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A quick look at abortion on soap operas [1]

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Date: 2022-06-28 00:00:00

The Young and the Restless is a soap opera that usually airs on CBS weekdays from 12:30 p.m. Eastern to 1:30 p.m. Today, though, CBS will probably rerun a clip show so they can interrupt (as they should) at 1:00 p.m. with the surprisingly scheduled congressional hearing on the January 6, 2021 terrorist attack on the U. S. Capitol (originally the committee had no hearings scheduled for this week).

This particular soap opera is also relevant to current events for a reason I didn’t realize until Stephen Colbert pointed it out:

x “So, reproductive rights in America lasted for less time than ‘The Young and the Restless.’”

— STEPHEN COLBERT — Milan Paurich (@milanpaurich) June 28, 2022

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, red states are rushing to criminalize pre-natal care. “Christian” “conservatives” supposedly care about the sanctity of life, but their zeal to violate women’s privacy in search of abortions to prosecute will have a chilling effect on all pre-natal care for all but the wealthiest couples.

I knew that The Young and the Restless has been on for decades, and that Hans Gudegast joined the cast as Victor Newman soon after taking the stage name Eric Braeden. But I didn’t realize the stories of this soap and other long-running soaps have been affected by Roe v. Wade.

Richard Simms wrote an article for SheKnows.com headlined “Real Life Just Dictated That Soaps Address Head On the Issue They’ve Been Avoiding For Years.”

In 1973, only a few months after the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision, All My Children‘s Erica Kane became one of the first women on television to have a legal abortion. It was a historic moment… and yet not completely shocking to viewers of the soap, which had become known for taking on controversial topics. Under headwriter Agnes Nixon, the show tackled everything from drug addiction to protests surrounding the Vietnam War. “There was no preaching,” Erica’s portrayer, Susan Lucci, told ABC in the wake of Nixon’s death. “She was too busy to preach. She told stories and told everybody’s point of view. She was inclusive.” Ironically, even as the country moved forward in the decades to come, the medium once known for bravely telling “issue” stories slowly began to back away from anything at all topical. Doppelgängers and mobsters replaced the aspirational and inspirational characters of yore, with social issues becoming as tough to find on soaps as a have-not.

Abortion has also come up on The Young and the Restless, years ago. So Victor has been with Nikki for most of the show’s run. But he also had a relationship with Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson). I rely on Hope Campbell at The List for background on this storyline from long before I started watching this show.

According to Soaps.com, while Nikki managed to snag Victor four times and remains married to him till this day, Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) was also a woman who stole his heart — and his sperm — so she could have what Nikki had with Victor: his children. [...] [Ashley had a mental breakdown and left Genoa City.] She eventually got a job at a roadside diner and began calling herself "Annie" — until one day, Victor Newman walked in. Victor also got there just in the nick of time and rescued Ashley from a would-be kidnapper. He then took her home to his ranch so she could mentally recover and began falling in love with the woman. Too bad Victor was already married to Nikki and Nikki didn't like this one bit. She [Nikki] especially didn't like it when Victor asked for a divorce so he could marry Ashley. So, she [Nikki?] feigned a terminal illness so Victor would stay with her. However, when he learned the truth, he was furious and wanted Ashley back. Little did he know she [Ashley?] had just aborted his child because he thought he was going to be with Nikki. The abortion caused her [Ashley] to have another mental breakdown.

Eventually Ashley does have Victor’s child, Abby. It’s a very traumatic storyline. But without Roe v. Wade, it could very easily have ended in a truly irreversible tragedy marked by cast departures, which is something that soap operas seem to avoid generally.

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[1] Url: https://dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/28/2107035/-A-quick-look-at-abortion-on-soap-operas

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