It was only a matter of time.
Once the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade and allowed states to decide for themselves whether or not to keep abortion legal, Law & Order was sure to take on this controversial ruling.
Law & Order Season 22 Episode 2 did just that, using the case of a fictional Texas governor’s daughter’s murder to examine the effects of anti-abortion laws on women’s lives.
In true Law & Order fashion, the crime started as an apparent random mugging gone wrong, and the truth didn’t come out until after the cops had taken the investigation down several wrong paths.
This almost always works well; viewers expect, enjoy, and search for the twist that will change the story’s fabric. Plus, the way these investigations unfold mirrors real police work. Detectives don’t always know what they’re looking at when they catch a case, after all!
It would have been hard, if not impossible, to disguise the actual political figures the characters were based on this time. In real life, Texas does have both an arch-conservative governor and a restrictive set of laws related to abortion.
Cosgrove: Our DOA is Becca Carter, the daughter of Rob Carter, the governor of Texas.
Dixon: He was just on Fox News talking about how there’s too much crime in New York and Chicago because of coastal liberal elites.
Cosgrove: He’s in Texas. Why does he care about New York so much?
Dixon: It gets him in front of the cameras.
The episode did an excellent job of illustrating how liberal New Yorkers feel about Texas’ leadership and policies. Abortion stories always risk becoming preachy or one-sided, which happened to a degree here, too.
In reality, conservatives are often anti-abortion, but laws against the practice tend to work against poor people more than rich ones. Rich and powerful people, such as a conservative governor, have ways of getting clandestine abortions for their wives and children when needed.
The story might have been more nuanced, realistic, and powerful had this nuance been included rather than Texas’ fictional First Family being so staunchly pro-life that they would chase down their daughter to stop her from having an abortion in another state.
It also would have been more logical for Becca’s death to be an accident.
I can buy that the First Family was extremely pro-life or that they feared the press might get wind of the news that Becca had an abortion, leading to public embarrassment.
But I don’t believe that Becca’s brother would be so strongly against abortion that he would deliberately murder his sister to punish her for having one, nor that her parents would cover his behavior up without a second thought.
That aspect of the writing felt like it relied more on stereotypes about pro-life people than anything else. The anti-abortionists were all so zealous that they would kill anyone who was pro-choice, even their family member, and that didn’t ring true.
This isn’t to say that the episode didn’t have important things to say about abortion rights.
Although Simone didn’t get to talk much about her own experience, she said that having an abortion saved her life. This was an interesting point that needed more air time; women who need abortions for health reasons are often caught up in the net of anti-abortion laws.
In addition, Drea’s fear of being arrested for kidnapping directly resulted from the problem of abortion laws differing from state to state. Had she not needed to transport a minor out of state for an abortion, there would be no possibility of serious charges stemming from the misapplication of other laws.
That said, Drea’s plight wasn’t completely realistic. You’d think an organization dedicated to helping women obtain out-of-state abortions would expect that volunteers might run into legal trouble and be prepared to advise them.
Even if the organization couldn’t provide a lawyer for Drea, it should have trained her in what to expect and what to do if someone threatened to arrest her for her activities. There also should have been an official policy about testifying in court cases, especially since the organization wanted to keep volunteers anonymous.
Speaking of which, was anyone (besides the characters, that is!) surprised that an anti-abortion activist shot Drea?
As soon as she agreed to testify, I knew that was a possibility. New York City may be more liberal than other areas of the country, but that doesn’t mean there are no anti-abortion activists here, and some such activists are willing to use violence to make their point.
In addition, the governor is wealthy and well-connected, and this case demonstrated that he wasn’t opposed to his son murdering his daughter to make a point. Thus, it wasn’t much of a stretch to think that the First Family might arrange for Drea to meet a similar fate.
It was nice that Maroun offered a police escort, but it shouldn’t have been optional. The second that woman testified, she put a target on her own back.
Maroun will have to live with the knowledge that she convinced Drea to testify when Drea wanted to go home and be safe. If this haunts Marhoun in future episodes, that could lead to some compelling drama!
In other character-related news, Shaw fits in well with the squad. He got some great one-liners in (I loved when he told that suspect that it might be best to avoid throwing chairs at cops!) and handled a uniformed officer’s racism well without getting preachy or pedantic.
Your turn, Law & Order fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you thought of this topical story!
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Law & Order airs on NBC on Thursdays at 8 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
