Another take on the abortion episode on "Private Practice"

Kathryn Jean Lopez of the Corner didn't like the episode as much as I did:

The story angles on abortion and motherhood disturbed my sleep. I think the writers, etc. may think they were being fair. I give them points for even touching upon the topic of guilt. They may have had the best intentions to be fair, even I had high hopes that they were going to be. But the abortion-performing doctor had to be the hero in the end. The pro-life doctor had to be one-dimensional. Tim Daly's character had to be a heel for his initial objections. It was disappointing that female doctors working in gynecology couldn't even have a civil discussion about it when one of them happened to be pro-life. Maybe realistic, but disappointing.

The writers are trying to write from another point of view and do it through their own bias, that can be very difficult. Fairness would be extremely difficult under those conditions. I took that into consideration when I wrote my post and cut them some slack. It's not a perfect episode but it was more realistic than other abortion episodes I've seen. It is realistic that three strong willed, opinionated women can't talk about this issue especially since two of them have had abortions. It makes sense that those who have had abortions would be sensitive about it and would be harsh to someone trying to articulate an opposing view. I also thought the pro-life doctor's hesitancy over the subject was realistic since she lives in California. She's probably used to it.

And the abortion doctor wasn't the hero, she just made it clear why what she was doing was important. The writers made their case, they tried to make it good but the best they got is that the doctor helps women kill their babies. Not much to work with there. But they gave the pro-lifers the last word and I thought it was pretty powerful.