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

The Secret Life of the American Teenager promo (2003). Still image via ABC Family

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2010)

The basic premise of The Secret Life of the American Teenager is that sex always leads to pregnancy and should therefore be avoided unless you are ready to raise a child. At least two characters get pregnant, ultimately deciding to carry the babies to term. One of them is the character Adrian Lee, branded as the “slut” of her friend group.

Adrian gets pregnant because of a one-night stand wherein the condom breaks and her birth control does not work because she has not been taking it long enough. When she first suspects that she is pregnant, she adamantly insists that she will abort the pregnancy, though eventually she backs out of that decision and decides to keep it.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager is not very subtle about its anti-abortion message. Although characters purport to understand and utilize effective birth control, accidents do happen. This series takes the stance that no matter how young or unprepared you are to have children, if you have sex and get pregnant, you should follow through by raising the child yourself.

It sends a rather conflicting message about sex education. On the one hand, the characters seem to understand how sex works and what its potential consequences are but on the other, seem wholly unwilling to commit to any decision other than “keep the baby and start a family.” It is a rather backwards way of approaching the issue, especially given how recently the series aired.