***Minor Spoiler Alert for the TiVo set***

Last night, while watching Grey’s Anatomy, I actually thought I would see something I haven’t personally seen on TV or in a movie for at least 10 years:  an abortion.

One of the patients who comes to Seattle Grace Hospital is pregnant.  When Izzie tells her, she says she wants an abortion immediately because she is HIV positive and doesn’t want to pass it along to a child.  Well, as it turns out Izzie is able to convince her not to have an abortion because there’s a 98% chance that, with responsible care, the baby will not have HIV when he/she is born.  I assume this is true, but it doesn’t change my point.

Now, I know from a quick trip down Google Lane that Everwood and Six Feet Under featured abortions in the last ten years, but these abortions were not without consequence.  And, there are numerous post-1990 examples of TV shows and movies in which an unplanned pregnancy resulted in a baby.  A partial list follows:  Knocked Up, Father of the Bride II, The Opposite of Sex, Juno, Friends, Dawson’s Creek, The O.C., Felicity, Sex and the City.

I know, these examples don’t all belong in a list of the best of TV and movies, but many of them were popular with the younger crowd who make up the overwhelming majority of people who have to face the decision of whether to have an abortion or not.  I also realize that in some of these cases, the producers and writers chose to continue the character’s pregnancy because it moved the plot along.  But, that still doesn’t change the fact that a baby was born and not aborted.  One other ironic twist to this theory is that Kate Walsh, whose character figured prominently in last night’s Grey’s episode and even in the abortion story line, is staunchly and actively pro-choice.

Given all this, am I way off base here?  Are the TV and movie industries pro-life?  Leave a comment if you disagree or know of an example of an abortion performed in a movie or TV show since 1990.

Correction:  I did see an episode of Showtime’s The L Word that featured an abortion, but TLW is a show known to never let a silly thing like a story get in the way of its message.