Dirty Dancing

There are two sides when debating abortion (pro-life vs pro-choice) and the reasoning behind people’s opinions varies.

An example of this is in the movie Dirty Dancing where Baby, the main character, pays for the abortion of another girl who couldn’t afford it. The doctor botched the abortion and Baby had to call her dad, a respected doctor, to help the girl. The dad was disgusted by the entire situation and forbade Baby from hanging out with those people again.

The United States has side-stepped abortion politics for a long time, and initially doled out funding for abortions for poor people, however has since removed that funding because an abortion is considered an “elective procedure rather than a medical necessity.” In the movie, it argues that the removal of public funding meant women were opting for unsafe procedures.

Why would Baby’s dad have that opinion on abortion? Why is Baby’s opinion have in the opposite direction?

There are two main sides to the abortion argument, the pro-choice and the pro-life side. The pro-life supporters ranged from people believing that there needed to be repercussions to unsafe sex to people believing that “abortion is a threat to … women’s primary identity.” (Markens, 15) They have gained a lot of ground with anti-abortion states in passing legislation, where “26 [states] required a waiting period before an abortion… and 43 allowed institutions to refuse private abortions.” (Rohlinger) It’s possible Baby’s dad believed that women had a certain role in society and having an abortion went against a woman’s natural instinct. The main reasoning behind being a pro-choice supporter is due to the idea that woman have their own rights and have the ability to make their own decisions. In this case, “legalized abortion symbolized women’s ability to free themselves from an identity solely based on motherhood.” (Markens, 15) Not only are they advocating for the freedom to have an abortion, they are also “working to connect abortion to broader health and reproductive justice agendas.” (Rohlinger)

My overall takeaway from these readings is that people’s opinions on abortion is a very personal and subjective topic. There is no one reason or side that deems abortion to be absolutely wrong or right, for a lot of people it depends on the circumstances and the definitions.