Season 3 of ‘Ginny & Georgia’ Tackles Teen Pregnancy and Abortion with Sensitivity

Sarah Lampert’s hit Netflix series Ginny & Georgia is more than just a killer (pun intended) comfort watch.

Georgia Miller, portrayed by Brianne Gentry, is the central character in Ginny & Georgia. She is depicted as a mother of two who has a complex and troubled past. Throughout the series, viewers are taken on a journey filled with crime, romance, and a lot of drama. However, the show goes beyond just entertainment by addressing important issues such as depression, self-harm, and eating disorders in a thoughtful manner.

The series does not shy away from exploring challenging and often taboo subjects. Despite the many plot twists, Ginny & Georgia consistently shines a light on topics that are in need of more representation on screen. In Season 3, the show sensitively addresses teen pregnancy and abortion, delving into these difficult themes with great success.

Ginny & Georgia Season 3 spoilers ahead.

In Season 3, Episode 7, Ginny, played by Antonia Gentry, discovers that she is pregnant in a surprising turn of events. She grapples with this life-changing news on her own, unable to confide in her mother Georgia due to their court-mandated supervised visits. Instead, Ginny turns to the baby’s father, Wolfe, portrayed by Ty Doran, for support. However, his response is underwhelming as he simply says, “That’s wild,” before driving away, leaving Ginny to carry the weight of this situation by herself.

Desperate for guidance, Ginny sneaks back home to talk to Georgia and gets the cathartic conversation (and cry) she needs. Tears well when Georgia realizes the words that Ginny’s too scared to say. For a moment, her face falls in fear, fury, and heartbreak. Like Lorelai Gilmore before her, Georgia worked tirelessly in hopes of giving her daughter a better life, so teen pregnancy was one of her biggest fears. After seeing the defeated look on Ginny’s face, however, her own disappointment vanishes, and is replaced with love, empathy, and support.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s a really important conversation starter,” Howey told PEOPLE when asked about Ginny’s major storylines. “I think we’re both grateful to the writers and the show for the grace and power that they handled this subject with.”

In a refreshing move, rather than demand an outcome, Georgia gives Ginny full autonomy in the decision. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. You and your brother. I don’t regret having you for one second. You’re my air, you’re my purpose. I don’t know who I am without you, but you changed my life. My life became about you,” Georgia shares, giving her daughter an informative glimpse at her own journey. “That was good for me. But you’re different. You have so much to look forward to, so much life to live. And I want you to have the best life — the very best life. And a baby, that is sacrifice. That’s just truth.”

When asked if she wants to have the baby, Ginny shakes her head side to side and apologizes, well aware that had Georgia made the same choice, she wouldn’t exist. But motherhood isn’t right for her in that moment. So Georgia hugs her tight, assures her the decision is OK, and has her take another test to be absolutely certain. When the test is positive, Georgia asks if Ginny wants to sleep on the decision, but she remains firm in her choice to have an abortion.

As Decider noted when praising A Million Little Things for nailing its abortion storylines, Ginny & Georgia also does a remarkable job supporting a pregnant person’s right to choose, while reminding viewers that everyone’s journey and personal circumstances — including Georgia’s and Ginny’s — are different. For Gentry, the right for her character to choose her own fate rang true to her real-life beliefs, which made the storyline hit that much harder.

“On a personal level, I am for women having choices over their bodies. So to include this storyline this season, I am glad that we were able to do it in a way that didn’t really complicate that notion,” Gentry told PEOPLE. “It’s very much — this is a choice that she had to make, she made it and we didn’t linger on the details of that.”

Rather than draw out deliberations, Georgia books an appointment that afternoon and begs Ginny to take someone with her. When Ginny declines an escort, Georgia asks Marcus to meet her at the clinic and the extra support is exactly what she needs. On top of featuring tough, authentic conversations and emotions around abortion, the series also takes viewers into the clinic to show Ginny’s interactions with her doctor, her ultrasound, and the medication process.

She lets herself cry, reveals that she’s scared and sad, and also admits she feels immense relief. After ice cream in the park with Marcus, she heads home where a hot shower, blankets, and a hot water bottle await. Georgia comforts Ginny on the couch, says she shouldn’t feel any shame about her choice, and reminds her how proud she is of her. BRB, sobbing!

If the storyline stopped there, it would have been a soaring success. But Ginny & Georgia dared to go a step further by showing a rare perspective from Ginny’s dad, Zion (Nathan Mitchell). Rather than express disappointment in or anger towards his daughter, Zion gently asks how she’s feeling, stresses that she has nothing to feel guilty about, and reminds her he’ll always be there to talk about anything. “It made me cry,” Howey told PEOPLE when asked about the special father/daughter scene. “It’s so beautiful.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, storylines like these — especially ones designed to reach the next generation of voters, who are also impacted by laws limiting abortion access — are both brave and necessary. A single day after Ginny & Georgia‘s Season 3 release, the series has already shot up to Netflix’s top TV show in the United States, which means this abortion storyline will reach, inform, and hopefully resonate with a major audience.

We’ve said if before and we’ll say it again: “There will always be a danger in overdramatizing abortion scenes for the sake of compelling television, so if a show’s creatives decide to tackle the topic they carry an enormous responsibility — not only to educate themselves but to carefully craft inclusive storylines that represent reality.” In this case, Ginny & Georgia‘s writers and stars proved they were definitely up for the challenge.

Ginny & Georgia Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.