nobody puts baby in the corner
we all know that our formative years are greatly influenced by all sorts of factors (books, music, movies, friends/family). what i find interesting are the "facts" we absorb during this years that we carry on to adulthood.
case in point: a friend of a friend wanted to get an abortion a few years ago, but couldn't afford it. the mutual friend told me about this financial concern and i wondered why $300 would be so hard to acquire thru saving and borrowing. my friend wondered where in the world i came up with that figure b/c it's so far from the actual cost. (to this day, i have no idea how much they cost). i wasn't sure where that figure came from until i saw dirty dancing on tv a few weeks ago. you all know the scene i'm about to describe -- the dance instructor gets "knocked up" so baby asks her dad for $300 while lying about the need for the money.
of course i realized as a child that dirty dancing was supposed to take place decades ago (late 50s/early 60s), but somehow, my young mind viewed that number as an accurate figure in the 80s and it retained it to this day.
case in point: a friend of a friend wanted to get an abortion a few years ago, but couldn't afford it. the mutual friend told me about this financial concern and i wondered why $300 would be so hard to acquire thru saving and borrowing. my friend wondered where in the world i came up with that figure b/c it's so far from the actual cost. (to this day, i have no idea how much they cost). i wasn't sure where that figure came from until i saw dirty dancing on tv a few weeks ago. you all know the scene i'm about to describe -- the dance instructor gets "knocked up" so baby asks her dad for $300 while lying about the need for the money.
of course i realized as a child that dirty dancing was supposed to take place decades ago (late 50s/early 60s), but somehow, my young mind viewed that number as an accurate figure in the 80s and it retained it to this day.
posted by happy roy at 10:16 AM
9 Comments:
You know what Julie -- I would have no clue either how much something like that would cost besides what Dirty Dancing has told me.
TV and Movies has a huge effect on people -- when it comes to understanding a point of view or seeing what a city looks like -- you can watch a movie and think you really know what is going on there. But in reality -- what you think Italy looks like is actually a set somewhere in LA and the character playing a doctor on a hit tv show has never been into an emergency room.
I agree with Shawn- entertainment has that effect on folks.
I did a quick online Google search-First trimester abortions cost about $300 - $600. Second trimester, $500 - $5000. I know, not really what you want to know, but you made me a bit curious, and you weren't too far off! BTW, loved the Dirty Dancing title...
hi oodles! i haven't seen you update your flog recently so i figured you were lost to flickr. now i'll have to check out your blog. =)
i'm surprised that first semester abortions are still the same price. i guess that means that dirty dancing wasn't as true to the period as i thought it was. i may have to go lie down now. =)
For your convenicence - Oodle's blog is now listed in the Blogroll - enjoy :)
As a reminder -- any readers can join in and become a member of this blog and make original posts. Just let me know!
doh i can't spell
julie,
i didn't know u had this blog!! i have the other blog on bloglines...so i guess i'll have add this one since u update often! yeah! more things to read instead of working!
Julie- Flickr seems to always be up and running, as opposed to fotolog, everyone should join it (ahem, hint).
In the meantime, I'll have to add you guys to my links.
re: Julie's comment above-
"i'm surprised that first semester abortions are still the same price. i guess that means that dirty dancing wasn't as true to the period as i thought it was. i may have to go lie down now. =)"
Actually... the reason why it cost so much in 1950 ($300) is because it was illegal then and that was black market pricing. So it was probably fairly accurate and thats why it seems like it hasn't changed... Blackmarket abortions continue to be very pricey in our country when women can't get to a provider for whatever reason... (often location).
$300-$500 for an abortion at the Englewood free clinic in the first trimester. $500-$800 in the second. When walking around the streets of Englewood, some pro-choice advocate was passing out flyers . . .
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