History Main / AbortionFalloutDrama

* In ''VideoGame/KathyRain'', the titular protagonist had an abortion in her late teens. Her decision is heavily implied to be based on her own troubled relationship with her parents (her father was a biker [[DisappearedDad who walked out on her and her mother]], and her mother was [[AbusiveParents psychologically abusive]]). Throughout the game, she is haunted by nightmares and visions of an eerie little boy with black hair, who turns out to be the boy she never had due to her abortion. It is, however, up ultimately to the player how Kathy feels about it; through dialogue choices, she can express remorse (both the more and the less wistful version), claim that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo she did what she had to do]], or assert that she did nothing wrong.

involved a character who had suffered through a botched abortion (the episode was again set in the 1960s-in both cases the botched abortions highlighted the trouble criminalizing abortion could cause, rather than serving to punish the characters).

* Played with (neutrally) in the ''VideoGame/DotFlow'' {{poe|try}}m fic ''"Lucky"'' (which is based on a theory), where Sabitsuki (a prostitute in this fic) has had abortions in the past, however, it's not that she has them or whether she's a "good girl", it's that procedures are back-alley ones and, in one such occasion, the procedure (like at least one other before)is botched, which almost kills her and leads to a severe infection, ending her time as a prostitute.

* Inverted in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'': Linda is ostracized because she ''had the baby''. This is a society where conception is done through in-vitro fertilization, motherhood is seen as obscenity, and abortion centers are luxury spas. Linda is so humiliated at the idea of being a mother (she would have aborted had she not gotten trapped in the Savage Reservation) that as soon as she got back to society she took soma until it killed her.

** In [[Recap/ColdCaseS1E16Volunteers “Volunteers”]], Julia helped other women secretly get illegal abortions from qualified doctors instead of dangerous hacks.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''Fallen Women'', the sixth play in the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' series. Playwright Phoebe Roberts postulates that [[spoiler: Jack the Ripper was secretly a skilled abortionist who provided London's elite--including the Royal Family itself--with his services to "clean up" their messes. The Ripper gradually became obsessed with how women's reproductive power "held such sway over men" and, after growing tired of simply killing patients in his office and passing it off as a genuine mistake, started hunting down living victims to capture the thrill of the chase.]]

* In ''Film/{{Dogma}}'', Bethany got a back-alley abortion from another student when she got pregnant in college. The student botched the operation, resulting in a uterine infection which left Bethany unable to bear children; her husband left her when he found this out. This made her lose her faith.

* One ''ComicBook/BitchyBitch'' arc is about how Midge got pregnant as a teenager in the sixties and had to beg, borrow and steal to have a back-alley abortion that she had to hide from her parents. The whole thing is portrayed absolutely horrifically, but an AuthorAvatar [[AuthorFilibuster steps in to explain]] that Midge was still lucky, comparatively speaking, because getting an abortion in her time and place could have gone much, much worse.

* The 2007 Romanian film ''Film/FourMonthsThreeWeeksAndTwoDays'' is about a young woman, Gabita, whose roommate Otilia helps arrange her back alley abortion at a time when Romania was ruled by a communist dictatorship where abortion was illegal. They hire an abortionist, Mr. Bebe, to perform it in a hotel bathroom. The film paints a picture of how risky it was to get an abortion back then; [[SexForServices Otilia has to have sex with Bebe]] after she and Gabita realize they spent some of the money on the hotel room and that she lied about how long she was pregnant, and there is a rather disturbing shot of the aborted fetus in the bathroom.

* ''Series/ColdCase'': Two episodes focused on this, both taking place in the 60s, both with the VictimOfTheWeek who took action after a close friend suffered a botched abortion and became infertile for it (in both cases the botched abortions highlighted the trouble criminalizing abortion could cause, rather than serving to punish the characters).

** In [[Recap/ColdCaseS6E11Wings “Wings”]], Ally’s best friend got an abortion because the {{Double Standard}}s meant she would be fired from her job as a stewardess. When she became infertile, her fiancé left her. Ally decided to start demanding for equal rights for both pilots and stewardesses.

* In ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': [[spoiler:Dr. Julia Ogden]] reveals that she had an abortion and suffered severe complications, which inspired her friend to become an illegal abortionist-in TheGayNineties in Canada where even contraceptive methods are against the law. She has no regrets because there was no way she would want to marry her lover, and she wanted to pursue her studies and career. However, it's later revealed that the abortion has left her barren. It's not clear how much she wants kids herself, but she knows the man she loves longs for a family.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' episode " [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E06BrrapBrrapPewPew Brrap Brrap Pew Pew]]", [[spoiler: Diane]] gets pregnant and immediately decides to get an abortion. While she doesn't regret it, she is emotionally fragile before the procedure and sore afterward. In the episode, she wrangles with the emotional baggage of having to manage a client who just embarked on a tone-deaf pro-abortion campaign, while having a conflict with her boss who has been struggling to maintain a pregnancy without miscarrying. [[spoiler:Diane]] also faces off against protestors at the abortion clinic and forced to jump through ridiculous hoops like watching videos of cute babies and puppies with sad music played over them.

* In [[Recap/ColdCaseS1E16Volunteers “Volunteers”]], Julia helped other women secretly get illegal abortions from qualified doctors instead of dangerous hacks.
* In [[Recap/ColdCaseS6E11Wings “Wings”]], Ally’s best friend got an abortion because the {{Double Standard}}s meant she would be fired from her job as a stewardess. When she became infertile, her fiancé left her. Ally decided to start demanding for equal rights for both pilots and stewardesses.

* ''Series/ColdCase'': One sixth season episode involved a character who had suffered through a botched abortion (the episode was again set in the 1960s-in both cases the botched abortions highlighted the trouble criminalizing abortion could cause, rather than serving to punish the characters).

* The 2007 Romanian film ''Film/FourMonthsThreeWeeksAndTwoDays'' is about a young woman, Gabita, whose roommate Otilia helps arrange her back alley abortion at a time when Romania was ruled by a communist dictatorship where abortion was illegal. They hire an abortionist, Mr. Bebe, to perform it in a hotel bathroom. The film paints a picture of how risky it was to get an abortion back then; [[SexForServices Otilia has to have sex with Bebe]] after she and Gabita realize they spent some of the money on the hotel room and that she lied about how long she was pregnant, and there is {{Gorn}} of the aborted fetus in the bathroom.

* ''Dvě malá křídla tu nejsou'' ("Two Little Wings Are Not Here", a 1974 Czech cover of ''Killing Me Softly with His Song'' with lyrics by Zdeněk Borovec), one of singer Helena Vondráčková's standards, is about a "gentle girl" who has had an abortion. The act itself is referred to obliquely; it is made very clear that she feels both depressed and guilty (one of the verses goes: "That thing seemed to be usual/And now it seems to be a sin"). The whole song is very pessimistic and the music video shows a little girl dancing on a field while the singer walks sadly around a park.[[note]]Given that the music industry in Czechoslovakia during Communism was tightly controlled, one possible explanation for this song is that it might have been written as a piece of propaganda to guilt people into keeping their pregnancies and breeding future citizens.

* The 2007 Romanian film ''Film/FourMonthsThreeWeeksAndTwoDays'' is about a young woman, Gabita, whose roommate Otilia helps arrange her BackAlleyAbortion at a time when Romania was ruled by a communist dictatorship where abortion was illegal. They hire an abortionist, Mr. Bebe, to perform it in a hotel bathroom. The film paints a picture of how risky it was to get an abortion back then; [[SexForServices Otilia has to have sex with Bebe]] after she and Gabita realize they spent some of the money on the hotel room and that she lied about how long she was pregnant, and there is {{Gorn}} of the aborted fetus in the bathroom.

* One ''ComicBook/BitchyBitch'' arc is about how Midge got pregnant as a teenager in the sixties and had to beg, borrow and steal to have a back-alley abortion that she had to hide from her parents. The whole thing is portrayed absolutely horrifically, but an AuthorAvatar [[AuthorFilibuster steps in to explain]] that Midge was still lucky, comparatively speaking because getting an abortion in her time and place could have gone much, much worse.

* One ''ComicBook/BitchyBitch'' arc is about how Midge got pregnant as a teenager in the sixties and had to beg, borrow and steal to have a back-alley abortion that she had to hide from her parents. The whole thing is portrayed absolutely horrifically, but an AuthorAvatar [[AuthorFilibuster steps in to explain]] that Midge was still lucky, comparatively speaking because getting an abortion in her time and place could have gone much, much worse.

* "The Freshman" by The Verve Pipe; the guilt over an abortion drives the ex-girlfriend in the song into taking [[DrivenToSuicide "a week's worth of valium"]].

* In ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'' there's Morgan [=DeWitt=], an ex-girlfriend of Ridge's who came to town still bitter about the abortion she'd had years ago. Flashbacks showed that she had ''wanted'' the baby, but had been browbeaten into terminating the pregnancy by Ridge's [[MyBelovedSmother controlling mother]] Stephanie, who didn't feel that Morgan was good enough for Ridge, nor that the two were ready to take on the responsibility of parenthood.

* ''Dvě malá křídla tu nejsou'' ("Two Little Wings Are Not Here", a 1974 Czech cover of ''Killing Me Softly with His Song'' with lyrics by Zdeněk Borovec), one of singer Helena Vondráčková's standards, is about a "gentle girl" who has had an abortion. The act itself is referred to obliquely; it is made very clear that she feels both depressed and guilty (one of the verses goes: "That thing seemed to be usual/And now it seems to be a sin"). The whole song is very pessimistic and the music video shows a little girl dancing on a field while the singer walks sadly around a park.[[note]]Given that the music industry in Czechoslovakia during Communism was tightly controlled, one possible explanation for this song is that it might have been written as a piece of propaganda to guilt people into keeping their pregnancies and breeding future citizens.[[/note]]

Other times, the drama is in the fallout. The character who got the abortion may suffer physical side effects or even death, or simply be wracked with guilt and question her decision. The abortion can also cause conflict between characters. Often this arises between the parents of the fetus, when they disagreed about whether to have the abortion in the first place or secretly blame each other for the situation. This often leads to a break-up. Other times, the conflict is between the character who got the abortion and her [[TheFundamentalist conservative family or religious community, who may]] [[IHaveNoSon shun or even disown her]].

* ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'': At the start of the ''Jaka's Story'' arc, when Cerebus and his former flame Jaka reunite, he asks about her baby[[note]]when they parted in the previous arc, she told him that she had gotten married and was pregnant[[/note]] and she tells him that she had a miscarriage. However, at the end of the arc, it's revealed that she actually had an abortion without her husband's knowledge, and that she would've had a son, which was what her husband wanted more than anything. Enraged and heartbroken, he punches her out and screams that he never wants to see her again, which the Cirinist government is happy to arrange.

* One ''ComicBook/BitchyBitch'' arc is about how Midge got pregnant as a teenager in the sixties and had to beg, borrow and steal to have a back-alley abortion that she had to hide from her parents. The whole thing is portrayed absolutely horrifically, but an AuthorAvatar [[AuthorFilibuster steps in to explain]] that Midge was still lucky, comparatively speaking, because getting an abortion in her time and place could have gone much, much worse.

* Played with (neutrally) in the ''VideoGame/DotFlow'' {{poe|try}}m fic ''"Lucky"'' (which is based off of a theory), where Sabitsuki (a prostitute in this fic) has had abortions in the past, however, it's not that she has them or whether she's a "good girl", it's that procedures are back-alley ones and, in one such occasion, the procedure (like at least one other before)is botched, which almost kills her and leads to a severe infection, ending her time as a prostitute.

* In the Christian film ''Deadly Choice,'' a doctor's daughter becomes pregnant and is considering an abortion; her father, a Christian, tries to talk her out of it, saying that it is murder. The daughter goes through with it anyway, but feels guilty about it.
* In the Russian film ''Deal'', a ballroom studio owner learns that one of his top female dancers is knocked up only a few months before a major competition. After berating her for not using protection, he asks if it's too late to get an abortion. She says her parents are against it and runs out. At the end, the owner tries to reconcile with his wife, who demanded separation earlier in the movie, only for her to reveal that the real reason she wants to leave him is because he made her get an abortion early in their dance careers. Being young and foolish, she agreed and now regrets it.

* In ''Film/DirtyDancing'', the dancing instructor tries to have an abortion; but because it's TheSixties and they're illegal, it goes horribly wrong. Fortunately the heroine's father is a doctor, so he manages to save her, although it does make for a major misunderstanding. In this case, the girl is still considered "good" both by the audience and the other characters, and the blame is rightly placed on the rich snob who knocked her up and dumped her. Even the heroine's father blames him when he learns the truth.

* ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'': Stacy Hamilton is a flawed but fundamentally good person. However, when she gets pregnant by Mike Damone[[note]]with whom she has sex out of desperation after mistakenly believing Rat has no interest in her[[/note]], an abortion is quickly decided. The drama revolves not on the controversy or ill effects of the abortion, but on Damone flaking on paying his half, and failing to provide a promised ride. It's then exacerbated by Stacy witnessing a demonstration of babies being born at a nearby hospital, which makes her feel very guilty about what she did.

* Downplayed in ''Literature/ThePerksOfBeingAWallflower''. Charlie's older sister gets pregnant as a teen, and has to hide this from her parents and sneaks around to get an abortion. She relies on her friends and brother to help her get the procedure, but this is a source of strength for their relationship rather than conflict. This subplot was excised from the movie.
* In Yulia Voznesenskaya's ''My Posthumous Adventures'', Anna, the main character, has an abortion at eighteen and at first doesn't think of it as anything bad; but she is left infertile, suffers bouts of depression due to it, and often secretly cries watching kids on a playground. After her [[spoiler:clinical]] death, she is judged (among other things) for the child's murder, and shown that had she kept the baby, her boyfriend whom she thought was immature would have married her, and they would have eventually become a happy and loving family.

* In the 2003 ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series there is an episode where a girl wants to have an abortion. But her parents won't let her, and the religious beliefs of the colony she was from before the Cylon attack forbade it despite its legality. Though pro-choice herself, President Roslin understands that there are less than fifty thousand humans left in the ''universe'', and that they will have to grow their numbers if they're to survive as a species. In the end, she outlaws abortion via executive order... after the girl has had her abortion and has applied for asylum aboard ''Galactica'' so she doesn't have to go back to her parents. Baltar, who's running against her for the position of President, immediately seizes on this and makes his campaign pro-choice on the grounds that humanity can't afford to sign away its rights.

* In ''Series/CallTheMidwife'', one episode follows [[Creator/SharonSmall Nora Harding]]'s increasingly desperate attempts to induce abortion. Her story is played utterly for sympathy -- she already has eight children and can hardly afford to feed and shelter them -- and everyone who finds out are only worried that Nora will inadvertently hurt herself in her attempts to abort. The episode deals with the issue of the invention of birth control, and how that would have saved her all of the heartbreak and stress she suffers. Ultimately, Nora resorts to a back-alley abortion and nearly dies from septicemia. Sister Julienne tells Jenny that this is far from the first time she's dealt with the situation, and knows exactly what to tell the doctor so that the woman can get the necessary care without being arrested for an illegal abortion.

* In a Russian teen TV series ''Series/{{Kadetstvo}}'', a Good Girl ponders over the option of abortion, decides to go through with it and sticks to that decision. Her boyfriend objects to that, and she promptly breaks up with him.
* ''Series/TheKnick'': When Cornelia becomes pregnant after having sex with Edwards, he initially reluctantly agrees to perform an abortion so that it will be safe, but then backs out. So she goes to Sister Harriet. He isn't happy with this, but knows that being together is socially impossible, and them running away would mean giving up their lives in New York forever. People who don't know that Edwards is the father suggest that Cornelia pass off the baby as her fiancé's, which she knows [[ChocolateBaby wouldn't work]].

* In ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': [[spoiler:Dr. Julia Ogden]] reveals that she had an abortion and suffered severe complications, which inspired her friend to become an illegal abortionist-in TheGayNineties in Canada where even contraceptive methods are against the law. She has no regrets, because there was no way she would want to marry her lover, and she wanted to pursue her studies and career. However, it's later revealed that the abortion has left her barren. It's not clear how much she wants kids herself, but she knows the man she loves longs for a family.

* ''Series/PleaseLikeMe'': Not only does Claire undergo an abortion, it receives almost an entire episode dedicated to showing her going through the process, dealing with her conflicted feelings about it and discussing them with Josh. All in all, it's an incredibly sensitive portrayal that doesn't diminish how significant a moment it is in her life, while never passing judgement on her for her choice.

* In ''Series/SixFeetUnder'', Claire gets pregnant from her cheating sleazy boyfriend, and ends up having an abortion. There are no ill side effects, but she does end up seeing her baby in the arms of Nate's dead wife in a hallucination/trip to the afterlife/whatever the hell that was.

* Most (though not all) versions of "The Tango Ballad" from Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera make reference to Low-Dive Jenny having become pregnant by Macheath, who then forces her to abort the child. Interestingly, the song suggests that [[MoralEventHorizon this was the thing that ultimately convinced Jenny to break off her engagement to Mac]], even though she reminisces fondly elsewhere in the song about Mac having pimped, stolen from and beaten her repeatedly.

* In ''VideoGame/KathyRain'', the titular protagonist had an abortion in her late teens. Her decision is heavily implied to be based in her own troubled relationship with her parents (her father was a biker [[DisappearedDad who walked out on her and her mother]], and her mother was [[AbusiveParents psychologically abusive]]). Throughout the game, she is haunted by nightmares and visions of eerie little boy with black hair, who turns out to be the boy she never had due to her abortion. It is, however, up ultimately to the player how Kathy feels about it; through dialogue choices, she can express remorse (both the more and the less wistful version), claim that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo she did what she had to do]], or assert that she did nothing wrong.