After the past few weeks of news exposing biased journalists and the liberal media, the ABC drama Notorious, about the life of a news producer, finally gave us a story about the positive impact the media can have, albeit fictional. Thursday's episode surprisingly livened things up with a heart-warming story about adoption and the humanity of the unborn child.
In this episode “Missing,” a girl named Jenna (Sofia Vassilieva) has agreed to be a surrogate mother for an infertile couple. However, at nine months, the couple appears to drop contact with her and halt their payments, leaving Jenna with the choice of either raising the baby with no resources or abandoning the child to foster care. Unwilling to abandon the child she is about to give birth to, she calls on attorney Jake Gregorian (Daniel Sunjata), an adoptee himself, to find the unborn baby’s parents.
Jake gets Jenna on the air to tell her story and the parents get back in touch with her after seeing the news segment. It turns out Jenna and the adoptive parents were both scammed by the fertility services agent. Jenna has the baby, but since none of them are biological parents, the baby is taken away by child protective services.
In a plot that gets wrapped up in the general “legal ethics” of a scam artist that sacrifices a child’s well-being for profit, it’s refreshing that they remember the real victim of this scam: the baby herself. With the thought of a baby’s future in jeopardy as well as the care that both her adopted parents and even Jenna show, we get a story that actually preserves the dignity of adoption so much that it’s hard not to smile at the happy ending.
Louise Herrick: And finally, last night's segment on Jenna Polly's surrogacy gone wrong went viral after her water broke live on air. Thousands of you have reached out for updates on Jenna's delivery, and we're happy to report that Jenna gave birth...
Mary: I don't understand. You're saying that the biological parents were egg and sperm donors? From Prague?
Jake: That's right. And the surrendered all parental rights when they made their donation.
CPS Agent: I hope I'm not interrupting.
Mary: What's going on?
CPS Agent: Mr. Gregorian, I have been instructed to return the baby to your client, Miss Polly.
Jenna: Jake, I don't understand.
Jake: Under the law, because they surrendered their rights, you're the de facto parent, which means...
Jenna: I can give the baby to the Gowers.
Jake: Yes, that's right.
Mary: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This -- This is really happening? [ Laughs ] Hi, baby. Hi, there.
Arthur: Thank you. Thank you so much.
Jake: My office will prepare the paperwork, but with Jenna's consent, the baby's yours.
Jenna: Absolutely.
In a country where the Democratic presidential candidate just defended abortion right up until birth in a national debate, I’m just surprised that a show on a liberal network would display the positive impact of adoption. It shows not only the love adoptive parents can have for an "unwanted" child but the sanctity of the child's life as well.
