Abortion is becoming an issue that cannot be ignored any longer – even by entrenched media conglomerates.
Earlier this month, ABC News thwarted the media status quo on Pro-Life news reporting by releasing a segment that captured the passion and enormity of the young, Pro-Life movement and leaders thereof. The accurate reporting on the Pro-Life movement was refreshing, and perhaps even set precedent for the horrific news of Planned Parenthood’s fetal organ harvesting scandal that would break just days later: Media across the board, in fact, picked up the Planned Parenthood story exponentially faster than they responded to the horrifying actions of now-convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell just two years ago.
Is the media tide turning? Take a look at the Nightline segment below:
The report by no means excluded the opposing viewpoint. Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, was a key fixture in the piece as a voice for the anti-Life position. “Lila Rose and the new leaders of the anti-choice movement look great—they’re charismatic,” she argues, downplaying the magnitude of their accomplishments. She continues: “Their core beliefs are old and outdated and still out of touch with mainstream Americans.”
We need little to disprove the notion that mainstream Americans disagree with the Pro-Life stance. Apart from electing legislators who are outspokenly Pro-Life, polls affirm that most Americans believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. In what universe that fact aligns “mainstream Americans” with Ilyse Hogue’s viewpoint is unclear.
Hogue went on to argue that, although the Pro-Life approach to women seeking abortion has changed over the years, our “core positions” have remained the same. Indeed, although she may not have realized this, Hogue gave the Pro-Life movement a huge compliment in affirming the enduring momentum behind our Pro-Life cause. And the Pro-Life generation is proving that the momentum is only increasing.
Along with Lila Rose (leader of the undercover group Live Action), the ABC segment featured the work of Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins. “When ABC News first approached me about doing a special on the young women leaders of the pro-life movement, I was skeptical to say the least,” Hawkins said in an email to supporters. But she admits that she was “blown away” by the fair coverage: “They showed the sea of young people at the March for Life. They showed the students who care so much for women and their babies that they devote every Friday morning to sidewalk counseling outside Planned Parenthood.”
Could this be the dawn of a new era of fair coverage for Pro-Life advocates? Have media finally realized that our stories are too big to ignore? We hope so. One thing is certain: continuing to look the other way in the face of gargantuan stories, marches, and scandals pouring out of the abortion issue would betray a deeply-rooted, anti-Life agenda.
