'Parenthood' episode accused of advocating abortion

OPEN LETTER TO “PARENTHOOD” WRITERS I was hoping against hope, as I watched your “Small Victories” episode, on 1/8/2013, that you would have the courage to send a novel message to teens: “Think of someone other than yourselves.” But unfortunately, you chose to send the same simple-minded message pretty much everyone else in the entertainment industry sends teens today: “Think only of yourselves.” Your “Amy-is-pregnant-what-will-she-do?” storyline couldn’t have been any less original, any less creative, any less inspiring than it was: Amy tells Drew she’s pregnant; Amy concludes that keeping her baby will ruin her life; Amy decides to have an abortion; Amy tells Drew he’ll need to pay for the abortion; Drew sobs in his mother’s arms, devastated that he has lost his unborn child and, most likely, his beloved girlfriend. Imagine the dramatic “mileage” you could have gotten out of writing a story about, let’s say, a pregnant teen who chooses to carry her baby to term, then give it up for adoption. Indeed, you could have shown Amy dealing with the changes taking place in her body throughout the rest of her pregnancy. You could have shown Drew supporting her decision to give the baby up for adoption, despite the fact that he would like her to keep it. You could have shown the Bravermans drawing close to Drew, helping him get through the pain he’ll inevitably experience when the baby is born, then taken away. You could have shown Amy experiencing her own pain, in the wake of being forever separated from her baby, regardless of the fact that she neither planned nor desired to keep it. If you’re saying: “That’s far too much to ask of a young girl who’s about to graduate high school and go on to college. You can’t expect young girls to go through nine months of pregnancy only to give their babies away,” I argue that you’re selling teens short—assuming not only that they don’t have what it takes to face the consequences of their actions, but also that they’re not mature enough to look beyond their immediate circumstances and do what would—in the long run--be best for everyone concerned. Think about it. Had Amy chosen to give the baby up, she could have finished high school and pursued whatever dreams she might have had for the future; the baby would have been raised by two loving, financially-secure parents, in a stable home environment; Drew wouldn’t have had to grieve the death of his child; and the adoptive parents would have received the baby they so desperately desired. Sadly, instead of taking the time to develop a poignant, meaningful (multi-episode) dramatization of the choices pregnant teens must make, in the wake of discovering they are pregnant, you presented an exceedingly-tacky, thoroughly-predictable “infomercial” for our Nation’s largest, most lucrative abortion provider . . . Did I say that? I meant to say: our Nation's largest, most lucrative “women’s healthcare” provider. Thankfully, FX’s Justified began its fourth, “sure-to-be-‘smashing’” season on the same night–in the same time slot—that “Small Victories” aired. Amazing how that worked out, huh?

I'm sure they are shaking in their boots. And also: Wow, that diatribe hurtsed my soul a little bit: because, predictably, it came across as sanctimonious, self-righteous, and hypocritical - if only these (privileged / privileged-driven) fanatical forces who, bizarrely, view a fetus as a fully-potentiated human being, would even pretend to care about the lives of actual human beings on this planet. *** Anyway, what can one say to those who had been indoctrinated and brainwashed from birth toward this kind of insanity? How is it possible to have any type of discussion with them on this (or any) subject? (rhetorical: it is virtually impossible). Not to mention, if they get their way (a theocracy) - what will insanely be deemed as human next? Sperm? Masturbation? *** The worse part, as mentioned, is that these (often very dark, backwards) forces would never, ever dream of expending even a symbolic effort in making life better for those billions of human beings who are actually alive on earth today. Those humans beings who get their human and natural resources outright robbed by this predatory system that's set up by those who own the planet. Let their lives and environments be consumed for profit and consumption across the globe. How easy (and safe) is it to never questioned any of that, and instead go on about a fetus constituting a human being. All that brainwashing, even these religious fundamentalists types, deep down, they know they are immoral - they know these axioms to be true. *** As an aside, I have never watched this show before (just did not seem that interesting to me) - but seeing the usual raving of the mainstream theocratic fascists (I use the accurate rather than the politically-correct term, with fake-apologies), I thought that, perhaps, a defense of reason and what really is human (and humane) moral outlook is also due, for once.

As of this episode, I will no longer watch Parenthood. They certainly did promote abortion, without any remorse on the part of the female actor. The writers showed how easy it is to get rid of an unwanted human being without feeling any regret or guilt. It showed how women and girls can not have to worry about the consequences of having sex whenever they want to. Just go see your neighborhood Planned-Parenthood and they will get rid of the human being for you, of course with a small price, then you can wait a week and go out again and have more sex without worry. Planned Parenthood just celebrated their success of over 300,000 little baby deaths this year. Yes they called it a success. They are so proud.

There is no way this should or could be deemed as advocating. Just because a decision was made that the conservatives disagree with, does not a promotion make! Hundreds of people have to make this choice and this simply showed the emotional consequences that go along with such a difficult decision. I personally believe the phrase " death of her grandchild" is hogwash. The crying and heartbreak is normal. I watch a lot of films and TV and don't ever recall seeing this same choice being made. On the other hand there are many many that show the difficulties of either being a teen parent or the heartbreak of giving away your newborn. If anything , the industry has been more conservative and pro life than anything.

No, they didn't promote abortion at all. The right-wing groups always come out with this rubbish.