Media Hypocrisy in America - Are We Represented Well?

The abortion debate is one of the most battled controversies of all time.  The question remains – is the media representing the controversy accurately?

“Safe and legal abortion is every women’s right”  

“Will women decide or will the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington decide?”

“Freedom of choice - a basic American right”   

These were catch phrases used during the tumultuous 1960’s to capture the news media and work towards changing the nation’s abortion laws.  The campaign successfully diverted attention from the core issues of exactly what abortion does and focused the debate instead on a newly created issue: the issue of choice.

While there must be some prolife journalists, all too often, it appears that the American media is blatantly pro-abortion.  Research by the Wirthlin Agency via Peter Kreeft, shows only 3 percent of media personnel feel abortion deserves some restrictions while 72 percent of Americans feel it should be restricted.

The media gladly paints prolife individuals as mostly male, heartless zealots, who delight in waging a constant ‘war on women’.  The bias seen early in the abortion debate continues even today with lack of coverage, deceptive headlines, misleading photos and even censorship - all designed to minimize the prolife movement.

Several examples of late:

• Since 2003 the Washington, D.C. March for Life has drawn crowds in excess of 250,000 people per year, and yet the event hardly appears newsworthy, not even for local papers.  The March for Life receives much the same treatment across the country.  The inadequate coverage is further explored by Steven Sanborn in an interview with Brad Mattes that can be seen here.  The “objective” media are  misleading, outright deceptive, or silent, across the board.

• A recent Op-Ed in the New York Times by Columnist Ross Douthat, critiques the media’s blatantly unfair coverage of the Planned Parenthood/Komen situation earlier this year.  However, after Komen defunded Planned Parenthood, there was very little talk about how Komen’s donations rose by 100% after their original decision.  Mr. Douthat, in his summary about the recent Komen/Planned Parenthood issue says, “Conservative complaints about media bias are sometimes overdrawn. But on the abortion issue, the press’s prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable.”

• Facebook recently removed a post by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, founder of Women on Waves, in which she gave instructions for a do-it-yourself chemical abortion.  In the post, Dr. Gomperts, encouraged women to lie to their pharmacist to get medication and further, to lie to a doctor if need be once they have caused an abortion, both may be illegal and even dangerous actions.  Facebook apologized to Gomperts two days after the removal, stating that the profile picture was “not in violation of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, and appears to have been removed in error.”

• Bryan Kemper, Youth Outreach Director for Priests for Life, and Andy Moore of abortionwiki.org posted a graphic entitled “Abortionist”, a version of the popular “What They Think I Do” graphics. The final frame was a photo of a baby killed in an early abortion.  Kemper received a message from Facebook explaining that the image had been removed and further, ordered him to remove any other copies of the image from the site.  “It amazed me”, Kemper said.  “Facebook will allow girls to learn how to do an abortion themselves at home with no doctor’s supervision, and encourages them to lie when obtaining the drugs necessary.  But they will not allow them to see what an abortion looks like.”

2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision and it appears that the secular press may never admit the truth of abortion.  The truth is too ugly for the average American to face – and they know it. 

The media could be the ideal medium to transmit the reality of abortion. Instead, the media’s distortion of the truth, misinformation and hiding images seem clearly directed to trivialize the prolife cause.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has said, “I have long said that America will not end abortion until it sees abortion,” said Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life. “But those who support and profit from abortion work very hard to make sure America does not see abortion.”

So, what can we do to make a difference right where we are?  Start simple and start small…

We might begin by helping to educate and influence those in our local communities and involvement in your local Right to Life Chapters.  It might be prolife posts on Facebook and Twitter, letters to the editors of your local newspapers and publications, or articles for church bulletins and newsletters.  

Clearly, the prolife movement must work even harder to be seen, heard, and understood as we continue to wage the battle for life.

Suzanne L. Ward

Georgia Right to Life

Education/Public Relations

suzanneward@grtl.org