A new study by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health reveals a significant decline in the percentage of characters undergoing abortions in TV shows compared to previous years, highlighting disparities between on-screen portrayals and real-world experiences. The study points out a lack of accurate representation of the financial, logistical, and social barriers faced by individuals seeking abortions in the US.
But in the past few years, there's been a significant drop in the number of characters who actually went through with an abortion. 37% obtained an abortion in 2025, a 14% decline since 2023. It comes from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health , a research program on abortion and reproductive health based at the University of California San Francisco.
But in the past few years, there's been a significant drop in the number of characters who actually went through with an abortion. 37% obtained an abortion in 2025, a 14% decline since 2023.. It comes from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a research program on abortion and reproductive health based at the University of California San Francisco."I think there still is a lot of stigma, even in allegedly liberal Hollywood," says researcher Steph Herold. She says the report, which has come out for about a decade, reflects a profound lack of accurate representation of abortion use in America. For example, she points to research showing that about 60% of real life Americans who seek an abortion deal with some sort of barrier. "But only about a third of people who are characters on screen face any kind of barrier to abortion," Herold said."Whether it was not being able to come up with the cost of the abortion, not having somebody to watch their kids or cover for them at work, having to deal with clinics that are miles away, or in other states having insurance that wouldn't cover the cost." Most TV shows in 2025 depicting women struggling to get abortions focused on legal obstacles in the past and present.."This obscures the role that poverty plays in obstructing access to abortion, and perhaps explains why we so rarely see plotlines in which characters wrestle with financial barriers to abortion access," the study says.sought abortion pills to end her pregnancy — one of only three stories depicting medication abortion out of 65 plotlines about abortion this year. That's another disparity between representation on-screen and real-world numbers: research shows that abortion pills account for the majority of abortions in the U.S. Another difference: only 8% of people seeking abortion on TV are parents. In real life, It is unrealistic, says Herold, to expect TV to perfectly reflect current abortion use in the U.S., but she said she was disappointed by certain trends. Fewer characters this year received emotional support around their abortions, and more shows, she said, includingfeatured plotlines that emphasized shame and stigma around abortions, especially because of religion. These storylines, the report says,"both obscure the diversity of religious observance among people having abortions, portraying religious patients as exclusively Christian, and also only associating religion with prohibiting abortion, instead of being a meaningful or supportive part of someone's abortion decision-making and experience."But even though abortion has long been a hot-button political issue, Herold says millions of Americans have had some sort of experience with abortions."Whether it's having one themselves or helping a daughter or a friend," she said, adding that stories that reflect a diversity of abortion experiences will be familiar to many viewers. One bright spot, she added, was that television is doing a better job of reflecting the racial realities of abortion. A slight majority of characters in abortion plotlines are people of color — and althoughAfter failure in the Senate, House GOP has its own health care proposal KPBS keeps you informed with local stories you need to know about — with no paywall. Our news is free for everyone because people like you help fund it.Border & Immigration
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