Actress Darby Stanchfield is no stranger to speaking on behalf of an organization in her role as White House Press Secretary Abby Whelan on ABC's Scandal. This week, however, Stanchfield spoke on behalf of a different group--her Scandal cast and crew--on the topic of the abortion depicted in the series' fall finale.
“I wasn’t really surprised," Stanchfield told Variety, speaking of the controversy surrounding the episode's sensitive subject matter. "I think we were all kind of prepared on some level for there to be a reaction just simply because of where this country is at on the subject of abortion.”
She continued, referencing the vision of series creator Shonda Rhimes: “I think it highlights how abortion is a very divisive, hot topic in our country. It’s not something that is settled on by everybody — there are people who are strongly for it and strongly against it, and one of the beautiful things about Shonda’s show is how she really explores topics that our country is debating about and need to be examined and talked about. So, for me, it was evidence of her really hitting on subject matter and doing it quite bravely on network TV on this issue.”
Following the episode's premiere back in November, Planned Parenthood released a statement to Entertainment Weekly applauding the episode and Rhimes for the depiction of the procedure.