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Film / Unpregnant

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Unpregnant is a 2020 Buddy Road Trip Dramedy film, directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg, and based on the book of the same name by Ted Caplan and Jenni Hendriks. It stars Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreira, with supporting performances by Breckin Meyer, Giancarlo Esposito, Stephanie Beard, and and Betty Who.

17-year old Missouri teen Veronica (Richardson) discovers she has gotten pregnant, a development that threatens to end her dreams of matriculating at an Ivy League college, and the career that will follow. Unable to receive an abortion in her home state, she decides to journey across the country to Albuquerque, NM to the closest Planned Parenthood. Unwilling to tell her religious parents, she enlists the help of her former best friend Bailey (Ferreira) to drive her. Drama and hilarity ensue.

The film was produced by Greg Berlanti's company Berlanti Productions, and distributed online by HBO Max on September 10, 2020 in the United States.

Tropes in this film include:

  • An Aesop: People shouldn’t have children if they don’t want them or use children as a tool for their partners. Veronica is not emotionally or financially ready for a child, which drives her determination to have an abortion. Kevin only wants a child to make Veronica stay with him instead of going to college. Bailey’s father never wanted children and only had Bailey to make her mother happy.
  • Artistic License – Medicine: It is unlikely that Veronica would be casually walking around an hour after receiving a surgical abortion. In reality she would most likely have very painful cramps for at least the rest of the day.
  • Blackmail: In a last fit of pathetic desperation, Kevin threatens to tell everyone in school that Veronica has had an abortion unless she stays in a relationship with him. She calls his bluff, and even decides to tell her school friends when she returns.
  • Butch Lesbian: Bailey is something of a tomboy in her attitude and dress style, but isn't really full on butch, though it turns out she's a lesbian. She meets a butch lesbian however at the carnival, flirting with and briefly kissing her.
  • Disappeared Dad: Bailey's father barely has contact with her, and admits he never wanted to have children, only doing so since her mother did. This clearly hurts Bailey deeply, and is indicated as a reason why people shouldn't have children if they don't want them (like Veronica too).
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Kevin, Veronica's baby daddy. However, the film deliberately blends this with Stalker with a Crush to show just how bad this actually is. It's made clear that he badgered Veronica to go out with him to begin with, noticed the condom had broken after the fact and did not tell her, attempts to propose to her repeatedly after she had refused, and stalked her across the country to Planned Parenthood to prevent her from terminating the pregnancy. This is made worse in the original book where he poked holes in the condoms.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: After going through hell and back, Veronica successfully and healthily terminates her pregnancy, and both she and Bailey make it home, with a newly deepened friendship. Veronica is also able to have a closer relationship with her mother. Bailey is able to gain more confidence in her romantic life and receives closure on her relationship with her neglectful father.
  • Faking the Dead: Veronica and Bailey steal Bob and Kate's GMC Yukon and drive it off a small cliff, after diving out at the last minute. The car being too far away to actually easily check for bodies, this fools Bob long enough for them to sneak off.
  • The Fundamentalist: Late into the movie, Veronica and Bailey encounter a pair who try to force Veronica to keep her pregnancy. They even run a mobile Crisis Pregnancy Center.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted Trope. Veronica is not ready to be a mom and thus decides to get an abortion, and she isn't going to let anyone change her mind. Furthermore, the movie makes it clear that Veronica did not come to this decision lightly and she isn't a bad person for not wanting to carry the pregnancy to term. The other characters (except for a pair of Christian fundamentalists and her emotionally manipulative boyfriend) support her decision.
  • I Have This Friend: When calling Planned Parenthood about her options, Veronica pretends she’s writing a hypothetical research paper. The staff member on the phone doesn’t buy it, but plays along.
  • Oh, Crap!: Veronica has one when she learns that she has to travel all the way to New Mexico for her abortion.
  • Road Trip Plot: Veronica has to make the 14-hour+ car ride to the nearest Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque, and drags Bailey along with her.
  • Teen Pregnancy: Veronica hasn't graduated high school yet and she knows she is nowhere near ready to have a baby at her age.

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