Hulu show 'Tell Me Lies' promotes abortion... with Planned Parenthood's help

The third and final season of the original Hulu series "Tell Me Lies," a show of casual sex, random hookups, and horrifically depraved behavior, showcases abortion as a "victory" that a young woman is "excited" about. It was adapted from a novel by the same name.

The episode was written with the help of Planned Parenthood, which has a financial interest in seeing abortion promoted in a positive light. Unsurprisingly, it depicted abortion as an easy decision, pretended that only the most abusive person in the room would oppose an abortion, and showed the 'supportive' man as the one who says men should have no say in whether their child lives or dies by abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• "Tell Me Lies" featured a Planned Parenthood-sponsored abortion storyline, filled with pro-abortion talking points.

• The show depicted abortion as an easy decision to make, and as a way to escape an abusive relationship.

• In reality, abortion is often traumatizing for women, and Planned Parenthood has a vested interest in promoting it.

The Details:

"Tell Me Lies" follows the toxic relationship of Stephen DeMarco — who is described as "charming, seductive, manipulative, and self-centered" — and Lucy Albright. The entire show seems to revolve around people treating others horribly, with the worst of the worst being Stephen. He is controlling, and by the third season of the show, he has gotten another girl, Diana, pregnant. But Diana immediately wants to abort the baby and refuses to be controlled by Stephen, as Lucy had been.

Apparently, standing up for yourself and not being controlled by an abusive man includes aborting his (and your own) baby.

The script, written with the help of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Arts & Entertainment Engagement team (yes, that's a thing), involves Stephen finding out about Diana's pregnancy and planned abortion via his friend, Evan. Another friend, Wrigley, is present for the conversation. Here's how it played out:

Evan: Diana's pregnant, and it's ... yeah. But Molly said she's already scheduled an abortion, so. Good.

Stephen: Are you f***ing kidding me? When is she doing that?

Evan: I don't, I don't know. I could probably find out though.

Wrigley: I don't think you should be telling Stephen this.

Stephen: Why, why wouldn't he tell me?

Wrigley: Isn't this Diana's private business?

Stephen: No, it's, it's my business too. It would be my kid or, or whatever.

Wrigley: Kid? It's just a clump of cells at this point. And what? You want to be a dad? You wanna be someone's father?

Stephen: No, but that's not the point. She's making a huge decision without consulting me first.

Wrigley: Consult? I mean, what would she consult you about? I don't think she needs your permission. It's kinda up to her.

On the surface, if you've never seen the show, it seems like a young man is upset that the woman who is pregnant with his child is going to have an abortion, and he never even knew she was pregnant. Being upset about your baby being aborted is a normal feeling for men, but that's not the intention of the "Tell Me Lies" storyline.

Since Stephen is a manipulative and controlling character, when Evan and Wrigley discuss the pregnancy and abortion with him, they take on the role of the more rational ones, especially Wrigley, because Stephen is such a villain.

Wrigley, the subjectively good guy here, spews out pro-abortion lines that seem obviously written by Planned Parenthood staffers. And because Stephen is controlling and narcissistic, when he has a negative reaction to the abortion and says Diana should have consulted him, it gives the impression that any man who doesn't want his child to be aborted must be a controlling manipulator, because that's who Stephen is.

Diana, who says "being a woman is a prison," perhaps shouldn't consult Stephen because he is an abuser, but just because Stephen is abusive doesn't mean that every man who wants to stop an abortion is.

In addition, we don't kill born children because their fathers are abusive; why would it be justified to kill these same innocent children before they're born?

Reality Check:

It's as though Planned Parenthood handed Wrigley their euphemism and rhetoric guide, and the director told him to read directly from it.

"Kid? It's just a clump of cells at this point."

This is a lie that Planned Parenthood has been hawking as scientific truth for years. But here's the reality:

• From the moment of fertilization, the life of a new human has come into being.

• That "clump of cells" is already a rapidly growing and changing life that an abortion would end.

• That life would otherwise, more than likely, have continued to develop, grow, and change through pregnancy, childhood, and adulthood.

• Only living things grow and change.

• Just 22 days (three weeks) after fertilization, that child has a beating heart that is pumping the blood necessary for the rest of the body to develop.

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"You want to be a dad? You wanna be someone's father?"

This is a manipulative tactic to make men feel bad about not wanting their baby to be killed in an abortion when they don't feel ready to be a father. It's meant to put the person on edge, make them doubt their intentions, and even cause them to feel selfish for not wanting an abortion.

Maybe a young man doesn't feel ready to be a father, but that doesn't make taking a human life acceptable.

"Consult? I mean, what would she consult you about? I don't think she needs your permission. It's kinda up to her."

This is the age-old abortion industry line that declares abortion is only a woman's issue. It pits women against men, gives women the right to kill, and dismisses men as fathers who have a vested interest in their children's lives.

It's packaged as "bodily autonomy," but it's actually a way to make men feel as though they are not allowed to have an opinion on the matter, because, as Planned Parenthood knows, when a man supports the mother of his child in keeping and raising the baby and stands up to take responsibility, women are less likely to have an abortion.

That hurts Planned Parenthood's bottom line. Planned Parenthood has to sow division — between girls and their parents and between women and men — in order to keep the money flowing.

Caution: Images of abortion victims below

Diana, meanwhile, treats the abortion as if it's no big deal. She tells a friend that she's annoyed that Planned Parenthood couldn't see her for eight days and that the staff wanted her to come in for an "evaluation" before the abortion. After all, she says, "I just want this thing out of me."

When her friend offers to go with her to her appointment and suggests she may be feeling "complicated emotions," Diana responds, "It's actually not complicated at all. I'm honestly just really inconvenienced."

When Stephen asks Diana to "talk about this before you make a decision," she replies, "There's no decision, it's decided." She then tells him:

Honestly, Stephen, I am so excited to abort your baby. It's gonna be the highlight of my year, and I cannot f***ing wait.

This depiction is far from reality, in which more than 60% of women who undergo abortion do so based on pressure such as finances, education, career, parents, or partners. Sometimes they have abortions they don't want because their partners are abusive, like Stephen. They don't use abortion as retaliation, and they are not "excited" about it. Even when they are casual about it, down the road, they often come to regret it. Some women suffer significant trauma that leads to abusing drugs, dropping out of school, and attempting suicide.

Yet, social media users and fans of the show seemed to eat the episode up, saying:

• "Diana said 'I can’t WAIT to have your abortion' and we all stood up and clapped"

• "I love how they had Wrigley clearly explain how its a woman's choice for her and her only"

• "The guy defending her bodily autonomy to other men when she's not around is an example for all of us"

• "Love how when everyone tried to ask if she wanted to explore her options or think it through first she immediately shut it down and let them know how sure she was about handling it because for her it was an inconvenience. You go girl!"

• "Yes yes yes yes yes! 🙌👏👏👏 I loved the way this was handled on the show and in my personal experience and pretty much every other friend I know who has had one, this was what it was like. A relatively easy decision and a blessing"

The blessing:

There was at least one social media user who seemed to think Diana was only trying to convince herself and others that abortion was no big deal, but that she wasn't really fooling anyone.

"So fascinating to learn this was created in partnership with PP. I loved the way Diana was so clear on the choice being hers alone, and also the nuance in how she tried, and didn’t totally succeed, to convince herself and others that it was no big deal, just an inconvenience," wrote umamigirl.

That would be more realistic than any other aspect of the episode.

Zoom Out:

This isn't Planned Parenthood's first rodeo with the entertainment industry. They've been buddies for years.

Live Action News has previously reported that Planned Parenthood has influenced hundreds of films and TV shows over the last decade. But it wants more, and it wants to dictate how those storylines play out. The pro-abortion Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) keeps a database of onscreen abortion storylines that stretches back to 1916. And every year, pro-abortion groups want abortion to be more and more normalized, and to make abortion look like a quick trip to the dermatologist.

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Planned Parenthood promoted the episode of "Tell Me Lies" on social media, saying, "The decision to seek an abortion is easy for [Diana]. Diana waits in a Planned Parenthood health center with a smile on her face, drawing a stark contrast to the shame, fear, and guilt that often surrounds on-screen abortions."

It added, "Diana's storyline reflects what real abortion patients often experience: She got pregnant at the wrong time, with the wrong person. These are two of the most common reasons for abortion, according to a major study."

The study they are referencing appears to be the Turnaway Study, which has been thoroughly debunked.

"Tell Me Lies" creator Meaghan Oppenheimer explained:

"I have pretty much only seen abortions depicted as a heavy, complicated decision, and certainly that can be the case for a lot of women in a lot of situations, but not always all.

Sometimes it is just a relief and something you have to do, and I personally think it is something that can sometimes be a gift to people in certain situations.

Specifically because of what's going on in the world right now, I wanted to show abortion as something that could be casual, that could even be a victory moment, as weird as that might sound."

She told the Hollywood Reporter, "I think there's no institution, at least in this country, that means as much to young women who need help in that situation as Planned Parenthood. You see the slogan and know exactly where you are and what's happening."

She didn't try to hide the truth. Planned Parenthood may claim to be a health care provider that millions of women rely on, but what it's known as is the nation's top abortion business. Its abortion revenue is estimated to be over $200 million annually.

In 2025, Planned Parenthood released its 2023-24 annual report, showing that abortions increased to 402,230... the highest number recorded to date.

During that time frame, Planned Parenthood held 40% of the abortion market share, killing an average of 1,102 preborn human beings daily by abortion — nearly 46 per hour, and one baby every 78 seconds.

It is an abortion business, and that's why it's so involved with writing positive abortion stories for TV and film.

The Bottom Line:

Planned Parenthood isn't foolish. In its Instagram post, it wrote, "More than half of Americans believe the portrayals they see on TV are accurate. ... it's more important than ever that viewers get realistic, nuanced portrayals of these issues onscreen."

But Planned Parenthood's abortion story portrayals are never based in the dark reality of what abortion does and what abortion causes.

Planned Parenthood exists to serve itself. To help build its client base, it happily feeds its best marketing tools to Hollywood, which has been more than willing to funnel young hearts and minds into the claws of the abortion industry.