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

Dirty Dancing (1987). Still image via Vestron Pictures

Dirty Dancing (1987)

When Johnny’s dance partner Penny gets pregnant in Dirty Dancing, she is reluctant to have an abortion for two reasons. She says that wanting to have an abortion is “wrong.” She also says she does not have the money; an abortion would cost her $250.

Baby takes it upon herself to confront the person who got her pregnant and demand the money from him, but he rebuffs her. Then, she goes to her father, who gives her the money after just a few questions.

Once Penny has been offered the money, she is still reluctant to have the pregnancy terminated because the only day she can see the doctor is the same day as a performance with Johnny. If she does not perform, she misses an entire season’s pay. Baby volunteers to take her place and the plot of this iconic film is born.

Penny’s abortion nearly kills her. The “doctor” who performs the procedure does so with “a dirty knife and a folding table” and Baby has to once again ask her father for help. This time, she needs him to save Penny’s life, because she is bleeding out from the botched abortion.

Dirty Dancing approaches abortion in several ways. It looks at the emotional, physical, and financial ramifications of the decision, as well as how wrong an illegal, back-alley abortion can go. Before Roe v. Wade in 1973 especially, these abortions were the reality for women seeking to terminate pregnancies for any reason. Hemorrhaging was a common occurrence.