ABORTION AND MEDIA COVERAGE

Why do mainstream media tilt their positive coverage to the pro-choice (read that pro-abortion) position?

Is it because mainstream media are ignorant of how divided the country is on abortion?  Or is it because, in aggregate, they are so on-board with pro-abortion forces – thus so owned and operated by them – that truth does not matter?

The evidence of media bias in favor of the pro-choice side is overwhelming. 

-Planned Parenthood, the country\’s most prolific abortion provider, gets hugely positive press (try and find even a tiny fraction of negative coverage among mainstream media.  Lots of luck);

-Legislation such as banning abortion after 20 weeks – which polls show that a majority of people support, including women – is almost aways framed as some kind of assault on women\’s rights;

-The “Right To Life” march, held every late January, which draws tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands (depending on who you ask) of marchers each year, and major congressional speakers…is barely covered by mainstream media; most venues don\’t cover it at all (compare that to the coverage given the handful of left wing “nuns on a bus” last year);

-The kermit gosnell trial in Philadelphia last year – where the beyond-sick, depraved, gosnell got life imprisonment for killing live babies and conducting abortions in an abominably unprofessional, unmedical, unsanitary conditions – was virtually uncovered, from beginning to end.

So why do mainstream media afford vastly positive coverage to the pro-choice side, which is usually presented as normal/mainstream, and almost none to the pro-life side, which is usually presented as marginalized/fanatic?  

Is it because this reflects the beliefs of the country?

Nope. In point of fact, this country – its female population very much included (as will be seen further on) – is divided on abortion. 

In poll after poll, we find that some people feel abortion should be legal under all circumstances.  But a large majority believes it should either be limited – especially late term abortions – or completely illegal. 

Doubt me?  If so I wouldn\’t blame you…since most people have been fed a steady diet of “news” suggesting that – other than right wingers/tea partiers/evangelical fanatics – this country craves full access to abortion-on-demand, the way a cat craves a saucer of milk. 

So let me show you that is not so, by offering just one of the many polls which say the opposite:  the CNN/ORC polling on abortion over the past two years:

“Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?”
		Always legal	Sometimes legal	Always illegal	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	1/31 – 2/2/14	27	51	20	1
	5/17-18/13	25	54	20	1
	8/22-23/12	35	47	15	2

Does that look like open-and-shut approval for abortion to you?

But wait, you might say: that is misleading.  Add in the “sometimes legal” designation, and over 3/4 of the population – 78% – support abortion.

Uh….not exactly.  CNN, to its credit, had ORC break this designation down further. Here are the results:

“Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal under only certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?” If “legal under only certain circumstances”: “Do you think abortion should be legal in most circumstances or only a few circumstances?” Combined responses
		Always legal	Legal in most circumstances	Legal in a few circumstances	Always illegal	Unsure
		%	%	%	%	%
	1/31 – 2/2/14	27	13	38	20	2
	5/17-18/13	25	11	42	20	2
	8/22-23/12	35	9	37	15	3

That puts things in a clearer light, doesn\’t it?

As you can see, for the past two years – as recently as just last month – significantly less of the country supports abortion in all or most circumstances, compared to those who say it should be allowed in few or no circumstances.

Want more? Ok.

Now let\’s look at a major poll\’s findings when people are asked, more generally, whether they are pro-choice or pro-life.

Here is what Gallup found…over a full decade of research:

“With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?”
		Pro-choice	Pro-life	Neither/ Mixed (vol.)	Don\’t know what terms mean (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%	%
	5/2-7/13	45	48	3	3	2
	12/27-30/12	48	44	3	4	1
	5/3-6/12	41	50	4	3	3
	7/15-17/11	47	47	2	3	1
	6/9-12/11	46	48	2	3	2
	5/5-8/11	49	45	3	2	2
	5/3-6/10	45	47	2	4	3
	7/17-19/09	46	47	3	2	2
	5/7-10/09	42	51	2	4	1
	5/8-11/08	50	44	1	2	2
	5/10-13/07	49	45	3	2	2
	5/8-11/06	51	41	4	2	3
	5/2-5/05	48	44	3	3	2
	5/2-4/04	49	44	2	3	2

There goes the argument, we have heard so many times, that a large majority of the USA is pro-choice.  In fact we are, and have for a long time been, relatively equally divided on abortion.

This leaves just one more credible explanation for our hugely-tilted media coverage:  The argument we have heard so often that “Yeah, the data may be true in total, but it\’s only because men – you know, the ones who don\’t get pregnant – are much more pro-life/anti-abortion than women.  But this is a woman\’s issue and a woman\’s choice:  men shouldn\’t even have a say in the matter.  So why don\’t you find out what they think about it?”

Hokay.

Here are Gallup\’s data, split by a number of different groups…..including men and women:

As you can see, when women are separated out, 47% of them are pro-choice….and 46% are pro-life.  A complete wash. 

In fact, only three groups show less than 40% support for the pro-life position.  Atheists……

….and liberals and Democrats.

That\’s right. Other than atheists, Liberals and Democrats – often one and the same – are the only people with a large majority (more than 10% of a difference) in favor of the pro-choice position.

NOW we are getting to the heart of why coverage of abortion is so skewed to one side, aren\’t we?

Would these data cause you to conclude – or at least seriously consider – the possibility that media\’s almost complete tilt toward the pro-abortion side of things is as simple as generic media bias?  That when liberals/Democrats say “jump”, most of mainstream media ask “How high”?

At the beginning of this blog I asked a basic question about the pervasive bias in reporting on this issue:  Is it because mainstream media are ignorant of how divided the country is on abortion?  Or is it because, in aggregate, they are so on-board with pro-abortion forces – thus so owned and operated by them – that truth does not matter?

I\’d like to think the information I\’ve provided answers that question…