Abortion Portrayed on TV? It’s Changed a Lot

[Editor’s note: The following interview contains light spoilers for Episode 8 of “The Girls on the Bus.”]

On the April 25 episode of Max’s “The Girls on the Bus,” Sadie (Melissa Benoist) had an abortion.

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The matter-of-fact decision for the young reporter is only (“only!”) complicated by the all-too-real problem of Sadie’s political journo travel schedule, and the differing rules of which U.S. state she is in when and how to legally ship the needed pills to the correct location.

“It has to be specific, because I was like, ‘They’re not [campaigning in] a Democratic primary in a deep red state,'” co-creator Amy Chozick, whose reporting memoir upon which the show is based, explained about the logistics. “Then, of course, the rules were changing. We literally had a map of the U.S. in the writers room like, ‘OK, they could be realistically campaigning in Missouri, and it is still legal in Illinois,’ so we were actually moving pieces of the campaign and the bus around. It’s interesting. [Reporters] really are giving up [their] entire lives to the job, and that includes your personal health.”

“We also just realized times have changed in the last 20 years,” showrunner Rina Mimoun added. “What does it mean [to have] a medical abortion versus having to go into a clinic and have the procedure done?”

On the show, Sadie, foiled by getting pills in the mail before she must depart for a new state, must travel from campaign reporting in Missouri to get to a P.O. box in Illinois where her doctor can legally ship the medication. An added twist finds the conservative Kimberlyn (Christina Elmore) as the one who has a valid driver’s license and can therefore get Sadie to Illinois — adding a nice message about helping out friends in crisis, regardless of one’s beliefs.

For Mimoun, what stood out about the story arc was the lack of network notes — a far cry from when she was writing similar plotlines in the early 2000s.

“For me, the most important thing about the subject matter is to continue to normalize it,” Mimoun said. “When I first started [in] television, over 20 years ago, it was always a very special episode. And one of the first times I got the opportunity to write about [abortion] was on ‘Everwood’ in 2002. It was a battle every step of the way. I watched Greg Berlanti fight for it every step of the way, to the point where the network was saying, ‘Look, we may not air it.’ And Greg said, ‘OK, we’re still gonna shoot it, you don’t have to air it, we’re gonna shoot it.'”

At first, the “Everwood” abortion plot was going to include the lead of the show (it ultimately wound up going to a guest star played by Kate Mara). “The studio said, ‘You cannot do it with the lead of the show, you have to find a different way to tell the story. We won’t let you do that to the lead,'” Mimoun recalled. “Like there was a tarnishing of it, which I remember feeling really upset about. But that note made the story actually better in a weird way, because we were so angry. And we found a more interesting way to tell the story.”

No such studio notes happened this time around. (Funnily enough, “Everwood” and “The Girls on the Bus” share a studio.) “Nothing but positive,” Mimoun confirmed.

“The Girls on the Bus” certainly isn’t the first TV show to show a straightforward decision without a lot of hand-wringing or guilt. (This reporter, for instance, will always be grateful for how the storyline was handled on a 2016 “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” episode, another show aimed primarily at young women.) But at a time when the right to an abortion is under a fresh wave of attacks in the U.S., making it a plotline at all — while focusing on its run-of-the-mill-ness — remains a quietly revolutionary act.

And now, with the serious stuff taken care of, Chozick and Mimoun can enjoy the added bonuses their lead actress’ superhero past brings to the table.

“Melissa, being Supergirl, did that stunt when she jumps over the counter and punches the shit out of the guy [who wouldn’t give her the pills],” Chozick recalled about a fun fantasy sequence in the episode. “She [said], ‘I’m ready, I got it.’ And the whole crew was like, “Oh, my god, girl just lunged over the counter!'”

“The Girls on the Bus” is streaming now on Max and will conclude Season 1 on May 9.

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