Dirty Dancing and Abortion

As a child I was never sure what "that scene" was all about.

You know the scene! (No, that THAT scene...the other one!)

The one where Baby's father, a doctor, cleans up a girl after she had an abortion.

Though it's not entirely spelled out in the film, careful viewers can pick up the subplot.

Penny, one of the professional dancers, has a medical emergency. This is pivotal to the entire movie since this is why Baby ends up getting her private dancing sessions from Johnny (Patrick Swayze) in the first place.

Penny's medical emergency was an abortion. The movie is set in 1963, before abortion was legalized. Note that the word "abortion" is never said in the movie. Can't say the word!

The movie implicates that because abortion is illegal, complications will surely follow.

Note though that upon the legalization of abortion, doctors that were doing it "on the side" were simply able to come out of the darkness and set up a storefront without legal ramifications. In other words, before 1973 and after 1973 it was the same people performing the abortions. While held up as helping women, legalizing abortion was a major step in protecting the doctors that were doing it anyway. Of course, before 1973 many people sought out abortionists that were not medically trained- which was probably less expensive. For more info see Bernard Nathanson's testimony on the legalization strategies for abortion.

After Penny's illegal abortion she is seen in bed having post-abortion internal bleeding. This scene is set up for the savvy viewer to perceive that if abortion is illegal then women will have medical problems, leading many to assume that if abortion is legal, that abortion will automatically be completely safe. This, we have seen, has not been the case. Women still suffer from post-abortion medical problems, including infection, infertility, incomplete abortion, post-abortion syndrome, and death.

Baby runs to her father who then saves Penny's life. The rest of the movie spins out amid Hamlet like misunderstandings, ending with everyone seeing each other for who they truly are.

Oh, and there's some dancing.

I remember that at some point in college I figured out what "that scene" was all about. I guess I just sort of skipped over trying to understand it while watching the film as a kid. I wonder how many kids see Dirty Dancing these days and never think to question, "What's wrong with Penny?"