Abortion in Popular Culture: A Call to Action brings together scholars who examine depictions of abortion in film, television, literature, and social media. By examining texts ranging from medical dramas of the 1960s and recent films such as Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Unpregnant to dystopian novels and social-media campaigns, the essays analyze a range of narrative styles, rhetorical strategies, and cinematic techniques, all of which shape cultural attitudes toward abortion. They also analyze cultural shifts, including the willingness or reluctance of networks and cable channels to acknowledge medication abortion and the role that abortion plays in family planning. As a whole, however, the essays argue that popular culture can play a significant role in destigmatizing abortion by including a wider range of narratives and doing so with nuance and empathy. With reproductive rights under attack in the United States, each essay is a call to action for writers, producers, directors, showrunners, authors, and musicians to use their platforms to tell more positive and accurate stories about abortion.
Brenda Boudreau is professor of English at McKendree University. Kelli Maloy is associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh.
Part I: There's No Going Back Chapter 1. "Is That a Test from the Supermarket?":How the Home Pregnancy Test Changed the Representation of Abortion in American Television and Film Karen Weingarten Chapter 2. "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor": Debating Reproductive Rights in 1960s Television Dramas Caryn Murphy Chapter 3. What Post-Roe America Can Learn from the Role of Social Media in the Repeal of Ireland's Eighth Amendment Kelli Maloy Part II: Creating Space for Alternative Narratives Chapter 4. Abortion Politics and the Dystopic Imagination Heather Latimer Chapter 5. Performing Endurance: The Labors of Abortion Access Jaime Leigh Gray Chapter 6. "I'm Offended by All the Supposed-to's:" HBOs Pro-Choice Influence Laura S. Witherington Chapter 7. "I Gave Her Life": Black Women, Abortion, and Healing in Brit Bennett's The Mothers Patrick S. Allen Part III: Call to Action Chapter 8. When Stories Are All We Have: The Role of Television in a Future in Which Abortion is Illegal Steph Herold and Gretchen Sisson Chapter 9. The Abortion Pill and Other Myths: Medication Abortion on Screen Cordelia Freeman Chapter 10. "Abortion is a Mothering Decision": How Television Can Challenge the Good/Bad Dichotomy Brenda Boudreau Chapter 11. "No Bigger than a Baby Bird": Narrating Prochoice Fetal Materiality Jeannie Ludlow
