Season 8 · Episode 21 · First released 20 June 2010

Partial Terms of Endearment

Episode 21 of Family Guy season 8 (S08E21), the 147th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Danny Smith and directed by Joseph Lee. First released on 20 June 2010.

Story

At her college reunion Lois meets her former roommate Naomi, who calls at the house with her husband Dale and asks Lois to carry a child for them, disappointing Peter, who had expected sex. Lois agrees and undergoes in vitro fertilisation with Dr Hartman. The pregnancy is confirmed the following day, and Peter, opposed throughout, tries to bring on a miscarriage. Naomi and Dale are then killed in a car crash on Interstate 95, leaving Lois to weigh an abortion against adoption. The couple visit a family planning centre and settle on an abortion, but anti-abortion protesters outside show Peter a video and he changes his position. The two argue it out at home, and at dinner Peter turns to the camera to say the abortion went ahead.

Production and reception

Fox declined to broadcast the episode because of its subject. Its first showing was on BBC Three in Britain on 20 June 2010, with a DVD release that September. Wikipedia, Partial Terms of Endearment
MacFarlane announced the episode at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. Danny Smith wrote it from a storyline pitched by Tom Devanney, and Joseph Lee directed. Wikipedia, Partial Terms of Endearment
MacFarlane asked Smith to read an essay on abortion by Carl Sagan before writing the script, and the finished episode refers to Sagan's 1997 collection Billions and Billions. Wikipedia, Partial Terms of Endearment
Kevin Reilly, president of Fox Entertainment, said the decision came down to advertisers and a struggling economy rather than the writing, which he thought handled the subject well. Wikipedia, Partial Terms of Endearment
The last episode presented in full screen before the series moved to widescreen, and the last to carry the title sequence introduced in the second season. Wikipedia, Partial Terms of Endearment

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Boss
Gary Beach	Race Host
Alexandra Breckenridge	Mermaid
Jackson Douglas	Dale Robinson
Ralph Garman	Eye Doctor
Phil LaMarr	80s Black Guy

Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.

Guest voices

Gary Beach as Various, Dale Robinson
Jackson Douglas as Dale Robinson
Phil LaMarr as Various
Will Sasso as Various
Julia Sweeney as Naomi Robinson
Rutina Wesley as Cheryl
Wil Wheaton as Protester, Anti-Abortion Protester
Michael York as Nature Narrator, Nature Show Narrator
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
John Viener as Abortion Video Spokesman

Season 8: episode 21 of 21

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 21 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 8 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Partial Terms of Endearment
Wikipedia: Family Guy season 8
Wikidata Q4046507
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
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Licence: Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
Note: The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.