美国国家公共电台 NPR--Abortion stories on TV get closer to reality, says new report

Abortion¹ stories on TV get closer to reality, says new report

Transcript²

Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy³, Better Things, Station 19, Call the Midwife and Teen Mom: The Next Chapter are all TV shows that had depictions of abortion in 2022, according to the new Abortion Onscreen report. Among the annual study's findings this year:

There's been an uptick in the number of shows and plotlines centered around abortion. Researchers found 60 abortion plotlines or mentions in 52 shows in 2022, versus⁵ 47 abortion plotlines in 42 shows in 2021.

For the first time in ten years, a third of the TV plotlines portrayed⁶ barriers to abortion access versus only two such plotlines in 2021.

Demographics on TV continue to misrepresent reality. In 2022, 58 percent of TV characters who obtained an abortion were white women when, in reality, it's mostly women of color.

For about ten years now, researchers at the Abortion Onscreen project have scoured⁷ scripted and reality TV shows searching for any mention of abortion, but this year the work happened in a new context. "The overturn of Roe⁸ v Wade⁹ catalyzed¹⁰ a lot of people to really understand the importance of sharing abortion story lines on television," says Steph Herold, author of the report from the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program at the University of California, San Francisco.

Herold calls the increase in TV plot lines addressing the legal, financial and logistical barriers to access "significant."

"Showrunners, writers, producers have really woken up to the abortion access crisis," she says.

Another first, says Herold, an abortion fund volunteer was a character on television, in an episode of Law & Order. The character accompanies a teenager from Texas to New York to have an abortion.

"A lot of people don't know that abortion funds exist," says Herold, "So having someone there can put a little seed in people's mind... Some organizations do support people through these experiences, you don't have to go through it alone."

Herold also singles out an episode of P-Valley as a "powerful depiction⁴" of abortion that does resemble real life. Set in Mississippi with a mostly Black cast, a mother and her pregnant 14-year-old daughter have difficult and loving conversations about abortion. To learn about their options, they need to drive across the state to a clinic. Once they get there they walk through a crowd of protesters.

P-Valley creator Katori Hall told NPR's Code Switch earlier this year that she felt it was her "responsibility" as a Black female writer to include difficult issues like abortion in her work. "We are just going to be honest, be true. We use, as I say, fiction in order to tell the truth," said Hall.

1 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

4 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

5 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

6 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

8 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

9 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

10 catalyzed   

v.催化，促进( catalyze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modern technology catalyzed tremendous economic growth in China. 现代技术促成了中国经济的巨大发展。 来自辞典例句
• The mechanisms of sorption-catalyzed organophosphate hydrolysis are not well understood. 吸附催化水解有机磷的机制还不太清楚。 来自辞典例句