Did Lucy Once Consider Abortion?

The reveal of Lucy Moran's pregnancy is one of many cliffhangers included in the season one finale of Twin Peaks. 

 

When Dick Tremayne and Andy Brennan, both the potential father of Lucy's unborn child, react adversely to the news of her pregnancy, Lucy feels that she and her baby are unwanted. Was this feeling of abandonment enough for Lucy to consider abortion in an early storyline?

Lucy had many days on her own to ponder her situation. Though she announced her pregnancy in episode seven, she and Andy did not discuss matters until episode fifteen.

 

Lucy leaves town in episode twelve, saying she's going to visit her sister Gwen in Tacoma. Andy, who'd previously believed he was sterile, tries to contact Lucy after learning the positive results of his latest test. Amid the debris of Lucy's workspace, he finds a card bearing Gwen and Larry's names along with two phone numbers. When he dials a number, it reaches an abortion clinic. Andy, now believing himself the father of Lucy's child, is horrified and worried that Lucy plans to abort the baby. It is never disclosed why Lucy disguised a number to a clinic or why she even thought to copy the contact information.

In episode fifteen, Lucy returns to the Sheriff's Station with her sister, which is strange. Lucy visited Gwen because Gwen needed help with her new baby. Why should a busy mother of a week-old infant accompany her sister to another town, especially if she didn't plan to stay? Furthermore, if Lucy drove to Tacoma, how did Gwen return home unless she drove in a separate car or planned to ride a bus? It seems the purpose of Gwen's presence in this episode is to provide proof that Lucy did visit her sister and not an abortion clinic.

 

To completely eradicate any lingering doubt viewers may have had, Lucy becomes furious when Dick Tremayne offers to pay for an abortion in episode eleven (2.004. Laura's Secret Diary). Though, as already stated, if she was so vehemently against the idea, why did she bother to copy down the clinic's number? The only way I can make sense of this scenario is to place sequences out of order and rewrite them, making it where the number for the abortion clinic was jotted down by Dick and handed to Lucy, who absentmindedly copied Gwen and Larry's number on the same paper before leaving.  

Ms. Robertson on Late Night With David Letterman. 

Kimmy Robertson, the actor who portrayed Lucy, stated on Late Night With David Letterman that the cast was given fake scripts and that sometimes scenes were filmed two or three different ways. Though this interview was conducted shortly before the series finale, it may be possible that such techniques were employed throughout the entirety of the second season.

With the mystery surrounding Laura's death long resolved, one wonders why such measures of security were enforced so late in the series. Information from the scripts was apparently leaked to tabloids, leading to the necessity for secrecy and numbered scripts. It is well known that three actors were filmed killing Maddy. Some have said the season one finale was filmed with more than one ending. 

On the subject of alternate scenes, there is evidence to support their existence on The Entire Mystery set. One is an alternate scene of Shelly and Bobby addressing the Miss Twin Peaks speech Bobby wrote; another is of Andy and Lucy in the opening to the series finale. Bobby and Shelly are in a different setting, the Roadhouse vs. the Double R in the series. Their dialogue is slightly altered. Lucy and Andy remain in the same location, but their dialogue is also altered. 

An alternate scene from The Entire Mystery. And in the finished episode (below).

Returning to Ms. Robertson's appearance on Late Night With David Letterman, in the same interview, Kimmy said she was hopeful Lucy wouldn't carry out her pregnancy. Through different circumstances, she wanted her to lose her baby so that she wouldn't have to wear padding for the rest of the series.

There are a few minor moments in the scripts and subsequent materials that faintly indicate Lucy may have once considered abortion.

From the script to episode twelve:

Truman and Cooper sweep by Andy. After they go out Andy reviews his scrap of paper containing the fertility information and notices for the first time the blotter upon which it sits. Lucy's blotter, with a swarm of phone numbers, one of them distinctly circled. His eyes are drawn to this fresh-looking track.

He picks up the phone and dials. Two rings.

VOICE ON PHONE Adams Abortion Clinic ... hello?

Andy's face and phone hand are frozen.

The televised version of this scene shows Andy searching until he finds a paper with the name of Lucy's sister and brother-in-law.

In the script for episode eight (2.001, May The Giant Be With You), Lucy is described as being 'weepy' as she helps Cooper, Truman, and Albert reconstruct the crime. I will omit all dialogue and descriptions save for what pertains to Lucy. The scene is fairly long.

• The blackboard is set up at one end of the room. Truman, Hawk and Andy enter and take seats at the opposite end of the table. A tearful Lucy enters with a platter of doughnuts which she sets down on the table. Everyone takes one.
  
• He takes out his collapsible pointer, telescopes it to full length, hands it to Lucy and sits. Lucy stands in front of the board, blows her nose.
  
• COOPER (CONTINUED) We'll keep this simple, Lucy. When I say something, you point to it. LUCY (weepy) I'll try my best.
  
• Andy beams. Lucy sniffles again.
  
• ALBERT Attempting to implicate Leo Johnson, he wrapped Laura's body in plastic that was taken from Leo's house or car. He carried the body to Elk River a quarter of a mile away and threw her in. Lucy is too saddened to point. Cooper points.
  
• Harry, Lucy and the deputies are speechless. Andy starts to cry. Lucy wants to embrace him, realizes she can't and has to leave the room. 

Lucy's pregnancy hormones coupled with details of Laura's death could be to blame for her emotional state. She does, however, exhibit sadness with her entrance to the room before listening to their discussion. Could it be because she is contemplating her future, the belief she should abort her child, not just her relationship with Andy? Lucy shows no sign of being upset in the televised episode. Note that she wants to embrace Andy but can't.

When Lucy leaves in episode twelve (2.005, The Orchid's Curse), the script again describes her as being upset.

LUCY MORAN walks up carrying a day bag and looking a little teary-eyed.

When the series originally aired, a 1-900-number was created to recap events and give hints for the next episode. Harry Goaz and Kimmy Robertson provided the vocals as Andy and Lucy, along with a mysterious uncredited actor. In one recording, Lucy says the following: "Actually, I'm over here in Tacoma at my sister's helping her out because she's just had a baby. So I came out here to help and clear my head. Because, as you know, I'm a little fogged up at the moment. I also got the name of a clinic up here that can help you with decisions about babies and life and what a huge mess I'm in."

The clinic is mentioned, but it almost seems as though she did not know of it prior to visiting Tacoma. This doesn't explain how the number is present at her desk unless she searched for information regarding Tacoma clinics before she made her trip. 

Though network executives may have been against the idea of a beloved character such as Lucy having an abortion. It more than likely would have been controversial for the time. The subject is uncensored in Jennifer Lynch's The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. In the novel, Laura learns she is pregnant, and bravely decides to have an abortion. Laura, like Lucy, did not know the father of her baby.

An excerpt from a PDF from www.twinpeaks.org states the following: "the Globe tabloid reported a week before Season 2 episode 6 that Andy killed Laura and was going to murder Lucy, who was planning to have an abortion."

Though tabloid reporting is hardly reliable (Andy being the killer sounds ridiculous), it is interesting that the story was published before Lucy's return to Twin Peaks. Recall how some storylines were leaked to the press. If it was reported a week before season two, episode six, the last aired episode would have been twelve - which featured Lucy's departure. Like Leo's involvement in the murder of Laura Palmer, it's possible some storylines were altered after they progressed and became predictable. It may have been a potential plotline that was abandoned due to its controversy at the time or because it contained an element of truth.

We may never know.