Abort Ableism ("Love is Blind" Season 3)

Spoiler alert for season 3 of "Love is Blind"

Warning for talk of an ableist discussion

All questions in this article are rhetorical unless stated otherwise

I'll write about the ableism of the show "Love is Blind" in a separate article or two. Right now I need to talk about the abortion conversation between Nancy and Bartise in season 3.

One night, in their apartment, the topic of abortion is brought up. Bartise's gut reaction is he doesn't support it. Nancy says she does - especially if she were to get pregnant with a child with a birth defect.

Nancy voices how, in her job, she sees a lot of families and the trauma that is caused by having a kid with a birth defect (she singles out Down Syndrome) and how their parents struggle. And she doesn't want that.

This article is not about either of their views on abortion. You don't try to tell me what to do, I don't care. This article is about the absolute ableism that was allowed to be aired.

Nancy says if she got pregnant with a child with a birth defect she would have an abortion and try again. Basically outright saying anyone with a birth defect shouldn't exist if you can help it.

This is an extremely ableist, hateful, and ignorant belief.

1.) "Birth defect" is incredibly vague. So a disabled child?

2.) A person can become disabled at literally any point in their life. If something were to happen, are you just not going to love that person anymore? Will you no longer view them as your child?

3.) You witnessed some people maybe struggling when a child was young. Okay. How many of those people were first time parents? How many of those people didn't plan to have a child or children yet? How many of those people struggle with mental illness(es) or any other disability/disabilities and/or chronic anything themselves? How many of those people are experiencing postpartum depression? How many of those people have something totally unrelated going on in their lives? How many of those people didn't do their own research and talk to other disabled people to prepare themselves? How many of those people just listened to their doctor and their (most likely incredibly ableist) opinions? And maybe they were still struggling. Okay. That doesn't mean you would. Every human being (because children are also human beings) is different. Every single one.

4.) The most obvious one in my opinion: disabled people are human beings. We have and deserve lives literally just as much as nondisabled people. We're just as worthy of life as nondisabled people.

At the end of the season, they had a "one year after the finale reunion". Here, the conversation was brought up and talked about but the ableism was not mentioned.

Why am I talking about something that came out years ago? Multiple reasons honestly.

1.) It still needs to be addressed that this was allowed to be aired. And without a trigger warning. It's never okay to show a conversation belittling someone (or a group of people) and their life or lives.

2.) It's not just this show or this one moment. So many people think this way. So many people view disabled people simply as burdens that make life harder.

3.) I'm just now starting to be really honest on the internet. After crying I've thought this for a long time after watching this episode. It's about time I voice it.