Teen pregnancy is by far the most warned about consequence of sexual activity on teen drama television. Here’s the latest thought that has been rolling around in my head: Why is it that when a girl gets pregnant on an American teen drama television show she is almost certainly going to end up with a baby?
I’ve tried to keep the patterns straight in my head, but decided this was the kind of thing that lends itself to listing.
Pregnant – take baby to term: 10
90210– Adrianna, Beverly Hills, 90210– Melissa, The Days– Natalie (although may have decided to have an abortion, but the show ended before this narrative materialized), Degrassi– Spike, Gilmore Girls– Lane, Glee– Quinn, The O.C.– Theresa, One Tree Hill– Haley, The Secret Life of the American Teenager- Amy, Veronica Mars– Meg
Pregnant – no baby, abortion: 5 – no baby, miscarriage: 2
Dawson’s Creek– Gretchen (miscarriage, pre-narrative), Degrassi– Erica, Tessa, Manny, Friday Night Lights– Becky, Gossip Girl– Blair (car crash-miscarriage), Skins– Jal
I’m sure these lists are not exhaustive, but I find it remarkable that less than a third of teen girls who get pregnant on TV choose to have an abortion, while only 1 (count them, ONE) of those girls is American. That is, aside from Degrassi and Skins (Canadian and British shows, respectively), Friday Night Lights is the only series I have encountered that depicts a pregnant teenage girl choosing to end an unwanted pregnancy by having an abortion. That’s 1 out of 12 U.S. teen girl characters that I’ve noticed got pregnant over the past couple of decades. (In comparison with the 4 out of 5 non-U.S. pregnancies on this list that were terminated.) I’m just curious about why this might be.
