User Reviews

Except for brief dated references to an electric typewriter and Shaun Cassidy, this episode is just as relevant in 2023 as it was in 1982. Natalie writes an article for her school newspaper inventing a fictitious student at Eastland boarding school who had an abortion, because she couldn't get any students to confide in her about having an abortion. The school principal was hounded by worried parents who wanted to know if it was their teenage daughter that had the abortion. He gives Natalie an ultimatum: reveal the girl's name or be expelled from school. Natalie is afraid of humiliation if it ever came out that such a student doesn't exist, so she starts packing to leave Eastland. Then, a student named Annie comes to her asking how she found out it was her that had the abortion and pleads with her not to tell anyone. Natalie is stunned to realize her fictitious student had turned out to be a real student. But she recovers enough to allay Annie's concerns that nobody at Eastland knows that it was her. A mature talk ensues between the two girls when Annie says that she was upset when she first read Natalie's article and how it brought back memories of the abortion but then felt comforted that someone out there understood how she felt. Natalie encourages Annie to talk to her parents about it, but Annie replies that her parents are unforgiving and would never understand. And that's why she tells Natalie not to reveal her name to the principal as he would then tell Annie's parents. Natalie then talks to Mrs. Garrett who tells her that even though this student later turned out to be real, it doesn't change the fact that the article was a lie when it was first written. The principal tells Natalie that he changed his mind about expelling her and that he will investigate other ways to find the girl's name. To prevent that from happening, Natalie tells him how she invented the student, thus protecting Annie's identity. The principal is relieved that such a student doesn't exist but punishes Natalie by firing her from the school newspaper for writing a fictitious article. He still keeping her on as a student. Natalie accepts the outcome. When this episode first aired in 1982, abortion was legal. In 2022, the United States Supreme Court reversed a landmark 1973 decision that had given women right to have abortions, and instead letting states make their own laws and bans about abortion. The episode doesn't take a moral or legal stand about abortion. Instead, it sticks to topics on privacy and about journalists duty to tell the truth. Probably because of that, it didn't get the kind of controversy as the infamous "Maude" episode about abortion in 1972, where Maude decides to have an abortion. And the other reason is that Annie is a one-episode guest character with only one scene; you never saw her before or after this episode, while Maude was the titled character. Norman Lear, whose production company created both "Maude" and "The Facts of Life". Always handled hot button topics in his shows. Unlike "Maude" though, "The Facts of Life" can be preachy. And this episode has some of that with Tootie and Mrs. Garrett advocating for truth in journalism and Annie striving to protect her privacy, and Natalie caught in the middle but eventually supporting her. But there was a third topic about counseling that shows up as a subtext. The principal wanted to give emotional support to any student who went thru the abortion but when Natalie tells him that no such student exists, he was relieved and that he can tell the parents the good news. But there is no word from him about how Eastland school should have a counselor talk to girls who can't talk to their parents or classmates about privacy issues, including but not limited to abortion. Overall, this episode does give you a lot of things to think about.