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16 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 216 (2016-2017)
Burying Abortion in Stigma: The Fundamental Right No One Wants to Discuss. Abortion Portrayal on Film and Television

handle is hein.journals/virspelj16 and id is 220 raw text is: VOL.16:2 VIRGINIA SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW JOURNAL SPRING 2017 Note Burying Abortion in Stigma: The Fundamental Right No One Wants to Discuss. Abortion Portrayal on Film and Television Miriam Wayne' INTRODUCTION The fifth season's mid-season finale of Scandal, a drama centered around a crisis management firm solving problems of key political players, portrayed an abortion procedure for the first time on network television. The episode was highly praised for actually portraying the procedure. Shonda Rhimes, creator and showrunner of the hit, is known for pushing the limits and this depiction was no exception. But still, forty-four years after Roe v. Wade,2 where the Supreme Court held that abortion is a fundamental right, abortion is still deeply stigmatized in its portrayals on television and in films. Not only are the portrayals typically buried in stigma - unlike almost any other medical procedure portrayed - but they are muddled with falsehoods and misconceptions about the entire procedure. Even more, the procedure itself is hardly ever shown. Thus, Scandal's depiction of abortion as a normal, unregrettable choice, deserves praise for breaking free from the typical abortion story structure. But the depiction is not without its shortcomings. The character, Olivia, is single, affluent, and involved with multiple men. She chooses abortion because of her career rather than family. Even more, the episode foregoes the inclusion of any of the structural and legal barriers that women face when trying to obtain an abortion. While the portrayal depicts a woman of color, it does not accurately depict the structural barriers women face. Many women must travel immense distances to the nearest clinic and, once they arrive, they may be forced to wait twenty-four, forty-eight, or seventy-two hours from their initial appointment so that they can think about this dectsion.' On top of this, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and most private insurance companies do not cover the cost of an abortion.' These are just a few of the barriers to abortion access. I J.D. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, 2018; B.S., Drexel University, 2015. Editor of the California Law Review, and Managing Editor of the Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law. The views expressed here are solely my own, and no part may be reproduced without my permission. 2 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). Counseling and Waiting Periods for Abortion, Guttmacher Inst. (Oct. 1, 2017), https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/counseling-and-waiting-periods-abortion. Larie Sobel, Alina Salganicoff & Caroline Rosenzweig, Abortion Coverage in Private Insurance Plans Under the American Health Care Act (June 21, 2017), https://www.kff.org/womens-health- policy/issue-brief/abortion-coverage-in-private-insurance-plans-under-the-american-health-care-act/. 216

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