Lulu's abortion
General Hospital did a wonderful job with Lulu's abortion storyline. As only a soap opera can, it took characters viewers know and care about, and used them to tell a very powerful story which fairly treated all sides of the abortion issue.
It began when teenage step siblings Lulu and Dillon slept together once. It was Lulu's first time, and they even used a condom. Unfortunately, condoms don't always work, and a just-turned-18 Lulu found herself pregnant. Lulu knew she wasn't ready to be a mother; Dillon felt the pregnancy made him a father, with a responsibility to protect the fetus.
The varied reactions of different characters to this dilemma created the story. Lulu's cousin, self-centered villainess Carly, said aborting a pregnancy was perhaps the one line Carly would never cross. Lulu's brothers, Nicholas and Lucky, found themselves at odds as Lucky, who viewed abortion as murder, tried to forbid Lulu from having one and as Nicholas, the product of rape, said that if their mother had not been forced to carry Nicholas to term she might not now be catatonic in a mental hospital. Lulu's sister-in-law and surrogate mother Liz, who personally was morally opposed to abortion, changed her mind about trying to talk Lulu out of it and instead told Lulu that she would love and support her no matter what. Dillon's mother and Lulu's stepmother, Tracy, told Lulu about her own abortion and how it still haunted her. Dillon's cousin Emily was adamant that Lulu had the right to choose whatever was best for her. And Lulu's father and Dillon's stepfather, Luke, who'd been raised in a brothel, remembered what it was like when "Aunt Ruby's girls" got pregnant before the days of Roe v. Wade.
There were no easy answers. Lulu, with a mother in a mental hospital and a father gallivanting around the world, had grown up being passed around from one relative to another and as a result felt unloved and unwanted. She did not want to bring a child into the world who would feel the same way.
On the other hand Dillon made it quite clear that he was prepared to take responsibility for the child. When Lulu sarcastically pointed out that for a Quartermaine that meant nannies and boarding school, Dillon said, "Yes, there will be nannies. But there are worse lives for a child. You have options."
In the end, Lulu decided to have the abortion. She had nightmares and was depressed for some time afterward, but was able to enroll full-time for her first year of college. The show itself made no judgements, but left it to the viewers to decide if Lulu made the right choice.
This type of story, and the impact it can have, is why I love soap operas.
It began when teenage step siblings Lulu and Dillon slept together once. It was Lulu's first time, and they even used a condom. Unfortunately, condoms don't always work, and a just-turned-18 Lulu found herself pregnant. Lulu knew she wasn't ready to be a mother; Dillon felt the pregnancy made him a father, with a responsibility to protect the fetus.
The varied reactions of different characters to this dilemma created the story. Lulu's cousin, self-centered villainess Carly, said aborting a pregnancy was perhaps the one line Carly would never cross. Lulu's brothers, Nicholas and Lucky, found themselves at odds as Lucky, who viewed abortion as murder, tried to forbid Lulu from having one and as Nicholas, the product of rape, said that if their mother had not been forced to carry Nicholas to term she might not now be catatonic in a mental hospital. Lulu's sister-in-law and surrogate mother Liz, who personally was morally opposed to abortion, changed her mind about trying to talk Lulu out of it and instead told Lulu that she would love and support her no matter what. Dillon's mother and Lulu's stepmother, Tracy, told Lulu about her own abortion and how it still haunted her. Dillon's cousin Emily was adamant that Lulu had the right to choose whatever was best for her. And Lulu's father and Dillon's stepfather, Luke, who'd been raised in a brothel, remembered what it was like when "Aunt Ruby's girls" got pregnant before the days of Roe v. Wade.
There were no easy answers. Lulu, with a mother in a mental hospital and a father gallivanting around the world, had grown up being passed around from one relative to another and as a result felt unloved and unwanted. She did not want to bring a child into the world who would feel the same way.
On the other hand Dillon made it quite clear that he was prepared to take responsibility for the child. When Lulu sarcastically pointed out that for a Quartermaine that meant nannies and boarding school, Dillon said, "Yes, there will be nannies. But there are worse lives for a child. You have options."
In the end, Lulu decided to have the abortion. She had nightmares and was depressed for some time afterward, but was able to enroll full-time for her first year of college. The show itself made no judgements, but left it to the viewers to decide if Lulu made the right choice.
This type of story, and the impact it can have, is why I love soap operas.