November 15, 2004

Hollywood's choice  

Josh Claybourn and some other folks have their theories about why TV characters who face an abortion dilemma always choose to have the baby, given that Hollywood is so liberal. But they're missing some of the subtlety in the pro-choice argument. Being pro-choice doesn't necessarily mean being value-neutral on abortion. My guess is that, on the contrary, if you asked most people who are pro-choice, they would tell you that they themselves would never have an abortion, even though they defend that right for others. And this kind of defense of others' rights regardless of whether we ouselves agree with them certainly has a precedent.

So, Hollywood's characters so often choose to have the baby because most Americans see not choosing an abortion as a value. This is a completely separate issue from the question of whether Americans value the choice (and as one of Josh's commenters pointed out, the simple fact it's presented as a choice may even be a pro-choice statement). But none of this subtlety poses a threat to pro-choice rhetoric (and never has), because for those who are pro-choice, the issue is about the tradeoff with reproductive equality, and it's that side of the equation that motivates their (and, incidentally, my) position.

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