Ross Douthat / The media's abortion blinders
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In the most recent Gallup poll on abortion, as many Americans described themselves as pro-life as called themselves pro-choice. A combined 58 percent of Americans stated that abortion should either be "illegal in all circumstances" or "legal in only a few circumstances." These results do not vary appreciably by gender: In the first Gallup poll to show a slight pro-life majority, conducted in May 2009, half of U.S. women described themselves as pro-life.
But if you've followed the media frenzy surrounding the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation's decision -- which it backpedaled from, with an apology, after a wave of frankly brutal coverage -- to discontinue about $700,000 in funding for Planned Parenthood, you would think all these millions of anti-abortion Americans simply do not exist.
From the nightly news shows to print and online media, the coverage's tone alternated between wonder and outrage -- wonder that anyone could possibly find Planned Parenthood even remotely controversial and outrage that the Komen foundation had "politicized" the cause of women's health.
"That ubiquitous pink ribbon ... is sporting a black eye today," Claire Shipman announced on ABC News on Thursday, while Diane Sawyer nodded along. On MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell dressed down the Komen foundation's founder, Nancy Brinker: "I have to tell you," Ms. Mitchell said, "this is shocking to a lot of your longtime supporters. ... How could this have taken place?" In story after story, journalists explicitly passed judgment on Komen for creating a controversy where none need ever have existed.
Conservative complaints about media bias are sometimes overdrawn. But on the abortion issue, the press' prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable. In many newsrooms and television studios across the country, Planned Parenthood is regarded as the equivalent of, well, the Komen foundation: an apolitical, high-minded and humanitarian institution whose work no rational person -- and certainly no self-respecting woman -- could possibly question or oppose.
First Published February 8, 2012 12:00 am
