A not so special episode: laughing at abortion on television

ABSTRACT The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has led many states to ban or severely limit abortion access, leaving women seeking reproductive healthcare more vulnerable than they have been in decades, especially marginalized women. Legal restrictions, alongside socioeconomic barriers and cultural stigmas around abortion, are reinforced by media representations that depict abortion as dramatic and solemn, and women who obtain abortions in negative terms. Since 2015, depictions of abortion on television have increased significantly, including on comedic television, which had rarely addressed the topic in years prior. The following article explores how 11 recent comedy television programs have chosen to tell stories about a major character obtaining an abortion and considers what these stories may have to offer in applying comedy to a social issue that has typically been treated with solemnity by the media.