Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), University of California, San Francisco, California.
Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), University of California, San Francisco, California.
Womens Health Issues. 2019 Nov-Dec;29(6):499-505. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2019.06.006. Epub 2019 Jul 19.
Television portrayals of medical procedures may contribute to patient anxieties and cultural myths. We explored how television depicts abortion procedures, focusing on what these portrayals communicate about abortion access and safety.
Researchers identified all abortion procedure plotlines on American television from 2008 to 2018 through Internet searches. We viewed plotlines and coded for type of abortion, health outcome, and whether the abortion occurred on or off screen. We used inductive content analysis to identify themes.
We identified 96 television plotlines between 2008 and 2018 in which a character obtains or discloses an abortion. Of these, 39 plotlines (40%) depict some aspect of the abortion procedure. Twenty-three of the 39 abortion portrayals (59%) depict a surgical abortion procedure, of which about one-half were legal abortions and one-half were illegal. Only 7 of the 39 procedure plotlines (18%) portray medication abortions. Five of these plotlines depict illegal abortions; only two depict legal abortions. Four plotlines depict attempted abortions by supernatural means or ingestion of a toxic liquid.
The majority of abortions on television are surgical, contrasting with the reality of abortion practice in which one-third of U.S. abortions are by medication. Portrayals of surgical abortion often reinforce the misperception that abortion is a surgical intervention requiring hospitalization. The few portrayals of medication abortion also perpetuate inaccuracies, including that it is easily accessible, uncommon, and dangerous. Portrayals of illegal abortions are overrepresented. This misinformation may seed unnecessary fear for patients before an abortion, and may create confusion among the public about abortion access and safety.
医学程序的电视描述可能会增加患者的焦虑和文化误解。我们探讨了电视如何描述堕胎程序，重点关注这些描述传达的堕胎机会和安全性。
研究人员通过互联网搜索，从 2008 年到 2018 年，确定了美国电视上所有的堕胎程序情节线。我们观看了情节线并对堕胎类型、健康结果以及堕胎是在屏幕上还是屏幕外进行了编码。我们使用归纳内容分析来确定主题。
我们在 2008 年至 2018 年间确定了 96 个电视情节线，其中一个角色获得或披露了堕胎。其中，39 个情节线（40%）描述了堕胎程序的某些方面。在 39 个堕胎描述中，有 23 个（59%）描述了手术堕胎程序，其中约一半是合法堕胎，一半是非法堕胎。只有 39 个程序情节线中的 7 个（18%）描述了药物堕胎。其中 5 个情节线描述了非法堕胎；只有两个情节线描述了合法堕胎。4 个情节线描述了通过超自然手段或摄入有毒液体进行的堕胎企图。
电视上的大多数堕胎都是手术性的，与堕胎实践形成对比，在美国，三分之一的堕胎是通过药物进行的。手术堕胎的描述常常强化了这样一种误解，即堕胎是一种需要住院治疗的手术干预。少数关于药物堕胎的描述也延续了不准确之处，包括药物堕胎容易获得、罕见且危险。非法堕胎的描述被过分夸大。这种错误信息可能会在堕胎前给患者带来不必要的恐惧，并可能导致公众对堕胎机会和安全性产生困惑。
