Hangers,Potions, and Pills: Abortion Procedures on American Television, 2008 to 2018 |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Texas Policy Evaluation Project, 305 E. 23rd Street, Stop G1800, Austin, TX, 78712;2. Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 2nd Ave. South RPHB 320, Birmingham, AL, 35294;3. Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 1330 Broadway Suite 1100,Oakland, CA, 94612;4. Department of Sociology and Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, UCB 327 Ketchum 195, Boulder, CO 80309;5. Population Research Center and the Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, 305 E. 23rd Street, Stop G1800, Austin, TX, 78712;1. Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC;2. Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY;3. Département de médecine de famille et de médecine d’urgence, Université de Montréal and CRCHUM, Montreal QC;1. Women Help Women, The Netherlands;2. Cambridge, MA, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | BackgroundTelevision portrayals of medical procedures may contribute to patient anxieties and cultural myths. We explored how television depicts abortion procedures, focusing on what these portrayals communicate about abortion access and safety.MethodsResearchers identified all abortion procedure plotlines on American television from 2008 to 2018 through Internet searches. We viewed plotlines and coded for type of abortion, health outcome, and whether the abortion occurred on or off screen. We used inductive content analysis to identify themes.FindingsWe identified 96 television plotlines between 2008 and 2018 in which a character obtains or discloses an abortion. Of these, 39 plotlines (40%) depict some aspect of the abortion procedure. Twenty-three of the 39 abortion portrayals (59%) depict a surgical abortion procedure, of which about one-half were legal abortions and one-half were illegal. Only 7 of the 39 procedure plotlines (18%) portray medication abortions. Five of these plotlines depict illegal abortions; only two depict legal abortions. Four plotlines depict attempted abortions by supernatural means or ingestion of a toxic liquid.ConclusionThe majority of abortions on television are surgical, contrasting with the reality of abortion practice in which one-third of U.S. abortions are by medication. Portrayals of surgical abortion often reinforce the misperception that abortion is a surgical intervention requiring hospitalization. The few portrayals of medication abortion also perpetuate inaccuracies, including that it is easily accessible, uncommon, and dangerous. Portrayals of illegal abortions are overrepresented. This misinformation may seed unnecessary fear for patients before an abortion, and may create confusion among the public about abortion access and safety. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
