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

Juno (2007). Still image via Fox Searchlight Pictures

Juno (2007)

The titular character in Juno does not actually get an abortion after she has sex with Paulie Bleeker and gets pregnant. However, her trip to Planned Parenthood is one of the most iconic scenes in the film. After deciding she does not want to keep the baby, Juno takes a trip to the clinic to terminate the pregnancy.

When Juno arrives, she finds one of her peers, Su-Chin, protesting outside. A lot of awkwardness ensues. Su-Chin is holding a sign with a stock photo of an infant that reads, “NO BABIES LIKE MURDERERS.” When Juno eventually extracts herself from conversation to go into the clinic, Su Chin calls after her, “Your baby probably has a beating heart, you know! It can feel pain and it has fingernails!”

The “fingernails” bit is what sticks with Juno. Inside Planned Parenthood, her attempts to fill out her paperwork are totally derailed. She can’t focus on anything but other people’s fingernails. Other people in the waiting room scratch, pick their nails, file their nails, and even paint them. What would normally be unnoticeable background noise consumes her focus and Juno panics. Then she runs out of the clinic, right past Su-Chin. “Your baby thanks you!” she calls as Juno sprints off.

This scene comments on actual protesters outside of Planned Parenthood, who accost patients every day regardless of their reasons for being at the clinic. Abortion protesters often use graphic images and language to argue their point. They also argue for the personhood of unborn fetuses, citing abortion as murder. Remember that episode of Degrassi High? Not much has changed.

Juno does not get an abortion, but the inclusion of this scene in the film is an important commentary on the controversy surrounding the procedure, as well as the shameful stigma.