Episode 009: Abortion Onscreen
This episode is part two of our conversation around abortion. Today we’re discussing the research conducted for the Abortion Onscreen program which examines how abortion is portrayed in American popular culture.
The principal investigator, Dr. Gretchen Sisson, is a research sociologist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco. She’s joined by her colleague Steph Herold, who has a Master of Public Health and conducts mixed methods research on the portrayal of abortion on television and in film.
CW: Discussions about surgical and medical abortion
Music: Deppisch
Design: Perpetualnotion.ca
Mixing/ Mastering: Tony Bao
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Gretchen Sisson, PhD
Dr. Sisson is a research sociologist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She studies the social construction and representation of pregnancy and parenthood, including abortion, adoption, infertility, teen pregnancy, and young motherhood.
Dr. Sisson is the principal investigator for the Abortion Onscreen program, examining how abortion is portrayed in American popular culture, and the author of Relinquished: The American Mothers Behind Infant Adoption, forthcoming in January 2024.
Steph Herold, MPH
Steph conducts mixed methods research on the portrayal of abortion on television and in film and partners as part of the Abortion Onscreen program at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. She has thirteen years of experience in the reproductive health, rights, and justice field, including co-founding the Sea Change Program, the first non-profit to focus entirely on reducing abortion stigma.
Steph has expertise in multidisciplinary research design and implementation, has co-authored numerous grey literature papers on stigma and sexuality, including on media coverage of abortion, youth sexuality stigma, addressing stigma through service delivery, and evaluations of abortion stigma interventions. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of All-Options, and has served previously on various other Boards of Directors, ReproAction, the New York Abortion Access Fund, the International Network for the Reduction of Abortion Discrimination and Stigma, and ACCESS: Women’s Health Justice.
Steph lives in New York City with her husband and two children, and tweets at @StephHerold.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Abortion Onscreen is a research program aimed at investigating stories about abortion in American film & television and analyzing their impact on broader social understandings of abortion.
The Abortion Onscreen Database tracks depictions of abortion on scripted television and film that are viewable by audiences in the US. This database includes depictions of abortion released as far back as the early 20th century, and as recently as this past month. [If you have an example that isn’t listed, please send them via the form]
IneedanA.com is a simple, up-to-date, and localized source of information for people seeking abortions. It provides details of local providers and clinics, local abortion funds, and any notification laws. [NOTE: They DO NOT store any of the info YOU enter into the site]
We Testify is an organization dedicated to the leadership and representation of people who have abortions, increasing the spectrum of abortion storytellers in the public sphere, and shifting the way the media understands the context and complexity of accessing abortion care. We Testify invests in abortion storytellers to elevate their voices and expertise, particularly those of color, those from rural and conservative communities, those who are queer-identified, those with varying abilities and citizenship statuses, and those who needed support when navigating barriers while accessing abortion care.
What to watch: The HBO documentary, THE JANES, profiles a group of women who defied the law to provide abortions pre-Roe v. Wade in Chicago.
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