TV shows that understood a woman's right to choose - The Boston Globe

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : Despite the fact that some CBS network affiliates wouldn't run it, the two-parter ushered abortion into the prime-time conversation in November 1972 -- months before the Supreme Court issued its 7-2 decision in favor of Roe.
45% : The episode is said to be one of the first scripted mentions of abortion on TV.
44% : On a 2015 episode of "Scandal," about Senate plans to defund Planned Parenthood and therefore restrict access to reproductive health care in general, Olivia Pope has an abortion while Aretha Franklin sings "Silent Night" over the soundtrack.
43% : The ratings were strong, but it certainly didn't inspire more episodes about abortion by other TV writers of the time.
33% : It is the scared straight of abortion, the most vivid and horrifying image of forced motherhood and how easily women's hard-won rights can be taken away.

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