Scripted television is trying to normalize and celebrate abortion but a recent reality dating show provided the truth: abortion hurts women.
On the Netflix dating show Love Is Blind, contestants “date” by having conversations with a wall (physical, not emotional) between them. After getting engaged, they get to meet!
In episode two “Will You Marry Me” (yes, they get engaged that fast), released on February 13, contestant Amber opens up to Barnett on a date about how the abortion she had after being pressured by her former boyfriend still hurts her today.
AMBER: It was really the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through in my life. I was still learning what it meant to be in love with somebody and, because I loved him so much, I…I had an abortion. Shit. It’s not exactly something that like I’m proud of. After the fact, we were just talking, I’m telling him like- I’m trying to explain what I’m going through, like- I’m having a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I don’t eat. I’m not really sleeping. I just- this was supposed to be my other half, and his reaction, he goes, “Why don’t you just get over it? You just need to get over it already. Like, move on.” That is the last thing in the world you want to hear. I need to know that, if a situation like that comes up, and an unexpected pregnancy happens, it’s not going to be…I won’t be forced to choose. I can’t survive that again. Like, I just I- it would destroy me.
My heart goes out to Amber and the countless women like her who are pressured into an abortion and then told that they shouldn’t feel what they feel afterward. Depression after an abortion is common, and culture tells women that they should simply “get over it already” and “move on.” It’s important that women are getting the opportunity to see the reality of abortion and its aftermath on popular shows like this.
