True feminism means the choice whether to have sex and use protection rests with the woman.

Which is why your organization wants to make almost all our reproductive choices illegal, right?

I saw the movie as pro-choice. It was the girl’s decision to have the baby and give it up for adoption. No one forced her to do anything. Remember, it’s pro-CHOICE, not pro-abortion.

This is from Cabaret, a movie that I think it is actually the opposite of movies like Juno. In Cabaret, they have a few moments of fantasy that the baby could be a good thing in their lives, and then Liza Minelli’s character realizes that her life that is not really about being a mother, and even though it’s fucked up, she loves that life. And oh yeah, MIchael York (the dad) probably will leave her for a man. So, she sees the fantasy “what if I keep it?” moment for what it is: Fantasy.

Excellent points. I remember loving that movie when it came out (I was in the 7th grade) but not necessarily understanding that whole bit of it. I knew about abortion, knew it was once illegal, but had no idea what the ramifications were for women back then.

My mother was the one who talked to me about it and told me that what “Penny” the dancer went through was what A LOT of women went through back then and nobody really gave a damn. It was she who introduced me to the term “back-alley” and then told me a great aunt of mine had one, but could not have children afterwards. That she nearly died from it, but recovered in silence at home. when she wanted children years later, when she was ready for them, she couldn’t have them.

Then my mother told me that she could have suffered the same fate, but was lucky enough to travel to NYC in the early 70′s to have a safe, legal one (she had to travel from Illinois). By no means was she wealthy, but she told her parents (my grandparents) and without hesitation they helped her out and helped her get the safe, legal care she needed and wanted.

But it really hit home and painted a picture of what it was like, the risks women took – and the risks some doctors took.

Another great flick on how abortion can work out is Cider House Rules In it you can see how safe legal care saves lives, how illegal back-alley care (or home remedies) kill…and how a world that is purportedly “pro-life” lets children languish, sans family in an orphanage.

And subsequently, when she’s recovering, she informs the main characters that Jerry Orbach says there’s been no permanent damage to her reproductive system, and she’ll still be able to get pregnant in future. And she’s HAPPY about that. Thrilled, in point of fact. Which was pretty earth-shattering to my 12-year-old self. Being 12, my opinion re: abortion was pretty much, “Babies are cute. Anybody who doesn’t like babies is mean. So ladies shouldn’t have abortions.” Watching that movie I suddenly realised that hey, “She does like babies, and she wants to have them one day. But she can’t have one RIGHT NOW.” The character’s boyfriend was refusing to have anything to do with her, she would’ve lost her job if her pregnancy had been discovered, and she would’ve had great difficulty in finding another job. So she was pretty much fucked either way. She couldn’t afford to support a child, and she couldn’t get a safe, legal abortion, so her most viable choice was to go with the illegal kind and cross her fingers the guy doing it was halfway competent.

It was actually a very feminist subplot. Shame the main plot of the movie was so…generic. But I kind of doubt such a movie would get made today and be a mainstream studio movie. Or if it were, it would be extremely controversial. I don’t recall there being any public fuss over the abortion subplot (although again, 12, so I could just not have been paying attention). And I don’t recall any of my friends at the time who’d also seen the movie finding said subplot particularly noteworthy or shocking. Mostly it wasn’t really talked about, because it was pretty much just a plot device to further the Twoo Wuv of the leads. But despite being a small part of an otherwise very conventional movie, it was actually pretty subversive, in retrospect. And had a pretty major impact on my way of thinking.

I’m just trying to think of a movie concept where abortion would be the best choice for the character’s situation, she chooses to take it, and there’s still a movie worth making a movie about.

There’s a Canadian movie called Parsley Days that fits that description. Not the best movie ever, but shows that it can be done.

>:|

I’m just trying to think of a movie concept where abortion would be the best choice for the character’s situation, she chooses to take it, and there’s still a movie worth making a movie about.

In real life, Minnesota’s parental consent law requires the consent of both of the pregnant girl’s parents, even if one of them has given up custody. So you could have a road trip movie in which Juno and her father went to find her absentee mother to beg her for permission for Juno to have the abortion. That’s the best idea that I could come up with.

But I like the movie that got made, and I really don’t care what delusional anti-choice jerks thought about it. I refuse to let delusional anti-choice jerks ruin perfectly entertaining pop culture for me.