Media Pro-Abortion Bias is as Evident as it is Appalling

The mainstream media’s pro-abortion bias is as evident as it is appalling, and further erodes the public’s faith in what was once considered a trustworthy institution.

Prevention Park in Houston, Texas is the largest Planned Parenthood facility in the United States.
Prevention Park in Houston, Texas is the largest Planned Parenthood facility in the United States. (photo: Credit: ‘Hourick’, via Wikimedia Commons)

The New York Times Magazine recently featured an interview with a doctor about his “conversion” from being pro-life to pro-choice, and whose practice now focuses on doing abortions. Pegged to the release of his book, Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice, Willie J. Parker answered questions about his “spiritual arguments” in favor of abortion. More on that in a moment. But first can we just state what may be obvious but is nonetheless important to note: The New York Times would never have considered interviewing a doctor who went from performing abortions to believing it was wrong to do so. There are such doctors – Bernard Nathanson and Anthony Levatino come to mind – but their “conversions” don’t fit the pro-abortion bias of the Times. That isn’t news they consider fit to print and is yet another example of why people distrust the media.

But back to Dr. Parker. According to his book’s Amazon page, Parker was raised in a Christian household and became an ardent fundamentalist as a young man. But reading an interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan changed his mind on the issue of abortion.  He “realized he must show compassion for all women regardless of their needs,” and went from practicing obstetrics to providing abortions.

The Times interviewer puts this statement to him: “You concede in the book that abortion is, actually, a life-ending process.” And here is Dr. Parker’s response: “If I thought I was killing a person, I wouldn’t do abortions. A fetus is not a person; it’s a human entity. In the moral scheme of things, I don’t hold fetal life and the life of a woman equally…When a woman comes to me, I find myself unable to demote her aspirations [emphasis added] because of the aspirations that someone else has for the fetus that she’s carrying.” Aspirations? He’s willing to kill a “human entity” because of a woman’s aspirations? What about the aspirations of the not-yet-born human being?

Apparently picking up on something from his book, the interviewer asks why he thinks “elite white women” have “done some of the most serious damage to abortion access.” His answer? “The biggest insult is the notion that there’s such a thing as a black genocide, as if the people who care about abortion really care about black women and black babies.” I agree there’s an insult in there, but not the one he’s talking about. I suppose I should feel sad that, as a Christian, he believes white women who oppose abortion (as he once did) don’t care about black women and black babies. But I just feel angry.

As Mike Adams recently wrote in a column for Townhall, the number of people willing to adopt children exceeds the number of children aborted every year. According to a press release from the National Committee for Adoption, “infants who are legally free for adoption, regardless of their race or ethnicity” don’t have to wait for homes. Adams writes that “there is a long waiting list of screened families who want to adopt even seriously disabled newborns, including babies born with Down Syndrome and spina bifida.” So, Dr. Parker, don’t use race as an excuse to condemn people who oppose abortion.

Teen Vogue recently made headlines for running a piece called “What to Get a Friend Post-Abortion.” There are so many appalling aspects to this it’s hard to know where to begin. To start, there’s that media pro-abortion bias again. Can you imagine them writing about women who regret their abortions? Neither can I. By its own description the piece is written for teens who want to “be there” for their friends who’ve had abortions. The recommended gifts include poetry and blood-absorbing underwear. For the cramps that post-abortive girlfriend will be experiencing, the magazine suggests the Angry Uterus heating pad. (For the record, the piece notes that it comes in a “mustached version” for “our trans- friends.” Words fail me.) Next on the list, a “GRL PWR” baseball cap. Just don’t dwell on the fact that maybe your friend’s baby was a girl, and she sure didn’t have much power, did she. And then there’s the ever-popular Ruth Bader Ginsburg – “biggest champion of our rights” -- coloring book.

The movement to make abortion acceptable – framing the debate with words like “choice” and “rights” – was hugely successful. The pieces in The New York Times and Teen Vogue are clear evidence of that. In her book, What If We’ve Been Wrong?, Terry Beatley writes about meeting with Dr. Bernard Nathanson shortly before his death. Nathanson admitted to performing more than 60,000 abortions and was instrumental in helping to make Americans accept abortion. In his own words he was guilty of “massive deception” by claiming that between 5,000 and 10,000 women died of botched abortions every year. The actual number was closer to between 200 and 300. He falsely asserted that there were a million illegal abortions in the U.S. each year when the number was more like 200,000. Nathanson famously had a change of heart, converted to Catholicism and became a powerful voice in the pro-life movement. Among other things, Nathanson asked Beatley to “tell America that the co-founder of NARAL Pro-Choice America says to love one another. Abortion’s not love. Stop the killing.”

The mainstream media’s pro-abortion bias is as evident as it is appalling, and further erodes the public’s faith in what was once considered a trustworthy institution.