Juno Writer Confirms Controversial Stance On Abortion
It might be a much more controversial movie today.
This article is more than 2 years old
Fifteen years ago the indie dramedy Juno did a lot of careers a lot of favors. It was one of the first big sources of exposure for Elliot Page and Michael Cera, helped fuel the comeback of Jason Bateman, and won its writer Diablo Cody an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. But in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s overturning, Cody is worried about the legacy it leaves behind.
“I am emphatically pro-choice and have been my entire life,” Cody said recently in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. But she’s concerned that one early scene frames the story in a way she never intended. She continued, “But, you know, I can understand why people would misunderstand the movie. Looking back at it, I can see how it could be perceived as anti-choice. And that horrifies me.”
Juno stars Elliot Page as the eponymous teenage girl who gets pregnant after having sex for the first time with her boyfriend Paulie (Cera). At first she plans to have an abortion, but an encounter with her classmate Su-Chin (Valerie Tian) convinces her to not go through with it. Instead, she decides to carry the baby to term and then allow the married couple Mark (Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) to adopt the child. Juno struggles to deal with her pregnancy while desperately wanting to enjoy the life of a teenage girl. Things get more complicated when Mark has second thoughts about adopting.
The specific scene that worries Diablo Cody, as you might guess, is the abortion clinic scene. When Juno arrives at the clinic, Su-Chin is the sole protester outside, holding a placard and chanting “All babies want to be borned!” When Juno tries to get past her, Su-Chin calls after her, claiming Juno’s baby already has a beating heart and fingernails. This last detail unnerves Juno and when she’s in the waiting room, all she can do is hyper-focus on the fingernails of all the other people in the clinic. She eventually gets up and leaves without going through with the abortion. You can watch the scene below.
Diablo Cody suggests that scene might be something she couldn’t have written if she’d known what was in store for Roe v. Wade. She told THR, “If somebody had said to me at the time… that in 2022, Roe v. Wade would be overturned, I would have been horrified… But at the time, it just seemed impossible. I took Roe for granted, and many of us did. I was just creating; I never intended the movie as any kind of political statement at all. I can’t imagine being that innocent again.”
On the surface, Juno is a surprisingly a-political movie considering the subject matter. Rather than focusing on the question of whether or not Elliot Page’s Juno has the baby, which is decided fairly early, most of it revolves around the complex relationship that develops between Juno and the couple she hopes will adopt her child. There’s also a lot of material about how Juno’s pregnancy impacts her relationship with her father (played wonderfully by J.K. Simmons).
