All main female characters in were given unconventional pregnancies, and there’s a good reason behind that decision. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, premiered on NBC in 1994 and came to an end in 2004 after 10 seasons full of ups and downs, jokes, breakups, and memorable moments. is now regarded as one of the best TV shows of all time, and its fanbase has expanded thanks to its arrival to the world of streaming, though that has also made way for a bunch of analyses of the topics the series addressed.
follows a group of six young adults living in New York City and doing their best to juggle their personal, professional, and social lives. Over the course of 10 seasons, viewers saw Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey, Rachel, and Ross go through all types of obstacles and building their own families, with Joey’s story being the only one that came to a proper end in a spinoff series. addressed various topics that were considered taboo in the 1990s and early 2000s, and while the portrayal of some of them was controversial, others were carefully and respectfully done, as is the case of motherhood and pregnancy.
Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe went through different forms of pregnancy in . First was Phoebe, who was a surrogate mother for her brother, , and his wife Alice (Debra Jo Rupp). Phoebe ended up carrying triplets and remained close to them, and it was implied in that she and her husband Mike (Paul Rudd) eventually became parents. Next was Rachel, who became pregnant with Emma after a drunken night with Ross, and while he was present in Emma’s life, Rachel was basically a single mother. tried living together during the pregnancy and after Emma was born, but she eventually left and took care of Emma by herself, though with some help from her friends from time to time.
Last but definitely not least, became parents through adoption. It was established in the early episodes of that one of Monica’s dreams was to become a mother, and after many tries, she and Chandler found out they couldn’t have kids, so they decided to adopt. They met a woman named Erica (Anna Faris), who was looking for a family for her baby, and she turned out to be pregnant with twins. All these different ways of pregnancy were done on purpose in order to spread the message that surrogacy, single motherhood, and adoption are all valid ways of motherhood and shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of.
was all about the concept of family and the different ways it can present itself, as it doesn’t always have to be about people related to each other. This is seen in different ways through the series, with all the main characters having different and unstable families and finding their place with the family they chose: their friends, with that family growing after the arrival of their children through different ways of pregnancy, and always with a generous dose of humor.
