Abortion on Prime Time

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Two young doctors not in a relationship have a one night stand, and she gets pregnant. What are the odds that, whatever they decide to do about the pregnancy, abortion wouldn’t be considered, even if just in passing, as an option? If they’re TV characters, the odds are 100%. Last night’s episode of Scrubs and the entire season of The Nine have made that clear. The two shows are just the latest in a long tradition of being almost completely silent in prime time about a procedure that 48% of American women between the ages of 15 and 44 over a third of American women have at least once in their lifetime.
– David S. Cohen

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0 Responses to Abortion on Prime Time

  1. plainbelliedsneetch says:

    I couldn’t agree more with this post; however, the quoted statistic is inaccurate. The cite actually states that, “Each year, two out of every 100 women aged 15–44 have an abortion; 48% of them have had at least one previous abortion.” That’s 48% of the 2% who have abortions each year, not 48% of women aged 15-44. The wording is ambiguous, but the next statistic makes it clear: “At current rates more than one-third [of women] will have had an abortion by age 45.”

    Apart from that, point taken.

  2. Good point. I thought off the top of my head it was more like 40%, but I misread that source for the 48%. I’ll go back and correct it. Thanks.

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