My opinion began to change when I was shown a photograph of an early fetus. The below photograph shows a fetus at about two months. I lost most of my moral certainty about the issue. I did not feel outraged by the abortion of such a tiny, incipient creature.
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| A human fetus at about two months |
I was 21 years old when the US Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973. I opposed that decision because I figured that the justices who voted so were abusing their Supreme Court positions in order to impose their own personal opinions onto the entire USA. I thought -- and still think -- that the the justices concocted their "privacy" legal argument as a bogus pretext because they personally were exasperated that state governments continued to retain their laws against abortion. I still think that our US Constitution indicates that our state governments -- not our federal government -- should decide abortion issues.
Although I think that US Supreme Court justices should not impose their personal opinions onto our entire country, my opinions about abortion policy had evolved to a point where I agreed that abortion should be generally legal during the first three months of pregnancy.
If the state governments still decided abortion issues, then I would support my state government making abortion generally legal during the first three months. I would support even a limit of 4.5 months -- the first half of the pregnancy.
At some point in the second half of the pregnancy, however, the decision should be shared by society. Too many people in society feel that abortion is murder. Acts that outrage society can be subjected to laws. You might own a kitten, but standing in a public place and torturing your kitten is illegal. At some point, personal actions that outrage society can be prohibited reasonably.
That's basically my opinion about abortion, but this issue is not so important to me that it ever influences my vote. I never would vote for or against some candidate because of his abortion position. Other political issues are much more important to me.
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Because of my personal experience of opposing abortion, I respect people who protest publicly against abortion.
I likewise respect people who protest publicly for the legalization of abortion. I think the issue can and should be discussed civilly and reasonably.
In my article here, however, I am addressing only those people who feel that abortion is murder and should be illegal from the very beginning of a pregnancy. To those absolute opponents of abortion I am writing my article here to suggest that they think about the Dirty Dancing story in a complex manner.
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On September 29, 2018, I published an article titled No new tours of the stage musical?, in which I reported that the tours of the Dirty Dancing stage musical seem to have ended in North America. I figured that future performances might be done only by amateur groups in community, university and high-school theaters.
I foresee that high-school performances of the Dirty Dancing musical might be subjected to protests by abortion opponents. Parents might argue that this musical is inappropriate for a high-school because it depicts favorably 1) a casual sexual relationship between a 17-year-old girl and a much older man and 2) an illegal abortion. A high school is a tax-supported institution serving local families, and many parents oppose school activities that encourage premarital sex and abortion.
A lot of high schools have presented the musical play Grease. An amusing feature of Grease is that basically all the students want to enjoy sex, but they all are frustrated because they are not actually engaging in sex. Only Betty Rizzo actually has been having sex, and she is shamed about it.
A high-school production of Dirty Dancing could be rewritten to delete the scenes showing Baby participating in sexual activities with Johnny. The abortion issue, however, could not be written out of the story.
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I offer to pro-lifers the following considerations.
Eleanor Bergstein wrote the Dirty Dancing story with the intention of inspiring people to oppose any reversal of the Supreme Court's abortion decision. She placed the story in the year 1963 because that year was ten years before the Supreme Court's decision. She wanted the movie's viewers to understand Penny Johnson's situation -- her resorting to an illegal abortion -- as a consequence of the 1963 laws prohibiting abortion.
Since the movie was released in 1987, the public's opinions about abortion policy in the USA have not changed much. In particular, about 20% of the population thought in 1973 and 2013 that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.
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| Opinions about abortion policy in the USA were about the same in 1975 and 2013. |
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| People think abortion should be increasingly illegal as pregnancy progresses |
Therefore, pro-lifers should not worry that the movie Dirty Dancing has affected public opinion about abortion in the long run.
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The movie Dirty Dancing always has caused people, however, to think and talk about abortion -- especially about abortion in the first trimester. Therefore pro-lifers should familiarize themselves with the movie, which might provide opportunities to engage other people in discussions about first-trimester abortions.
Pro-lifers who judge the abortion of a two-month fetus to be murder should consider the movie with much detachment. After all, it's only a fictional movie. Penny Johnson is only a fictional character. No real fetus was aborted -- was murdered. The movie has not influenced people's opinions about abortions significantly in the long run.
So, pro-lifers should remain emotionally calm about this movie.pro-abortion message.
Pro-lifers who want to convince people that abortion should be illegal from conception should prepare themselves to discuss Penny's situation and decision. You have to convince people that Penny committed murder -- and that Baby Houseman acted as an accessory to murder. You have to clarify your own thinking.
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The movie Dirty Dancing has been extraordinarily popular for more than three decades. The movie's abortion element is only a minor reason for the movie's popularity. The music and dancing are entertaining. The protagonists are attractive. The story is captivating.
The movie is not mostly about abortion. Rather, the movie is much more about dancing, romance, family and social conflicts, life in the early 1960s, Jewish attitudes, and other aspects.
The movie has been appreciated and enjoyed by millions of people who think that abortion should be illegal in at least some circumstances. This has been true for the past three decades and will remain true for the next three decades.
Pro-lifers should accept and appreciate the movie's many good qualities. It's futile to denounce the entire movie because of one element -- the abortion. Accept the movie's popularity and use it as an opportunity to engage people in discussions about the morality of abortion.
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Four of the movie's characters obviously think that the abortion was morally justified -- Billy, Baby, Johnny and Penny. They acted secretly, because abortion was illegal and also because most people in the early 1960s thought that abortion was immoral and should be illegal. (That's why abortion indeed was illegal and why the US Supreme Court justices had to concoct bogus legal arguments to cancel anti-abortion laws in all the states.)
Most of the movie's characters would have said, if asked, that abortion should be illegal. In that opinion I would include Baby's parents and sister, the Kellermans and most of the hotel's employees and guests.
Jake Houseman was furious that his money was used to pay for an illegal abortion. Robbie Gould refused to help pay for the abortion. Vivian Pressman was not asked to substitute for Penny at the Sheldrake.
I have written a series of articles arguing that Penny wanted to reconcile with Robbie and thus would have been willing to marry him and raise their child.
Aside from the consideration that abortion kills a fetus, the common wisdom was that abortion -- even when done by a doctor -- was too dangerous to the woman. The opinion about this danger to the woman did not change significantly until the 1960s. For the woman's safety alone, she should carry the fetus to birth and then give the baby up for adoption if she did not want to keep it.
Penny's abortion was done by a person who was said to be a doctor. The abortion caused physical problems in the following hours. On the following day she seemed to be recovering satisfactorily. The movie audience does not know, however, the longer-lasting physical or emotional consequences.
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In many respects, Baby is an admirable character. She is intelligent, caring, bold and adventuresome.
She is also devious, deceptive, and unethical. I have argued that she suffered from a manic-depressive disorder.
Just because Baby Houseman thought that abortions should be legal is not a good reason for everyone else to adopt that opinion. She is a very flawed role model.
Baby is a morally complex character, and Dirty Dancing is generally a morally complex movie. The movie is thought-provoking about many of its aspects.
Pro-lifers can share the public's enjoyment of the movie and can include the movie in effective discussions with other people about the abortion issue.
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