Yet another poll shows support for abortion rights is dropping, but director Gillian Robespierre goes against the trend with this cute romantic comedy featuring an abortion.
It's only about twenty minutes long, but as Pandagon points out, Obvious Child accomplishes what Juno and Knocked Up couldn't — depicting an abortion in an amusing but sensitive way. Jenny Slate's Donna isn't jumping for joy at the thought of going to the abortion clinic, nor is she totally blasé about it. But rather than being shocked at the very idea of terminating her pregnancy (a la Knocked Up), she decides it's the right choice for her. Her friends and family are supportive — turns out her mom had one too — and the procedure doesn't ruin her life. In fact, it brings her back together with the sweet Peter, who unintentionally got her pregnant in the first place.
The hipster love story aspect of the film is a little predictable — one thing this movie shares with other romantic comedies is it too-good-to-be-true guy. But it's nice to see a movie where a woman can get an abortion and a guy, especially now that only 47% of Americans think abortion should be legal all in most of the time (that's down from 54% last year). I'm not sure Obvious Child will change anybody's mind about abortion — but it does prove wrong the people who said, after Knocked Up, but no one could make a funny movie about it. Interestingly, though support for abortion is dropping, so is the percentage of people who think it's a critical issue for the country — just 15% this year, compared to 28% in 2006. Maybe Obvious Child is part of a growing acknowledgment that abortion doesn't have to change the course of every election — or every woman's life.
Support Drops In U.S. For Abortion Rights, Poll Shows [NYT]
A Rom Com About Abortion [Pandagon]