--- title: See How Depictions of Abortion in Movies and TV Have Changed description: In movies and TV shows, depictions of abortion have become less negative and more realistic in recent years. canonical: https://time.com/6193797/abortion-movies-tv-depictions/ author: Andrew Johnson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-07-06T21:38:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:37:06.071Z article:section: History og:title: Here's How Depictions of Abortion in Movies and TV Shows Have Changed Over the Years og:description: Sociologist Gretchen Sisson traces the history of abortions on screen back to the 1916 silent film Where Are My Children?, about a woman who has been rendered infertile after having multiple abortions. og:url: https://time.com/6193797/abortion-movies-tv-depictions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bc288a15200a672/698a3373db29873363267fa2/unpregnant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: unpregnant og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Depictions of Abortion in Movies and TV Shows Have Changed Over the Years twitter:description: Sociologist Gretchen Sisson traces the history of abortions on screen back to the 1916 silent film Where Are My Children?, about a woman who has been rendered infertile after having multiple abortions. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bc288a15200a672/698a3373db29873363267fa2/unpregnant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Depictions of Abortion in Movies and TV Shows Have Changed Over the Years > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=b72e547d-7a00-4e33-b0d6-7e478e6c51fd&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=b72e547d-7a00-4e33-b0d6-7e478e6c51fd&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A History of How Abortion is Shown in Film and Television [Watch (HLS stream): A History of How Abortion is Shown in Film and Television](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ca77dTts.m3u8) (8:41)  _Published 2022-07-05. TIME explores abortion and how it's covered across media; from films that tell cautionary tales and depict the procedure as life-upending to more compassionate pieces that portray the varied experiences of women._ by [Video by Andrew D. Johnson](https://time.com/author/andrew-johnson/) and [Text by Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Jul 6, 2022 9:38 PM UTC TIME explores abortion and how it's covered across media; from films that tell cautionary tales and depict the procedure as life-upending to more compassionate pieces that portray the varied experiences of women. by [Video by Andrew D. Johnson](https://time.com/author/andrew-johnson/) and [Text by Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Jul 6, 2022 9:38 PM UTC States across the country are working to [restrict access to abortion](https://time.com/6190995/abortion-future-after-roe/) and, critics say, drive it underground, after [the Supreme Court overturned _Roe v. Wade._](https://time.com/6190225/feminist-industrial-complex-roe-v-wade/) But, in movies and TV shows, [depictions of abortion](https://time.com/5799385/abortion-onscreen-representation/) have become less negative and more realistic in recent years. Gretchen Sisson, a sociologist who compiled [a database of movies with abortion storylines](https://www.ansirh.org/research/ongoing/abortion-onscreen), traces this history back to the 1916 silent film _Where Are My Children?,_ about a woman who has been rendered infertile after having multiple abortions. Starting around the 1930s, films had to adhere to a set of requirements for onscreen conduct called the [Hays Code](https://www.npr.org/2008/08/08/93301189/remembering-hollywoods-hays-code-40-years-on), and abortions had to be depicted as the wrong decision. Primarily from the late 1960s onward, once those film industry requirements became defunct, movies went on to depict the various understandable reasons why women would want to have an abortion and to make the process seem doable and not pitiable. Sisson especially credits showrunner [Shonda Rhimes](https://time.com/6132884/shonda-rhimes-profile/) with doing a standout job on this front in her shows [_Grey’s Anatomy_](https://time.com/4022848/mcdreamy-greys-anatomy-death/)_,_ [_Scandal_](https://time.com/collection/women-of-the-year/6150547/kerry-washington/)_,_ and [_Bridgerton_](https://time.com/5922654/bridgerton-review-netflix-shonda-rhimes/)_._ The 2019 film _Saint Frances_ is one example of a movie that sought to provide a realistic look at what it’s like to have an abortion by taking a medication versus undergoing a surgical procedure. It’s based on the writer Kelly O’Sullivan’s experience getting an abortion in her early 30s. “I think there are probably still a lot of people out there who don’t know exactly what an abortion might entail,” Sullivan says. By featuring a character who gets an abortion by popping a pill, she wanted to make the movie so that “people who might want to seek abortions in the future don’t feel scared.” ## Transcript Hey, I'm just a big show generations of filmmakers have to pick that the issue of abortion from stories about a legal procedures to perfectly legal and uneventful abortions and even the abortion pill. So following the Supreme Court decision to strike down row. How will a new reality in America begin to make its way onto screens pressure. Goes? Abortion in Phil is not new. Perhaps the earliest example, is the 1916 movie, where are my children in this film? Based on the trial of Planned Parenthood? Founder Margaret Sanger a lawyer Prosecuting, an illegal provider, finds out that his own wife has had multiple abortions, which is rendered her infertile the movie simultaneously. Argues a racist and eugenic point that birth control is important for someone. But that wealthy women who choose abortion or selfish early films, often told cautionary tales depicting. The procedure is traumatic and life up ending, but over the years storylines and movies have begun to evolve to become more compassionate and certainly more accurately display, the varied experiences of women and the realities of abortion. Let me local, okay. My experience with abortions on film is like in European films that scarred me for life, you know, just, you know, like the the did truly the backroom abortion scene work together on the film. Saint Francis, the movie follows a nanny and juxtaposes her taking care of a child during the day while just making the decision to terminate her own pregnancy. A lot of what I had an abortion when I was in my early thirties and all of the TV and install might seem that had to picked it up, orschlens made it seem really scary. And when I went through the actual process I felt relieved. I found the process to be while complicated actually pretty simple. And so I really wanted to show, you know, quote-unquote normal abortion isn't surrounded by traumatic events and that doesn't involve a lot of hand-wringing and doubt and regret but a woman knowing immediately or person know immediately but it wasn't the right time. Today, I found some clothes with fresh blood on them and I just was second, try to hurt herself or her mind. no, I had an abortion, a couple of months ago and I've been bleeding off and on ever since then that's too much. I feel like in must he be in thong. We've seen the woman really spend a lot of time questioning her decision and I'm sure that happens to many women in real life, but it has been a pretty monolithic exploration of doubt in terms of abortion as so. I wanted to show the other version which is I'm pregnant. I'm not going to have this baby because I don't think that either the lack of doubt, the lack of regret. Shonda Rhimes has just been like a complete game-changer for how we portray abortion on network television. Start making decisions about and talking about why it was important to her to be abortion provider and actually the first and then the second show to actually show the full of working procedure on screen and had intentions of managed abortion and see her absolute commitment to this type of Storytelling has I think really open doors for a lot of other writers and content creators who want to include that on network TV. Should be here. I should not be here. Walk down the street in and open the door and Waltz right in and say hello. My name is Veronica, my boyfriend is an asshole. Here's my $500. Elf, I already been on that journey of trying to normalize my own abortion and then this this book came to me and it felt like a perfect way to take the next step and really get to share my perspective, my heart, Rachel Lee Goldberg is the director of unpregnant her film details. The Adventures of a 17 year, old pregnant teen and ex-best friend as they travel from Missouri to New Mexico, to get an abortion idea of of this, not having to be a sad thing and it can just be something with the Central and something that happens is, is really, is, is important, is a perspective, it's real, it's a comedy, but the comedy in the, in the film largely comes from making fun of the journey. And that's, you know, that's how I feel very confident in saying that it's bullshit that these people have to travel this far, to get a procedure. A medical procedure unpregnant was made in 2020, but following the Supreme Court's decision in 2020 to abortions in Missouri are now permitted. Alien cases of medical emergency, there are no exceptions for rape or incest under the law. Abortion is still legal in New Mexico, which is readying to become a destination for women. Seeking care depictions of a board come a long way since the infancy of Hollywood and the institution of the Hays code in 1930, the Hays code was the system of self-censorship for filmed, requiring movies to be wholesome and more. If the character had an abortion in the movie, The Hays code required that they'd meet an unhappy ending, usually characters died, or abandon or ultimately chose not to have an abortion. The Hays code officially ended in 1968. Paving the way for more diverse coverage of abortion. Dirty Dancing continues to be one of my favorite abortion stories, that that is an American film. I just love it because I love it. That the whole plot of the movie is only propelled by tiniest friends, desire to help her, some help support her get an abortion, right? To help pay for the abortion. Help. Cover her day off of work and to help her see that abortion turns out to be dangerous and ends really support or network is really the driving force for the whole film. Is the battle to secure Reproductive Rights ramps up, and individual states. The role that films and TV can play in the battle for public opinion, may be more essential than ever to what comes next. I think, demystifying the process. I didn't know before I went and got a medication abortion, that that was even possible. I assumed it was going to be Surgical and so I think they're probably still a lot of people out there who don't know exactly what an abortion might entail for them. And we wanted to show the process of putting the pills in your cheek and let him know to dissolve and then you might get sick and and the recovery process so that people can feel seen before and the people who might want to see the horses in the future, don't feel scared of speaking for myself. I'm already on to my next for some project deep deep in abortion project number to right now. So you know I'm hoping that other people will be compelled to do the same you know, as as artists and filmmakers are people in Media. More and more specific stories, which I think is the trend that were seeing already. But I hope this lights of fire and, you know, maybe those storytellers who have stories to tell their sugar burning inside. You're compelled to tell them now, we're already seeing it, but I'm I'm, I'm excited for that next stage of of stories to be told. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6193797/abortion-movies-tv-depictions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6193797/abortion-movies-tv-depictions/"},"headline":"Here's How Depictions of Abortion in Movies and TV Shows Have Changed Over the Years","datePublished":"2022-07-06T21:38:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:37:06.071Z","description":"Sociologist Gretchen Sisson traces the history of abortions on screen back to the 1916 silent film Where Are My Children?, about a woman who has been rendered infertile after having multiple abortions","url":"https://time.com/6193797/abortion-movies-tv-depictions/","keywords":["Media","video","nationpod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bc288a15200a672/698a3373db29873363267fa2/unpregnant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Video by Andrew D. 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