Hollywood has its finger on the reboot button these days, and it's not shy about pushing it. No successful television show, cartoon, or film franchise is safe from getting a plasticky new spin for the twenty-first century. This month alone brings several including Twin Peaks, Baywatch, and Dirty Dancing.

Of the list, it's gotta be Dirty Dancing that we need the most. Not because the campy '80s flick would translate so well to 2017; in truth, the ABC remake airing tonight and starring Abigail Breslin looks pretty awful. The reviews rely on many a pun about not having the time of your life. But we need this one, no matter how terrible it is, because it's an iconic movie that happens to be about abortion—specifically access to safe abortions.

I didn't understand that aspect of the film in my first ten or so viewings in the 1990s, but somewhere around my zillionth, in the '00s, I realized that the dialogue's clunky euphemisms, like "I know you weren't the one who got Penny in trouble," were still obscuring my understanding of what was really pushing the entire plot forward.

"We need this reboot, no matter how terrible it is, because it's an iconic movie that happens to be about abortion—specifically access to safe abortions."

Baby learns to dance so that she can cover for Penny, the professional dancer who regularly performs at nearby resorts. Penny is too sick throughout the film, as she's recovering from a botched abortion.

"The guy had a dirty knife and a folding table," a character describes. "I could hear her screaming from the hallway."

Not only did the film portray a character choosing an abortion, but it got gruesome about the reality of such a procedure in the 1963, when the film is set. That dirty knife wrecks the woman's body, leaving her unable to work or even talk very much. She needs money, she needs a doctor, she needs someone to pick up her shifts at work so she won't lose her job. Abortion is the movie's McGuffin.

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Dirty Dancing was released the same year I was born, 1987, and it depicted the era into which my mother was born. But how much has abortion access really changed in either of our lifetimes?It's difficult to maintain the stamina (or stomach) to parse the daily news from the Trump administration, as every one of his waking hours seems to bring a new gaffe or worse. But amid the awkward comments in a Holocaust museum and the investigations into Russia tampering with the election, yet another attack against abortion access snuck by: President Trump has eliminated all federal funding for Planned Parenthood in his 2018 budget.

"From day one, women's health has been squarely in the crosshairs of this administration," Planned Parenthood vice president Dawn Laguens said in a statement. "If passed, this budget would undo decades of progress for women when it comes to their ability to access health care, to pursue their career and education goals, and to lead safe, productive lives."

The GOP has chipped away at abortion access for decades, so much so that despite its legality, an abortion is difficult to procure in many, or even most, states. Forty-three states have restrictions about when a woman may get an abortion. In Dirty Dancing, Penny's fictional story played out in upstate New York, but it's a very real fear for women across the southern and midwestern United States today.

"Penny's fictional story played out in upstate New York, but it's a very real fear for women across the southern and midwestern United States today. "

There's another little joke in the movie I didn't immediately understand: Robby, the rich, schmucky dude who gets Penny pregnant, hands Baby a worn-out copy of The Fountainhead. "I think it's a book you'll enjoy," he says, "but make sure you return it. I have notes in the margin." It's a quick but funny detail; of course this guy is an arrogant prick! He likes a book lauded by conservatives as forming their philosophy—only care about yourself.

"Some people count, and some people don't," Robby shrugs about his former lover and her abortion. Let's hope Americans watch the Dirty Dancing remake after all, and remember a message aside from "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

From: Harper's BAZAAR US
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Kaitlin Menza

Kaitlin Menza is a freelance features writer. She lives in New York. You can see more of her writing at kaitlinmenza.com