When you think of how abortion is depicted on screen, most people, whether consciously or unconsciously, divide it into two categories. There’s the right wing propaganda, meant to scare young women into keeping unwanted pregnancies, and there’s Hollywood (or the independent film world), on the other side of the divide. While there’s certainly truth in that, there’s a more complicated history, as well as present, going on. The documentary Hollywood Does Abortion, which played the 2026 Tribeca Festival, looks that just that situation, and boy does it find that we have a ways still to go.
Hollywood Does Abortion is not a perfect doc, and I certainly think there are missed opportunities, as well as misguided moments, at least in terms of its clip selections, but its heart is very much in the right place. When one side of the aisle is just putting forth unrepentant propaganda, with nothing to offer but lies and deception, it’s the responsibility of the other side to respond. As the film shows, too often, Hollywood has let women down, both by ignoring the issue, as well as invoking a bothsidesism that certainly leaves much to be desired. In fact, if it weren’t for some female filmmakers and showrunners, often having to work in the indie world, the situation would be even worse.
The documentary traces the depictions of abortion on our screens. Ever since the 1970s, when Maude had an abortion themed episode, film and television portrayals of the procedure have been central in shaping views, as well as mirroring the changing views of American society. Looking at a film like Dirty Dancing, where its abortion storyline nearly kept it from being made, all the way up to the entertainment of today, the movie examines how the industry has had influence on the issue.
From the early days where abortion couldn’t be mentioned, to the next generation where misinformation ran rampant, the doc showcases how, even to this day, for every effort like Never Rarely Sometimes Always or Unpregnant, there are several others, be they Blonde, Law & Order, and so on, that still sensationalize, which ends up bringing them closer to shameless propaganda like Unplanned.
Directors Barbara Attie, Mike Attie, and Janet Goldwater, along with writer Jamie Boyle, are at their best when showcasing how these movies and shows don’t reflect the facts. The most successful section of the documentary has statistics reflecting just how fictional these dramatizations of the situation actually are. In doing so, they take Hollywood to task for making a safe and simple medical procedure into a life-altering or even life-ruining event. They’re less successful when taking aim at something like Juno or Knocked Up, while not highlighting the accurate depictions, like Never Rarely Sometimes Always, but the good certainly outweighs the bad here, especially when it comes to lining up movies and shows with the Supreme Court cases Roe v. Wade and more recently, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Hollywood Does Abortion is an imperfect messenger at times, but the message is quite important and deserves to be seen. Hopefully Tribeca is not the last place this documentary plays, as if nothing else, it will potentially inspire a new generation of storytellers to look at abortion not as a dramatic device, but as a fact of life and essential medical procedure. After all, and I can’t believe this is at all a controversial statement, abortion is healthcare.
SCORE: ★★★
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