It has made headlines in many places, including the New York Times: A teenage TV character on Friday Night Lights decided to have an abortion. And actually had one.
Citing fictional pregnant women from Sex and the City, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Juno, the Times article said that most of the time TV shows don’t actually have the characters get the abortion, however FNL opted to “maintain its commitment … to the world it renders … understanding that economics dictate everything.”
Sophomore Becky Sproles — herself the product of a teen mom who’s had to economically struggle since having Becky, and who resented becoming a mother so early — had a one night stand with star football player Luke Cafferty which resulted in a pregnancy. She hemmed and hawed about what to do. She confided in Tim Riggins, the guy who’s running an illegal chop shop with his brother (not that she knows this), and Tim told her she really ought to talk to her mom.
When Becky said she didn’t want to, he took her to speak with Dillon’s every-mom, Tami Taylor. Tami was Switzerland. She took no position either way, just ticked off a list of Becky’s options, including getting free health care at a teen clinic or going to a local adoption agency. “What if I don’t want to have the baby?” Becky asked hesitantly.
Tami said, “I can direct you to literature.”
Becky’s mother, who works most nights at a bar to make ends meet, wasn’t as neutral as Tami. Not at all. “She’s not having a baby,” the mother told the doctor at the clinic whom she believed saw her and Becky as trash. “She’s having an abortion.”
Even though Luke — who told his church-going parents that he’d gotten Becky pregnant — wanted to try to make it work and told her they could help raise their baby together, by the time he called Becky she’d already made up her mind and had the abortion.
The most vivid recollection I have of a TV teenager deciding to have an abortion — not counting the pregnancies that proceeded to births on The Secret Life, 16 and Pregnant, Glee, and Private Practice — was in the second season of Party of Five when Julia Salinger got impregnated by her boyfriend Justin.
Julia wanted to have an abortion, had an appointment to get one in fact, despite pressure from her friend Sarah who was adopted, and said if her mom had had an abortion she wouldn’t have been born. Claudia, Julia’s little sister, also expressed her deep disappointment at the decision. However, just before the appointment, which was supported by her older brother Charlie (before he became Jack Shephard and got stranded on an island), Julia had a miscarriage, which some felt was a cop-out.
How do you think Friday Night Lights‘ decision — to have Becky go through with the abortion — will play out with its fans?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Jul 12, 2010 @ 16:30 EST5EDT
Party of Five’s direction is the ultimate cop out.
I’m looking forward to your reaction has this storyline plays out the rest of the season.
I have to disagree that the way Party of Five handled it was a cop-out. I was young at the time (maybe 15?), and I don’t think I was aware of the political ramifications of “will they or won’t they on network TV”. But I do remember Julia’s struggle and her decision to have an abortion. In fact, I vividly remember her conversation with Claudia after she had already miscarried. She told Claudia that had she not miscarried, she would have had the abortion, which (at the time) I thought was an interesting choice, given that she knew Claudia felt strongly against it. She could have said “I don’t know”, or “No”, given that there would not be any actual baby ramifications to deal with, but she chose to tell Claudia the truth about her decision, I think because of the fact that it was important that she did come to a decision.
Maybe you consider it a cop-out since she didn’t actually need to go through with it; but she had gone through the agonizing process of deciding what to do, and more importantly, came to a decision, before the miscarriage happened.
I think its fabulous. I honestly don’t understand why the majority of those in entertainment fall on the side of liberal, but are afraid to portray an abortion. Its jut not logical. Kudos to FNL for portraying something REAL that happens every day.
The real cop out in entertainment is the “we’ll all come together in a village of love and raise the baby together.” When does that ever happen? And if it does, is it really as rosy as pictured? I think its horrendous to give girls the idea that it could be like that…that they don’t portray abortions or unsupportive family leading to a hellish experience just keeps girls from understanding the realities of pregnancy.
I am also awaiting the end of the second pregnancy on Secret Life. She left for the clinic in the last episode. Abortion, miscarriage or birth? Given Brenda Hampton’s obvious faith, if she goes through with the abortion, I will be impressed.
Ivey hinted at it – there’s more coming and the abortion was necessary for that storyline. What’s great about FNL is how they get a new character on the show and integrate her into the existing universe in this very believable way. It’s something that actually does happen to teenagers and it’s great that finally a show is able to portray it in a way that you can believe, without preaching or anything, especially because Connie Britton does such a superb job.
The show neither advocates for or against the abortion, exactly in the way a teacher should if you believe in the seperation of church and state. Of course that’s not how it is in the world and that’s where the (needed) conflict stems from.
I don’t think that it’s necessary to talk about the plot in any more detail. The show manages to not use it for show, it does a terrific job implementing it and the actors and the team deserve their emmy nominations for taking on a subject that is delicate. This show always was about difficult topics and this is another one. Nothing more, nothing less. They had drugs, murder, love and death on the show and now abortion. It’s part of life (unfortunately) and therefor it’s good to handle it in a way that is actually tasteful (compared to the way “Family Guy” handled it, which IMHO was way too controversial. No wonder Fox didn’t chose to air the episode)
This show continues to impress me with the mature way it handles real situations.
I got that Becky wanted to keep the baby; and I also got that she realized how hard it would be for both her and it.
Well done, show.