HOLLYWOOD HAS THE POWER TO FIGHT ABORTION MISINFORMATION.

by Hannah Phillips and Soraya Giaccardi
This piece was originally published on Medium.

The rollback of federal protections for abortion triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has caused significant social and political upheaval. In just under a year since the Dobbs ruling, 24 U.S. states have passed or are likely to pass severely restrictive abortion bans. Three anti-abortion judges are currently sitting on a case that could revoke FDA approval of mifepristone, which is used in 98% of medication abortions nationwide. Experts warn that anti-abortion legislation will have profound impacts on public health and equity — creating a crisis of care for people seeking reproductive healthcare and a fraught legal landscape for medical providers.

Anti-abortion policies rely on misinformation to thrive, as was the case in the recent mifepristone hearing when judges appeared to embrace dangerous myths about the safety and effectiveness of medication abortion. More than half of Americans believe that abortion should be legal and accessible, but advocates and public health experts are now tasked with mobilizing the public amidst unprecedented levels of misinformation and fearmongering as part of their efforts to shift the political landscape.

That’s where an unlikely ally comes in: Hollywood.

Entertainment media is a powerful educational tool with the unique ability to reach broad audiences, challenge firmly-held beliefs, and shape public discourse. With this power comes a responsibility to combat abortion misinformation by telling accurate stories that are rooted in medical facts, better reflect the lived experiences of those who have sought or will seek abortion care, and illustrate just how critical abortion access is for a safe, healthy, and equitable society.

While there have been a few key moments in entertainment history that have done abortion storytelling right (Aidy Bryant’s instructive abortion narrative in Shrill comes to mind) these types of stories still have yet to proliferate the culture in quite the same way as abortion misinformation has. Instead, factually inaccurate abortion stories dominate entertainment media, like the tendency for on-screen abortions to dramatically overemphasize the risks of the procedure.

One study that looked at over a decade of on-screen abortion narratives found that abortions taking place in contemporary medical settings showed a complication rate of 7.5% — a staggering 300% higher than real-life complication rates. Similarly, 13.7% of fictional abortion patients required a medical intervention, such as blood transfusions, additional surgeries, or hysterectomies — with the on-screen hysterectomy rate alone being 900 times greater than real-life hysterectomy rates. In 23.8% of abortion storylines, characters experienced long-term negative consequences following the procedure, such as infertility or spiraling mental health.

Many entertainment narratives also misrepresent abortion patients demographically. Among abortion storylines that aired in 2022, 80% of characters who faced barriers to care were white, middle class, or wealthy — when in reality, lack of access to abortion care impacts marginalized communities most significantly. And while the majority of people who seek abortion care in real-life are already parents, only 18% of characters were. Narratives like these support the spread of abortion misinformation by making the procedure out to be dangerous or emotionally traumatizing, while at the same time underrepresenting stories of people who benefit from care.

Alternatively, fact-based abortion storylines that instead opt to show the safety, ease and normalcy of the procedure can effectively combat misinformation and mobilize audiences towards greater support for abortion access. That’s because narrative storytelling has been proven to be remarkably effective at shifting knowledge, attitudes, and policy support around a variety of complex ideological issues — including immigration, gun safety, and trans rights.

One recent study found that viewers of the 2019 Grey’s Anatomy episode “Papa Don’t Preach,” in which a patient received a medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol, were better able to correctly identify false statements about medication abortion compared to non-viewers — such as the idea that it’s possible to have safe abortion with pills instead of surgery, or that medication abortions are not safe for teenagers. The data doesn’t lie: when creators make intentional choices to resist abortion tropes and instead tell factual, nuanced, affirming abortion stories, powerful change occurs.

Getting things right can feel daunting amidst a rapidly changing legal landscape that varies from state-to-state, but there are resources available to help content creators navigate this space. Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Norman Lear Center, has been providing the entertainment industry with accurate and up-to-date information for storylines on health, safety, and security for over 20 years. HH&S, which consulted on the abortion storyline in “Papa Don’t Preach,” provides tip sheets, access to subject matter experts, and recommendations tailored to the context of storylines– whether your story takes place in Texas or California.

While accurate abortion stories in entertainment won’t singlehandedly reverse abortion bans, they will educate people on the realities of abortion care — and a more educated and informed public is critical for generating the groundswell of action that is necessary to apply meaningful pressure on elected officials who do have the power to reverse course.

Given the power that entertainment media has to shape our political lives, we can no longer afford to be careless with the stories we tell about abortion. Creators who proactively tell accurate, affirming abortion stories in entertainment media can play an indispensable role in the broader effort to combat abortion misinformation and enshrine abortion rights nationwide, once and for all.

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This piece was co-authored by Hannah Phillips and Soraya Giaccardi.

Hannah Phillips, MCM is an Account Executive with Fenton Communications, one of the nation’s leading social impact communications firms. She holds a master’s degree in Communications from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, a graduate certificate in Gender, Leadership & Public Policy from UMass Boston, and a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Vermont. Previously, she was a researcher at the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her communications work centers around gender justice, public health, media literacy and entertainment advocacy.

Soraya Giaccardi is a Senior Researcher at the USC Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project. Previously, she served as Associate Director of Research for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her research centers on measuring, tracking, and improving representation of historically marginalized communities as well as measuring the impact of entertainment stories on real-world attitudes and behaviors. You can learn more about her work at www.sorayagiaccardi.com.