From Dirty Dancing to GLOW: How abortion on screen has changed

Sandra Oh in Grey’s Anatomy. Promotional image via ABC

Grey’s Anatomy (2011)

Dr. Cristina Yang is one of the most fiercely independent characters on TV. She is consistently a voice of reason and realism on Grey’s Anatomy, so when she discovers that she is pregnant in season 7 and decides that she does not want to keep the baby, she makes it very clear from the start that the decision is hers.

Christina has no qualms about aborting the pregnancy and moving on with her life, but her husband Owen has the total opposite reaction. He is thrilled about the news and vehemently disagrees with her decision to abort. Christina refuses to be swayed and goes through with the procedure, though it does take time because she wants him to understand and support her decision. Ultimately, she wants them to be on the same side, even if she has no desire to carry the pregnancy to term.

That never happens. Owen accompanies Cristina to have the abortion but is angry about it the entire time. Once the procedure is complete, Cristina and Owen have a massive argument wherein she refers to it as “just one surgery” and he accuses her of killing their baby. This difference of opinion leads to their eventual separation.

Cristina is one of only a handful of characters who actually go through with having an abortion in films and TV shows that present the storyline. Her independence seems to be the determining factor in that decision, as it seems unlikely that many of the characters on this list would be willing to stand up to their significant others in the same unbending way that she does.

Grey’s depiction of abortion is realistic insofar as it presents a couple with wholly opposite views on childrearing and abortion, and forces them each to come to terms with what that means for them individually and as a couple.