ʻMarch on the Media’ Criticizes Abortion Bias in Reporting

Pro-life advocates call on major media outlets to stop self-censorship in reporting on abortion and to end ʻthe lionizing of abortion advocates.’

Lila Rose of Live Action speaks during the March on the Media.
Lila Rose of Live Action speaks during the March on the Media. (photo: Addie Mena/CNA)

WASHINGTON — Pro-life leaders from around the United States are challenging major media outlets to do a better job of informing society about the reality of abortion and not to hide the facts in their coverage choices.

“The media has flinched from the reality of abortion for decades,” said Lila Rose, president of Live Action, which has worked through undercover videos to expose abuses within the abortion industry.

“We call on the press to end the censorship of what abortion actually does to our smallest children and women and end the lionizing of abortion advocates,” she said.

The Aug. 8 protest accused major media sources of bias in favor of abortion, particularly in underreporting stories of corruption, fraud and abuse within the abortion industry.

Protesters gathered in front of ABC’s offices in Washington. Speakers included Christian Robey, political director for the Media Research Center; Jill Stanek, a former nurse and pro-life activist; Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life; and Ryan Bomberger, a black pro-life activist and founder of the Radiance Foundation, which works to educate the public on the scope of abortion.

Media bias “is a case where ideology trumps reason,” Robey told Catholic News Agency, adding that society is willing to “accept that ideology blindly.”

Robey pointed to the case of Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist who was convicted on several counts of murder and manslaughter for the wrongful death of a patient and the deliberate snipping of infants’ spinal cords after birth.

The Gosnell case “had all of the elements of a story that would attract attention,” Robey said; however, it was only covered by major media outlets after a very strong grassroots push led by pro-life columnists and commentators.

“There’s no other way for me to think of this than deliberate censorship,” he said.

But Bomberger described bias as “a soft term” for major media outlets’ approach to abortion.

He told CNA that Planned Parenthood receives financial contributions from media conglomerate companies, such as the New York Times Co. and the Gannett Co.

“When people get to see those connections, you’ve got to say, ‘I’m not getting anything objective here; there is something completely amiss,’” Bomberger said.

He added that, because of the financial links between media outlets and abortion providers, it is easy to see “why we’re not getting an objective report on abortion.”

“We should be upset that the truth is being hidden from us,” he said.

Bomberger warned that, in the wake of widespread abortion acceptance, “we see the desensitization of human life” that can be expected to continue if people do not speak out on the topic.

Abortion, he said, “illuminates a truth” about humanity, showing “how we treat the weakest among us.”

“It can easily be described as the human-rights issue of our day,” Bomberger said.

“I don’t think we have any choice but to act,” he explained. “Act with compassion and act with boldness.”