On the road to choice : the depiction of abortion and the issue of obortion mobility in abortion road movies

Whether it is discussed, contemplated, shown, or just dismissed, abortion has been depicted on screen for over a century, while abortion has been present in women’s lives a lot longer. When an unintended pregnancy storyline on screen is not ‘solved’ by miscarriage or wrong pregnancy, characters have to deal with the decision about whether to terminate their pregnancy or not. An obstacle that is often tied to abortion but rarely ever discussed is abortion travel – the often significant distance pregnant people have to cover to obtain an abortion. Even though mobility is a fundamental aspect of abortion, abortion mobility has been widely ignored in the depiction of abortion on screen. However, over the past few years, filmic abortion narratives seem as though they have been changing. In this thesis, the films Twice Shy (2016), Little Woods (2018), Unpregnant (2020), and Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) are analyzed, focusing on how abortion is depicted, how the element of the road trip expands on the conversation around abortion, and to what extent the characters' resulting physical and emotional journeys impact their attitudes to have an abortion. Furthermore, it will be evaluated whether or not the abortion road movie can be considered a new feminist spin on the traditional masculine road movie and, thus, a new emerging subgenre.
written by Vanessa Lechner
Masterarbeit Universität Innsbruck 2023