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Edited on Mon Sep-27-04 10:34 PM by notmyprez
Those are the only 2 soaps I watch, both on NBC, and I was quite surprised to see that storyline on both soaps at once! (Actually, I haven't seen that storyline anywhere for a long time.) In both shows, it's a college-aged woman who thinks an abortion is a terrible thing but feels that she has no choice but to do it.
In "Days of Our Lives," the woman is in a great relationship, they plan to marry and have kids someday. But she's still in college and he is just starting the first job on his career ladder--the time is not right. She's scared that if she tells him, she'll lose him. Or that he'll "do the right thing" and marry her, then later resent her for ruining his life. Her mother, a piece of work, is telling her that the latter will happen so she should not tell him she's pregnant and just get an abortion.
On "Passions," the fairly whacked-out soap which often features witches, demons, and angels, the young woman also thinks abortion is horrible but feels that she has to do it because the father of her baby is her half-brother. (Long story, but they didn't know they were related when they fell in love and got engaged, unknowingly committing incest the whole time.) She went to confession to confess that she was going to do it; the blind priest recognized her voice and was trying to talk her out of it. She continued agonizing, and her figurine statue of the Virgin Mary came to life and talked to her. (I said it's a whacked-out soap.) She went to the clinic, then got scared and ran out--they didn't show it, she just told the priest about it.
The funny thing is, on both shows, they hardly ever even speak the word "abortion." For all the time they're spending on this storyline, they've only used the word a couple of times. They always hesitate and make a horrific face when they say, "I'll have to, you know, I have to get (place pause and face here but don't utter that word). Of course, neither of these women will have an abortion; that never happens on TV shows. Usually the woman decides to keep the baby, although sometimes the writers cop out and she conveniently miscarries. If anyone is interested in how the abortion dilemmas are resolved, I'll keep you posted.
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