Networks Refuse Ads Featuring Mother Teresa
A 30-second media spot
developed by Right to Life of Michigan has been rejected by ABC, CBS,
NBC, FOX
and CNN. The spot features one of the final interviews with Mother
Teresa, captured by award-winning producer Jim Hanon just months before
her death. In the
30-second segment, Mother Teresa makes some concerned comments about
life issues. “The refusals of the major networks was based on an
alleged policy against
issues,” said project director Amanda Peterman. The media censorship in
Michigan brings to mind the refusal of the major networks to air TV
commercials pointing
out Brooks Firestone’s support of partial-birth abortions during his
failed campaign against pro-lifer Tom Bordonaro in CA-22. Those ads,
funded by Gary Bauer’s
Campaign for Working Families, used comments on PBA’s taken directly
from the networks’ own news broadcasts, and they were still rejected.
For 25 years the
pro-life movement has endured an almost total media blackout. That is
why the political arena has been so important for the right to life
cause. Without it, we would
not have been able to educate millions of people to the great moral evil
and social injustice of abortion.
From the Planned Parenthood Web Site: “The Pill” May Cause Abortions -
Here is what Planned Parenthood says about “the pill:” If you choose
the Pill your
clinician will prescribe the right Pill for you. Take one Pill once a
day. Complete one Pill-pack every month. Combination pills contain
estrogen and progestin.
Mini-pills contain only progestin. Pills contain hormones that work in
different ways. Combination pills prevent release of egg.
- Both types thicken cervical mucus to keep sperm from joining egg.
- Both types also may prevent fertilized egg from implanting in
uterus.
A fertilized egg is the tiniest of babies. Prevention of implantation
causes an abortion.
Michelman Bemoans Pro-Life Gains
Kate Michelman, president of the
National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) released
its annual
survey of state laws restricting abortion at a January briefing, saying
“We’re not losing the war, but the other side’s gaining ground.” The
NARAL survey revealed
that 17 states have enforced three or more abortion regulations in the
last year, 11 states enforce two restrictions on abortion, 12 states
enforce one restriction and 11
states do not restrict abortion. NARAL indicated that the 1992 Supreme
Court ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs.
Casey, which upheld
Roe but curtailed its protections, led to 12 states enforcing a
mandatory waiting period for women seeking an abortion, 30 states now
require parental consent for
minors seeking abortion, and 31 states enacted a total of 55 pro-life
measures in 1997, compared with 14 such measures the previous year.
State legislators
introduced at least 405 pro-life measures in 1997, an 84% increase over
the 220 such measures introduced in 1996. (Reuters World Report,
1/13/98)
Dilation-and-Evacuation - The Next Target?
While partial-birth
abortion has received all the attention lately, “far more widely used is
the procedure known as
dilation-and-evacuation, in which the fetus is cut into pieces with
serrated forceps before being removed bit by bit from the uterus,” U.S.
News and World Report says.
If people object to partial-birth abortions, “what will they say when
they get to this?” said the director of one abortion clinic. (Washington
Times, 1/12/98)
