Don't Forget That Dirty Dancing Has a Powerful Pro-Choice Message

glamour.com:

Spring Awakening? Or a little movie called ?While the romance and the dancing are often what people remember about the 1987 hit, the plot actually hinges on a botched back-alley abortion.

Johnny's (Patrick Swayze) original dance partner is Penny; Baby () not only borrows money from her doctor father to pay for Penny's abortion, she also enlists his help when Penny nearly dies from the procedure.

takes place in 1963, a decade before and as Baby's father Dr. Houseman says, the person who operated on Penny was “a butcher.” It's a harrowing cautionary tale about what happens not only when abortion is illegal, but also when men fail to take responsibility for their part in pregnancy.

And sadly, it couldn't be timelier.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.With the overturn of Roe on the horizon, Dirty Dancing star —who is currently , *Out of the Corner—*spoke to The View about the movie's relevance. “I really, like so many of us…I am horrified that this is really on the table again in 2022,” she said, adding, “talk about being in the corner,” a reference to the movie's famous line about limiting a woman by putting her “in the corner.”“If you don’t want to have an abortion, don’t have one.