General Hospital Tackles Abortion: Why Lulu Should Have One

Since All My Children’s Erica Kane had a legal abortion in 1971, the first in soap opera history, the genre has shied away from this explosive issue. AIDS, cancer, mental disorders, mixed-race relationships, and homosexuality are all controversial topics that Soap Operas have been willing to tackle with gusto. But when it comes to abortion, the cowardly silence is deafening.

In the world of soap operas, pregnancies happen all the time. It’s a necessary by-product of a genre whose stories rely heavily on romantic relationships, break-ups, cheating, and foolish decisions. Unplanned, unexpected, and unwanted pregnancies are the bread and butter of soap opera writing.

But with all these pregnancies, seldom will you so much as hear the word ‘abortion’ mentioned. Most daytime drama characters don’t even consider the option. And even on the shows that are brave enough to explore the option, as General Hospital did with schemer and seductress Carly Corinthos, the woman will inevitably change her mind at the last moment.

Since 1971, abortion has become the last subject that Soap Operas are unwilling to explore-a particularly cowardly choice in light of the fact that it’s one of the issues that currently divides America, and one we could all do to think more about.

Thus, General Hospital deserves to be lauded for its renewed interest in the subject with the new storyline in which Lulu Spencer, has become saddled with an unplanned pregnancy. Lulu is a great candidate for this story-she’s virtually parentless, raised to be a rogue, independent, and clearly not ready to raise a child. The pregnancy is still very early, the situation in which she conceived was based on a horrifying deception, and the result of faulty birth control. Lulu doesn’t like kids that much, and very definitely doesn’t want there to be a baby at all, much less raise one or give one up for adoption.

In short, General Hospital’s writers have set up a scenario that lends itself well to the kind of personal tragedy that an unplanned pregnancy can cause in a young woman’s life.

But if General Hospital is just going to punt, and have Lulu suddenly “unable to go through with it” at the last minute, then they might as well not have even bothered.

Writers don’t get points for exploring an issue by politely having a character consider an action. Imagine a soap opera where the characters never actually cheated, but always stopped just before the moral transgression; where no arguments ensued, but characters merely complained behind each other’s backs.

It would be as banal as yet another abortion-but-not-abortion-story.

In short, Lulu Spencer should have an abortion. Not because it’s necessarily the right thing to do in the moral scheme of things, but because it’s the right thing for writers to do if they plan to shed any light on the topic at all. After all, soap operas are one place abortions can’t be said to cause any harm.

Whether one agrees with abortion or not, the fact is that millions of American women are having them, and the issue deserves to be explored. Women who believe abortion is a reproductive freedom deserve a voice on daytime television even if that voice is shouted down.

Viewers should be allowed to love or hate a character based on her actions-plenty probably still hate Erica Kane, and that’s ok. Because she’s a fictional character, and it’s through our emotions towards fictional characters that we are better able to sort out our emotions towards real people and issues without the accompanying melodrama.

If General Hospital is going to raise the debate, then let the dialog be genuine. Let’s actually talk about abortion, and not just pretend to.

So get Lulu to an abortion clinic. Perhaps we will see her personally wrestle with the aftermath. Or perhaps she will be angry at those who want her to feel guilty. Perhaps we will see characters take opposite sides on this issue, creating lasting rifts.

That’s good story-telling, and General Hospital should not shy away from it.