Released December 25th 2007, and nearing its 15 year anniversary, Juno received a jarring backlash as a Christmas present the audience didn’t expect. The inventive movie, brought forward abortion debate that ultimately insues when referencing teen pregnancy. Juno introduces an audacious young woman, Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page) who unexpectedly becomes pregnant after one night with the socially awkward jock, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). The debate comes forward when Juno decides to keep the baby despite her disposition as a junior in high school. However, is the movie truly spouting this pro-life message to the viewer or is it simply a harsh topic some could not handle in cinema?

In the beginning of the film, Juno is shown taking multiple pregnancy tests with only the disgruntled gas station employee to lecture her. Despite this, Juno prevails with witty humor as she continues her school work and dry dinner conversations where the audience learns of her home life and abandonment issues of which she shields with sarcasm. Juno, taking the advice of her friend, Leah, makes an appointment for an abortion. Upon arrival, a protester and fellow student, Su Chin Qah and Juno talk, revealing more of Juno’s troubled past, specifically with drug use. Becoming uncomfortable with the conversation, Juno continues toward the clinic, Su Chin seeing this tries to sway her from “murdering” the baby, stating that her fetus has fingernails this makes Juno reconsider after panicking in the waiting room as she is scared of the daunting operation and its repercussions. 

This specific scene is not only a turning point in the movie but the center of debate. People who support the pro-life movement agree with Su Chin Quah’s actions, especially as her approach to Juno was not nearly as aggressive as many extreamist protesters. On the other hand, those who are pro-choice either see Su Chin as a manipulated girl who does not understand entirely what she is doing by interfering with a medical procedure. This reasoning is quantified by Su Chin’s demeanor, seemingly unsure when chanting “All babies want to get borned!”. Others however, see her as a messanger for the director, Diablo Cody’s controversial views on abortion. Such a standing could be implied as Su Chin swayed Juno and Juno ultimately is happy in her choice to give her child up for adoption. These opinions considered, in a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Cody, states, “I don’t feel I was clear enough in terms of why Juno chose to not have an abortion… It was simply because she did not want to.” 

Ultimately, the pro-life stance taken for the film, falls flat with further assertions of the pro-choice intention. In the end, the point was not that Juno should or shouldn’t bear a child but the journey she, personally chose, giving the baby to an infertal woman. Quite simply Cody wanted to tell a story new to cinema, what is something people stray from in conversation? And this ideology certainly prevailed, winning upwards of 19 awards, four of which being Oscars, which is increadably exceptional considering the fact Juno independently produced. Maybe the take away for future filmmakers is to step outside the comfortable confines of Marvel superheroes and sad stories of dogs, perhaps the unexpected and sometimes controvercial stories are the ones worth telling.