bortion story lines are rarely featured on prime-time television (with a few exceptions). When they are, it’s even more unusual that it involves a main character — and that the character goes through with the procedure.

So Thursday night’s “Scandal” stunned quite a few viewers when D.C. fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) had an abortion, a storyline that came out of nowhere. The audience had no idea that Olivia, finally together with President Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), was pregnant. Fitz didn’t even know she was pregnant.

In the middle of the episode, viewers suddenly saw Olivia arrive at a medical office and then lie down on an operating table as a doctor began the procedure. There was no dialogue from Olivia — just the sound of “Silent Night” playing in the background, along with voice-over of Olivia’s father Rowan (Joe Morton) delivering this speech in another scene:

“Family is a burden … a pressure point, soft tissue, an illness, an antidote to greatness. You think you’re better off with people who rely on you, depend on you, but you’re wrong, because you will inevitably end up needing them, which makes you weak, pliable. Family doesn’t complete you. It destroys you.”

Once viewers figured out what was happening, “Scandal” trended worldwide on Twitter and some cast members started weighing in