[THIS POST CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!]

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Degrassi: Next Class’ press campaign is officially under way, and they’re charging head first into controversy by revealing big details on Season 3’s abortion storyline. A few months ago Linda revealed that Degrassi would be doing an abortion storyline for the first time in 13 years this season. Details from episode descriptions heavily hinted at which character it would happen to, but it’s been confirmed that Lola will be the one who gets pregnant and has an abortion.

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Amanda Arcuri and Stefan Brogren did an interview with eTalk discussing the storyline:

Can’t see the video? Watch it here.


The major highlights are that not only will Lola have an abortion in episode 308 (#IRegretNothing), she won’t have any regrets about it either. Also, for the first time ever, we’ll be following a character into the procedure room as Lola prepares to have the abortion.

This is the first time Degrassi will have no restrictions on how they’re able to tell an abortion storyline.

In Degrassi High, the episode ended on a freeze frame with Erica Farrell and her sister outside of an abortion clinic.There were two separate endings cut for this: the “safe” version for the American broadcaster that ended with the girls standing a distance away from the clinic, and the real ending where they’re shown being yelled at by a group of protesters. And as the girls are about to head inside, a woman holds up a plastic fetus.


In “School’s Out!” Tessa Campinelli was only shown at the clinic making an appointment.

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In The Next Generation, the freeze frame hit just as Manny Santos was about to walk into the procedure room. The American broadcaster refused to air the episode, and it didn’t air in the U.S. until nearly 2 1/2 years after the original Canadian broadcast. The show also wasn’t allowed to do any followup storylines that would refer to Manny’s abortion.

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For more info on Lola’s abortion, including Amanda Arcuri and Linda Schuyler’s thoughts on it, click here.

Posted by Kary

3 Comments

  1. Katy, I’m getting chills. From the promotional photos, to the episode synopsis’, trailer, and this interview – I feel like Degrassi hasn’t been this authentic or raw in a loooong time. The last time I felt this original degrassi vibe was season 12, and before that, season 7. Do you agree?

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    1. Yes it definitely sounds intense, and from the early sounds of it people are really enjoying it!

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  2. Spoilers – I was surprised how quickly they went through the process of it, with it being started and finished in one episode, and then they never had any confrontation about it between miles and Lola, I thought miles would be really upset that she didn’t tell him anything, but he didn’t care. I think doing it that fast and showing a girl who isn’t regretting it, made the main differences from previous abortions storylines. I don’t think I would have wanted to spend more time devoted to it, but it was such a basically no big deal that they probably should have just not even done it in the first place, especially since there doesn’t seem to be much to follow up in next season, unless Lola starts feeling haunted by it or something, which is possible, but I dunno if it will have much impact after a six month break.

    And that saga with the manny tv situation is infuriating how that was censored and delayed, but on the other hand it was a kids tv station and tv has progressed a lot over just the past 5 years.

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