MEDIACASESTUDY:GREY'SANATOMY

Sahananarayan

If you’ve ever watched Grey’s Anatomy, you likely remember the very first time we meet Addison Montgomery on screen. At the tail end of the first season, just as the audience is mooning over the dreaminess of McDreamy, she introduces herself to Meredith Grey, fur coat and retro hollywood curls and all “you must be the woman who is screwing my husband.”

Grey’s Anatomy has been running for 19 seasons and I’ve watched every episode. I’m loyal to a fault when it comes to this show, even when certain seasons have been subpar, and so believe me when I say, Addison has become a personal favorite.

In Season 19, viewers are given a very new version of the show, one that capitalizing on fresh storylines and a new cast, it’s novel and nostalgic at the same time. Episode 5, “When I Get To The Border,” aired on November 3, 2022 and this episode does a great job at integrating the very real fallout from Roe v. Wade being overturned. We know that many states have trigger laws ready to be enacted and others have lawmakers on the way to implementing some form of one. As an OB/GYN and maternal-fetal specialist, Addison Montgomery, alongside character Miranda Bailey, embark on a journey to the rural part of Washington (Pullman, WA) to help out at a family planning clinic. This day takes a turn for the worse, though, when they must drive to the Washington-Idaho border, where an Idaho woman with an ectopic pregnancy on a prior cesarean section scar is at risk for rupture and cannot receive an evacuation procedure due to Idaho state abortion laws.

According to a recent JAMA study, the travel time for an abortion has more than tripled, and with bans having been enacted, clinics are shutting down. The issue of abortion has taken on a moral and religious valence that quite frankly has no place in medical care. Even in this episode of Grey’s Anatomy, after arriving at the Pullman clinic, Addison and Miranda walk through a throng of aggressive protestors outside the clinic. It's a realistic