By Curtis Houck
On Wednesday, NBC’s Today was beside itself as the Iowa legislature approved a six-week limit on abortions with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, so NBC naturally threw a pit party for Hawkeye State baby killers in, bemoaning the new “battle lines” and “intense debate” resulting from the move.
As our Bill D’Agostino wrote back in 2019, for example, the networks didn’t do this with New York’s radical abortion measure.
“Breaking overnight, battle lines. Lawmakers in Iowa pass a bill banning most abortions after just six weeks. That state, the latest flash point in the nationwide showdown over the hot button issue,” co-host Hoda Kotb fretted in a tease.
Later, co-host Craig Melvin opened the segment: “Now to that breaking news overnight tied to the nationwide battle over abortion. Republican lawmakers in Iowa passing a near total ban after hours of intense debate and protests there as well.”
Correspondent Shaquille Brewster reported from Des Moines that the Iowa legislature’s special session lasted 15 hours, “but had one goal, to add abortion restrictions across the state of Iowa” and, “[f]or Republicans here, it was mission accomplished as legal access to abortion nationwide continues to fall.”
Brewster’s soundbites were dominated by angry protesters supporting baby killing.
Along with screaming, Brewster had soundbites of “shame on you,” one ironically screeching to Iowa Republicans that “blood is on your hands” (in that women will die), and one Iowa House Democrat stating “women will die in Iowa” as “[c]ommon sense” in allowing people to kill their children “has walked out the door.”
Brewster’s own framing was also slanted, bemoaning the “new restrictive ban on abortion” and the six-week ban being a heartbeat bill, which comes “before most women know they’re pregnant.”
He also puffed up two abortionists, using the term “abortion care”
BREWSTER: What kind of impact would this have on the abortion care you provide?
FEMALE IOWA ABORTIONIST: It would a huge impact. This would affect almost all the patients we see.
BREWSTER: The bill includes exceptions to protect the life of the mother and for rape and incest if reported to law enforcement, public health authorities, or a doctor.
(….)
BREWSTER: Iowa’s governor promising to sign the bill into law on Friday. Iowa would be the 16th state restricting abortion access to six weeks or less. 14 of those states currently ban the procedure will few exceptions.
(….)
ABORTIONIST DR. AMY BINGAMAN: I want to continue practicing medicine and I think the language is so vague that I need to know when I can intervene to save a woman’s life.
Only near the end did he have a short snippet from a pro-life demonstrator: “And as soon as that child is conceived, it is a child. It’s a life and it matter.”
To further prop up his case, he used a loaded poll to claim Iowans support even late-term abortions:
A March poll showed most Iowans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, including 70 percent of women. But this morning, the limited providers across the state are scrambling, saying they’re unsure of what happens next.
Before tossing back to Melvin, Brewster again made sure to frame abortion as necessary with abortion “clinics…already making arraignments, moving up appointments and making — or looking for out of state options for women seeking care.”
Exit question: When will the liberal media actually use negative framing to describe late-term abortions?