Planned Parenthood honors abortion ‘champions’

On May 2 in New York City, Planned Parenthood is putting on its 100th anniversary banquet, calling it “a once-in-a-lifetime gala, 100 Years Strong: The Celebration of a Century.” Along with Hillary Clinton, who will receive the “Champion of the Century” award, the event will honor TV producer Shonda Rhimes for “revolutionizing the way women and issues of reproductive health—including safe, legal abortion—are portrayed on television.”

Rhimes created TV hits such as Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and How to Get Away with Murder. In 2015, her political thriller Scandal showed the series’ main character undergoing an onscreen abortion while the Christmas song “Silent Night” played in the background.

“Most people found that creepy and disturbing and wrong,” John Stonestreet said. The scene did not reflect the broader culture’s understanding of pregnancy and personhood.

“The culture is shifting on what it means to be human,” Stonestreet said, pointing out several examples of TV shows that have embraced the personhood of unborn babies to viewers’ delight. The Big Bang Theory showed a couple sharing their baby’s heartbeat with a friend who exclaimed, “You guys made a person!” The medical drama House showed an unborn child reaching from the womb during surgery to grasp the hand of the show’s titular, grumpy doctor. By the end of the episode, he had progressed from calling the baby a “fetus” to a “kid.”

Planned Parenthood’s embrace of pro-abortion television shows its tone-deafness to the culture, Stonestreet said. Ultrasound, photography, and understanding of the womb have all helped advance acceptance of pro-life beliefs in society.

“I think it’s a losing battle for Planned Parenthood. I think they feel it,” Stonestreet said. “They’re going to hitch their wagon to this kind of stumbling horse.”

Listen to Culture Friday on The World and Everything in It.