Abortion coverage breakthrough

The Kermit Gosnell trial in Philadelphia, and the mainstream media’s embarrassment at not covering it until several reporters called out their peers, is putting other abortion scandals on front pages across the country for the first time in years—and pushing pro-abortion journalists to become ethical contortionists.

Note yesterday’s Houston Chronicle story, which covered an apparently Gosnell-like Texas abortionist under a page one headline, “‘House of horrors’ or harassment? Anti-abortion group targets local doctor of late-term procedures, but some call it witch hunt.” Astounding: It sounds like pro-lifers are the criminals for targeting and witch-hunting. The article’s tone is sneering: “No weapon better suits the anti-abortion cause than an irrefutable villain.”

Operation Rescue deserves credit for bringing some abortion atrocities to light, but the Chronicle quotes one abortion business owner describing the group as “big-time bullies,” and an abortion advocate saying, “There’s no level too low that this group will not stoop to.” The Chronicle included no statement balancing those two slams. (My suggestion: If OR folks are bullies, at least they pick on people their own size, not unborn babies.)

The Chronicle also showed its bias with lines like, “Although late-term abortions are performed safely every day. …” (Not safe for at least one victim, and sometimes two.) But the good news is that the bad news of abortion is back on the front page. Sadly, “if it bleeds, it leads,” and some reporters are now seeing the blood, in Houston and across the United States.