As someone who has spent his career in communications of one type or another, I am very interested in the idea of free speech. I firmly believe it is vital, especially in a democratic republic like ours, to have a robust and vigorous discussion of important issues. Even when there are opinions expressed contrary to my own, I work to refute those opinions based on evidence and sound logic, not to just squash them so they are not heard. As we’re seeing more and more often this Presidential political season, when one side tries to drown out another, instead of listening and responding, both sides lose. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that those who support abortion are quite so fair minded when it comes to freedom of speech and while abortion advocates use every means at their disposal to disseminate their propaganda, they protest when their views are not promoted and are loathe to give the pro-life movement a fair opportunity to do the same.
There are many examples of the main stream media and entertainment outlets repeating pro-abortion messages. Last year during the popular show Scandal, the main character Olivia Pope was shown having an abortion with the song “O Holy Night” playing in the background. During a recently released episode of the hit Netflix series House of Cards, one of the main characters Claire Underwood touted Planned Parenthood’s supposed work doing mammograms screenings (only problem being, they don’t do mammograms).
When a member of the media doesn’t mimic big abortion’s talking points, abortion advocates are quick to cry foul. Consider the uproar over the Doritos Super bowl ad NARAL accused of humanizing fetuses and the similar outcry when the New York Times’ front page didn’t include any pictures of the pro-abortion crowd at the Supreme Court hearings for Whole Women’s Health v Hellerstedt (never mind pro-abortion advocates had to pay people to be there).
Unfortunately the main stream media and entertainment world do not stop there. They try to silence the pro-life message by threatening to rape pro-life supporters, as a pro-abortion Purdue University staff member did to a pro-life student activist in February or by creating a special google chrome extension that changes the words “pro-life” to “anti-choice”. A recent example of this is Cosmopolitan’s decision to publish actress Amy Brenneman’s story about her abortion, but not Congresswoman Diane Black’s thoughtful letter to the editor in response.
It’s fairly obvious why abortion advocates have to employ these kind of dishonest and deplorable tactics. When they are confronted with science, medicine, and facts, abortion advocates know they will lose every time. This is why the public is recognizing the value of life more and more often. It is why abortion clinics are closing all over the country and why the younger generation is overwhelmingly pro-life. Most importantly it is why the demand for abortion is decreasing. The only answer for abortion advocates is to suppress the truth as much as possible and try to replace it with their version of reality.