The conceit of Netflix’s new reality show, Love is Blind, is pretty straightforward. Contestants vie for each other’s affections in rows of separate rooms; they can hear each other’s voices, but they can’t see each other until they decide to get engaged.

In a show this absurd, you wouldn’t expect to see participants wrestle with any serious issues. But Love is Blind addresses a truth that many shows are afraid to touch: having an abortion is a terribly difficult decision for a woman to make.

Many comedies, such as the TV show Shrill and the 2014 film Obvious Child, contain abortion plotlines that depict it as just another casual decision for a woman. And the media praises them for it. “Abortion on TV and in Movies Is Way Too Dramatic,” complains a headline in Allure. “Even supporters of abortion rights can make abortion seem tragic, continually referring to the 'difficult' decision of whether to get one,” the author laments.

Pro-abortion advocates argue that most women feel relief after their abortions, but a widely circulated study supposedly proving this thesis didn’t paint a very accurate picture. Most of the women contacted by the study, which surveyed women five years after their abortions, chose not to respond, likely skewing toward responses from those most willing to talk about their abortions: those who didn’t regret it.

Other research makes the situation of women post-abortion look more bleak. As Catherine Glenn Foster, who had an abortion at age 19 and is now a pro-life advocate, wrote for the Washington Examiner:

We always need more scholarly research on the psychological aspects of abortion, and Dr. Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green University has conducted persuasive research concluding that women who have had an abortion are 34% more likely to develop an anxiety disorder and 37% more likely to experience depression.

This dark side, the side the media doesn’t want to talk about, is the one that comes up in the second episode of Love is Blind. While one contestant, Amber, is talking to a potential beau, she explains that she has not always felt supported in her relationships. In a past serious relationship, she told her partner she thought she might be pregnant, and he immediately asked how they were going to “fix” it. As she explains that she didn’t “follow through” with the pregnancy, she starts tearing up.

“It was really the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through in my life,” Amber says. “It’s not exactly something that’s like — I’m proud of.”

She goes on to say that her struggle after the abortion was made worse by her boyfriend, who didn't understand why it was such a big deal.

“After the fact, we were just talking. I’m telling him, like, I’m trying to explain what I’m going through, like, I’m having a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning,” she said. “I don’t eat. I’m not really sleeping. I just — this was supposed to be my other half. And his reaction, he goes, ‘Why don’t you just get over it? You just need to get over it already. Like, move on.’ That is the last thing in the world you want to hear.”

She concludes: “I can’t survive that again. It would destroy me.”

Amid trends such as #ShoutYourAbortion and a mainstream celebration of abortion, it’s refreshing to hear a woman be open and candid about her experience. Some women don’t regret their abortions, but many women do. And whatever you believe about abortion, you don't do women any favors by perpetuating the myth that it's no big deal.