“Dirty Dancing” to “Knocked Up”: Abortion in the movies
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2022
⏱️ 46 minutes
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Summary
How aborition in the movies changed the way Americans think about reproductive rights. And a dispatch from Queen Elizabeth II’s jubilee celebrations in London.
Read more:
As we wait to hear how the Supreme Court rules on abortion access in America, we’ve been reflecting on what has and hasn’t change since Roe. v Wade was decided almost 50 years ago. Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post’s film critic, looked at how the film industry has portrayed abortion since the landmark ruling in 1973. After watching movies like “Dirty Dancing,” “Juno,” “Knocked Up” and “Obvious Child,” Hornaday says she noticed a “strange evolution,” in how Hollywood’s depiction of abortion has changed over time.
This week marks Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th year on the throne. The Platinum Jubilee celebrations are taking place all across the United Kingdom. Karla Adam, a correspondent based in London, reports on what this anniversary signifies for the future of the British monarchy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So the movie knocked up came out in 2007. I would have been 17 at the time, so I was just |
| 0:09.2 | barely old enough to buy myself a ticket to see it in theaters. And I remember thinking |
| 0:13.9 | that this movie was so funny. So it's about a guy and a lady and they have this one night |
| 0:20.0 | stand and she gets pregnant and then they have to figure out what to do and how to take |
| 0:24.5 | care of a baby together. And the scene that I thought was so funny was this moment where |
| 0:30.6 | the guy who's played by Seth Rogan, he kind of talks to his group of stoner friends about |
| 0:36.4 | his predicament. And one of them offers this idea that he's not really allowed to say. |
| 0:42.1 | So he has to use a code word. I think it's awesome that you're going to have a kid, man. |
| 0:47.2 | Think about it like this. It's just excuse to play with all your old toys again. You |
| 0:51.4 | know what I think you should do? Take care of it. Tell me you don't want him to get an |
| 0:56.2 | A word. Yes, I do. And I won't say it for a little baby years over there, but it rhymes |
| 1:00.9 | with smush morse. I'm just saying, hold on, Jay, cover your ears. You should get a smush |
| 1:05.8 | morse man at the smush morse man clinic. The thing that I really remember about this |
| 1:10.4 | scene is that it planted a little flag in my 17 year old brain that even in the company |
| 1:17.5 | of people who believe that abortion should be safe and accessible and legal, they're always |
| 1:22.8 | still a little bit shameful and that they're probably not something that you should talk |
| 1:26.5 | about in plate company because if you mention it or suggest it, people will think that you're |
| 1:31.9 | a bad person. And now 15 years later, I'm not the only person who has been looking back |
| 1:37.7 | on that scene and thinking, wait, what? Smush morse. They couldn't even say the word. |
| 1:47.2 | This is Anne Horniday. She is the chief film critic for the post. And she also shakes her |
| 1:51.9 | head when she looks back on this abortion jamming scene from Noctub. And yes, she knows |
| 1:56.9 | that this is a movie that's just supposed to be funny. And she thinks that it's not |
... |
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