I would like to know of some movies that feature a pregnant woman contemplating her options and ending up going with abortion. I was in a discussion the other day and it was remarked that there are a lot of movies that ostensibly support the right and the authority of the woman to make the choice, but in each case the choice made was to have the baby. Well in one case the movie ends without the choice having been made (or at least as far as we know at any rate): Citizen Ruth. Anyway, sure enough I can’t think of any off hand.
The Last American Virgin meets your criteria.
The Godfather Part II sort of might qualify though we never hear of Kay’s --I don’t have to spoiler box this do I??-- contemplation on her abortion until after the fact.
It’s been years since I saw the movie, but I think the Sterile Cuckoo qualifies also. If anyone disagrees, please chime in. I could easily be wrong. After all it has been decades.
IIRC, Laura Dern’s character went through with it in the movie Teachers. And it was handled pretty realistically.
Didn’t the Jennifer Jason Leigh character have an abortion in Fast Times At Ridgmont High?
Penny in “Dirty Dancing” contemplates and gets an illegal abortion.
In Singles, Kyra Sedgwick’s character was pregnant. She and Campbell Scott were discussing marriage; I forget what decision they reached, if any, but it became moot when her car was T-boned. No injuries, except “Did you know she was pregnant?..Well, she’s not any more.”
I’m trying to recall if this is the film with the scene of the girl expressing all her reservations to the charge nurse, who simply asks “cash or check?”
Yeah, andd almost dies from it. 
Yeah, I’m not sure if the message from that one is, “See, kids, get an abortion and almost die.” But then again, Dr. Houseman says she’ll be able to have kids in the future and she doesn’t die…so…maybe it’s happy?
Thought of another. In “Cabaret,” Sally Bowles gets pregnant, almost has it, then has an abortion.
On TV, there was Maude of course, and the two-part episode of Buffalo Bill entitled “Jo-Jo’s Problem” had Jo-Jo opt for an abortion.
Palme D’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days has two friends seeking an illegal abortion in communist Romania
and, after going through hell, succeeding
There was an episode of “Third Watch” where a character, who was middle aged police officer with two young children and rather dubious finances, decided to have an abortion. They did not portray it as an easy decision but I don’t recall the character suffering any negative repercussions or feeling bad about it, long-term.
I do recall she did it against the wishes of her husband (she used a fortuitous on-the-job injury as cover and told him she miscarried).
gaffa writes:
> I’m trying to recall if this is the film with the scene of the girl expressing all her
> reservations to the charge nurse, who simply asks “cash or check?”
I haven’t seen The Last American Virgin, so I don’t know if that scene occurs in it. However, in the movie Fame, there’s a scene in which one of the characters sits in the office of a doctor and talks to herself. She explains why she doesn’t mind that she’s going to leave the school and move west to another school. She says that she’s going to become famous there as a dancer and come back to New York as a star. She talks about how she’s in no position to have a baby at the moment. The woman at the desk of the office asks her something about which credit card she’ll be using. Is that what you’re thinking of?
Cabaret
I think the message was that abortions should be safe and legal…the girl gets pregnant, can’t have it because she won’t be able to work, but can’t get a legal abortion so she almost dies. She doesn’t have a choice but to go to some butcher. I wouldn’t call it happy, although it does work out OK for her in the end.
The TV movie “Absolute Strangers”, from 1991, presents the real life dilemma of a man whose pregnant wife is left comatose after an accident. Based on the deaths of other pregnant women who gave birth in a coma, and who died, he decides to have his wife undergo an abortion. Pro-life groups then attempt to gain custody of the wife and/or the fetus, thereby delaying the abortion. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the husband did get his wife the abortion, although it was an agonizing decision.
So that was a case of actively seeking to terminate a pregnancy, and having to fight to get it.
That’s it! Thanks!
I did see “The Last American Virgin”. I was stuck in Grandview, Missouri with no cable and access to only one movie theater. So I’d pretty much see anything they were playing. This is NOT the sort of film I ordinarily see. It looked like a cheap “Porky’s” ripoff. But about halfway into the film, it’s as if someone took over the film and took it into a completely different movie.
Came in to post.
Also, the original Alfie has an abortion that wipes the smile of Alfie’s cocky face.
And isnt Vera Drake abortion-centric?