Click to watch.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opl0jnKbn5Y&w=550&h=309]
I gave birth to Francis Christoper my dear son 3 years ago. 12 weeks into the pregancy ,our first we found out that Francis had Down Syndrome. The ultrasound technician, my OBGYN(who I had seen and trusted for nearly 10 years), and the gentisit all said we should abort. Being devout Christians( my husband a Episcalpilian priest) and strongly against abortion we knew that we would not. I carried Francis to 32 weeks when I had to have an emergancy c-section. He spent the next ten weeks in the NICU where he then died.He also had severe heart defects and breathing difficulties. The genestist later gave me a very “I told you so” attitude. Now we are proud parents of Kayla Hope ,a seven year old girl with Down Syndrome we adopted from foster care six months ago.
That was a hard pill to swallow. My husband and I have always been and still remain huge fans of the show. Yes, I am very disappointed in that episode, and I bawled my eyes out! It made me ANGRY! But I am still waiting for a follow-up episode to see how they handle it. I am very upset about it, and while I know they are trying to deal with reality and all its different viewpoints and scenarios in life, it was poorly done, like you said. I certainly hope they come up with a redeeming follow-up, but it doesn’t appear likely. Thank you for sharing!
God bless you for this post! I don’t watch the show but I already know that in pro-abortion Hollywood there could NEVER be a different ending to that storyline, which is a tragedy in and of itself. When asked why we should defund PP I always think about how much free advertising they get from a show like this.
i think by them getting rid of the baby is more realistic to what is going on with todays youth. I know as a teenager i always had a plan that if i got pregnant even though i had protection i would chose to end the pregancy. I didn’t and still don’t want to be a mother. i am 30 today and can say that i do not ever want kids but i can feel for the characters in the story. america is a backwards country that shames people into having babies that they dont want,cant afford and adoption is very hard to do in the us. they were smart enough to know a child would ruin their lives. personally i think losing a fetus not evven a person is better then having two good people live their lives in squaler on welfare b/c they were teen parents. now this is hypothetical thinking. but do i support abortion, yes I do. not every unwanted child gets a happy ending. more then not they end up in foster homes suffer from abuses, grow up with criminal records and addictions. if every unwwanted pregnancy could be placed inn the happiest safest home adopted by great parents then fine stop abortion but lets face it neither is going to stop.
I agree with your first point – that aborting the baby is a realistic portrayal of what is actually happening today. But that doesn’t make it okay.
First – I love my country. I don’t find it “backwards” at all, and the country itself certainly does no “shaming” of people into having babies. Quite the opposite, in fact – as you yourself attested, many teenagers opt for abortions, often due to the shame of being pregnant out of wedlock. Families like mine are treated as scofflaws for choosing to bring our children with Down syndrome into the world. As for adoption being hard – yes, it’s very difficult, because there are too few babies to go around for the many couples who wish to have children. International adoptions exploded in this country over the last two decades because so many couples wanted babies but couldn’t find them within our borders.
As to your argument about people living on welfare because they had a baby – you’re making a giant unnecessary leap. Presuming a couple chooses neither abortion or adoption, keeping the baby does not automatically mean they will meet financial and personal catastrophe. When I was teenager, I had three different friends who became pregnant unexpectedly and out of wedlock. All three married the fathers of their babies, and in two of the three cases, I believed their odds to be nigh on to nothing of living happily ever after. They struggled in the early years, to be sure, but they grew up and took responsibility for their lives, and today all three are still married and have been for over two decades – two of the three couples ended up having large families, and while they may not be rich, they are comfortable and happy. Their “surprise” babies have all now graduated from high school and are attending college.
There are many reasons people claim for choosing abortion – cost, shame, etc. – but most, if not all, of them boil down to fear. It is not an easy choice to face your fears head on and move forward when the world around you is telling you there’s an easy way out. But such is the price of being an adult – we must make the hard choices, and we must take personal responsibility seriously. Abortion has been around since the beginning of time, but so has murder, theft, and deception. Just because the human heart is sometimes dark, doesn’t mean we should accept that “anything goes.”