TV Producers Call For More On-Screen Abortions

Television producers are upset that not enough abortions are happening during primetime and want to give it more positive representation.

Speaking on a panel this past weekend at the ATX Festival, television producers such as Rina Mimoun (“Everwood”) and Mauricio Mota (“East Los High”) called for more shows to feature abortions while condemning the lack of representation as “controlling women.”

The “Her Body, Her Choice” panel, presented by USC’s Hollywood Health & Society organization, discussed the importance of featuring storylines that talk about abortion, albeit in a way that benefits the feminist agenda. Mimoun and Mota have both explored the topic on their shows.

“It’s very important to talk about abortion, but it’s important to talk about the systemic things related to abortion,” said Mota.

Mimoun said that abortion should be treated more casually, like an everyday thing. “It would be nice if it was just part of the conversation and didn’t have to be so special and so earnest and so important,” said Mimoun.

The two producers held up “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Scandal,” and “Friday Night Lights” as the gold standard for shows that feature abortion. “Scandal” became famous for featuring the main character, Olivia Pope, undergoing an abortion as “Silent Night” played in the background.

A show they did not appreciate, however, was NBC’s hit series “This Is Us” for their “bizarrely missed opportunity” of not featuring a discussion about abortion when characters Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) find out she’s pregnant. For some reason, Mimoun thinks that such a couple “would’ve talked about it.”

“If that was a woman’s show, would that scene on the floor of the hotel room have been different? Maybe,” said Mimoun.

​Mota said that the absence of abortion plot lines is “about controlling women” and “abortion is just one of the facets of society’s search to control women.”

As noted by LifeSiteNews, abortion controls women in only one way: eliminating future women populations.

“Everyone is so afraid to be earnest or afraid to be like preachy or teach-y. There are so many things and they’d rather be salacious,” said Mimoun. “They’re trying to shock you into watching their shows and there aren’t as many people that are [embracing] the challenge of educating. It’s an opportunity that we have.”

“It’s an amazing chance and every time you waste it or you blow it or you go in the other direction and message them terribly for no reason except that you want the ratings, shame on you is what I say,” she added.

Of course, this grave injustice can be corrected by only one thing: more female writers.

“A lot of times, it doesn’t affect men in their minds in the same way so it’s either fear-based, it’s a little bit of apathy, it’s that, ‘It’s not my problem,'” Mimoun said of abortion. She also called for “as much diversity in every possible way onscreen” to “reflect the world that we live in.”