My friend Amy emailed me this letter and gave me permission to post it here.
"Ugh, I couldn't run from my television to the computer to message you fast enough after today's All My Children. This is definitely relevant!
On the show, there is a recently-returned couple, Angie and Jesse. They were a supercouple in the 80s, and the notable thing is that they were, by all measurements, the first black supercouple on a soap. Jesse died, Angie hung on a few more years, then they were both off the show. Fast-forward to now, Jesse has returned from the dead, and he and Angie are remarried. They have a grown son who is a practicing doctor, so that makes him at least 30. They were young when they had him, but that still makes Angie around 50. She and her husband each have another child from other marriages, so that makes three who are currently part of their lives.
Angie is a doctor, and because of a patient she treated a few weeks ago without gloves or a mask, she now has a ridiculously long-named infection that could make her go blind (and which she has not yet told her husband about, for no good reason). She is currently on an experimental drug that could SAVE HER VISION. So that she could continue to practice medicine and save lives, as well as continue to see her loved ones and all of their successes and milestones etc. etc. Sounds great, right?
Not so much. Because today, Angie has learned that, by some "miracle" (their choice of words, not mine)...she is pregnant. Surprise! And her specialist who is treating her strange infection has told her that she should consult with her OB/GYN, but that he would recommend that she discontinue the experimental drug if she plans to continue her pregnancy. Leaving aside entirely why this would be a surprise (if they haven't figured out how to use protection by the time they are 50, I can only shake my head in sorrow), my first thought was...this is a question? A woman that age is going to choose continuing a high risk pregnancy for an uncertain outcome (Down syndrome or something else), when she already has three children in her life, over her SIGHT???
I found myself wondering, could the show that brought us daytime's first legal abortion (Susan Lucci's character, Erica Kane, had one in 1973 — never mind that the ABORTED FETUS came back as a grown man a few years ago, but died anyway so karma course-corrected on that one!) maybe make the right choice in 2010? Or are they going to go with the old, tired pro-natalist stance that seems to be practically mandatory on soaps these days? I wondered how long I would have to wait to find out, but then later that episode, Jesse wondered why she was turning down champagne, and jokingly asked if she was pregnant...and she revealed that she was, with many tears and cries of "Miracle!"
So, at least for *now*, she's made her pro-natalist bed and will have to lie in it. But I am holding out hope that she will eventually reveal the truth about her infection to her husband, and they will discuss it together, and then make an INFORMED CHOICE — hopefully the right one — about whether or not to continue this pregnancy. In my mind, there's no choice, aside from the remote possibility that someone was a devout Catholic: at that age, with the likely risk of complications, PLUS the wrinkle about her sight and the experimental drug, I'd opt to have the abortion. But soaps are choosing that option far less these days, if at all (if they need to terminate a pregnancy there's always the patented fall-down-the-stairs, which absolves the character of the "stain" of choosing to end the pregnancy, ugh). To me, it seems colossally selfish to choose anything but termination. If she goes blind, her family will be forced to provide a certain higher level of care for her for the rest of her life, whether that's in the form of a dog, an assistant, special equipment for the home, etc. etc. But as we know so well, even the horror of GOING BLIND is trumped by the perceived magical wonderfulness of a baby, which is believed to be able to FIX ANYTHING. How many unhappy spouses have been suckered in by *that* one, huh?
Augh, I'm so annoyed with All My Children right now I could spit! Aside from the silver lining for me of knowing there's a community (yours!) that understands, I hope you can find something useful in this rant for the blog.
Amy"
"Ugh, I couldn't run from my television to the computer to message you fast enough after today's All My Children. This is definitely relevant!
On the show, there is a recently-returned couple, Angie and Jesse. They were a supercouple in the 80s, and the notable thing is that they were, by all measurements, the first black supercouple on a soap. Jesse died, Angie hung on a few more years, then they were both off the show. Fast-forward to now, Jesse has returned from the dead, and he and Angie are remarried. They have a grown son who is a practicing doctor, so that makes him at least 30. They were young when they had him, but that still makes Angie around 50. She and her husband each have another child from other marriages, so that makes three who are currently part of their lives.
Angie is a doctor, and because of a patient she treated a few weeks ago without gloves or a mask, she now has a ridiculously long-named infection that could make her go blind (and which she has not yet told her husband about, for no good reason). She is currently on an experimental drug that could SAVE HER VISION. So that she could continue to practice medicine and save lives, as well as continue to see her loved ones and all of their successes and milestones etc. etc. Sounds great, right?
Not so much. Because today, Angie has learned that, by some "miracle" (their choice of words, not mine)...she is pregnant. Surprise! And her specialist who is treating her strange infection has told her that she should consult with her OB/GYN, but that he would recommend that she discontinue the experimental drug if she plans to continue her pregnancy. Leaving aside entirely why this would be a surprise (if they haven't figured out how to use protection by the time they are 50, I can only shake my head in sorrow), my first thought was...this is a question? A woman that age is going to choose continuing a high risk pregnancy for an uncertain outcome (Down syndrome or something else), when she already has three children in her life, over her SIGHT???
I found myself wondering, could the show that brought us daytime's first legal abortion (Susan Lucci's character, Erica Kane, had one in 1973 — never mind that the ABORTED FETUS came back as a grown man a few years ago, but died anyway so karma course-corrected on that one!) maybe make the right choice in 2010? Or are they going to go with the old, tired pro-natalist stance that seems to be practically mandatory on soaps these days? I wondered how long I would have to wait to find out, but then later that episode, Jesse wondered why she was turning down champagne, and jokingly asked if she was pregnant...and she revealed that she was, with many tears and cries of "Miracle!"
So, at least for *now*, she's made her pro-natalist bed and will have to lie in it. But I am holding out hope that she will eventually reveal the truth about her infection to her husband, and they will discuss it together, and then make an INFORMED CHOICE — hopefully the right one — about whether or not to continue this pregnancy. In my mind, there's no choice, aside from the remote possibility that someone was a devout Catholic: at that age, with the likely risk of complications, PLUS the wrinkle about her sight and the experimental drug, I'd opt to have the abortion. But soaps are choosing that option far less these days, if at all (if they need to terminate a pregnancy there's always the patented fall-down-the-stairs, which absolves the character of the "stain" of choosing to end the pregnancy, ugh). To me, it seems colossally selfish to choose anything but termination. If she goes blind, her family will be forced to provide a certain higher level of care for her for the rest of her life, whether that's in the form of a dog, an assistant, special equipment for the home, etc. etc. But as we know so well, even the horror of GOING BLIND is trumped by the perceived magical wonderfulness of a baby, which is believed to be able to FIX ANYTHING. How many unhappy spouses have been suckered in by *that* one, huh?
Augh, I'm so annoyed with All My Children right now I could spit! Aside from the silver lining for me of knowing there's a community (yours!) that understands, I hope you can find something useful in this rant for the blog.
Amy"
