This story–“Abortion clinics in Maine see ‘spike’ in New Brunswick clients”– from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is a textbook example of making news instead of reporting news. Taken in the context of what happened last week and which was almost completely ignored, it reminds us there are journalistic sins of commission and omission.
A week ago, 100,000 pink and blue flags blanketed huge swaths of the lawn in front of Canada’s Parliament buildings. 100,000 pink and blue flags, representing the number of babies aborted each year in Canada, receive no mention on the CBC News but six women travel from New Brunswick to Maine to kill their pre-born child and we get a 1,000 word diatribe on how oppressive New Brunswick regulations are to women’s ‘rights’? Let’s compare.
A week ago, 80 volunteers carefully installed the flags, one by one. The volunteers wanted to make a powerful, visual statement, and they did.
The massive display was probably the largest pro-life display in Canadian history. It was an initiative of WeNeedaLAW.ca, a public awareness campaign with a goal of building support for legislation protecting pre-born children.
The media were advised about what was occurring on Parliament Hill and were informed of the press conference that day. To their credit, all the major networks came out to the flag display. While not all covered the press conference, the cameras were rolling. As one videographer told me, “This makes for excellent footage for the evening news.” If you haven’t seen the epic images then check this out.
A few days later all that was seen in the mainstream press was a black and white photo in one print news outlet and an interview with an elected official. It says something about our “national broadcaster” when the BBC in London, England covers an event on Parliament Hill as a “top news story in the world” and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) chooses to ignore it.
It is not my intention to bemoan the lack of coverage of this specific event but it is increasingly frustrating that CBC can get away with such willful ignorance. Canadians should expect, even demand, that our national broadcasting company would report news. Instead we are fed a daily dose of regressive ideologies that certainly don’t reflect our broad cultural mosaic including our Judeo-Christian heritage.
So what was the intent of the story CBC News about a handful of Canadian women coming to Maine for their abortions? For Americans unfamiliar with the history, here is some background
Abortion advocates have been focusing on New Brunswick ever since it was announced that the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton would be closing due to financial difficulties. The clinic suctioned apart its last baby in July and women in that province are now ‘forced’ to have their abortion at a public hospital only after receiving the nod from two doctors who deem it medically necessary.
Pressure is mounting on newly elected New Brunswick premier Brian Gallant to do away with Regulation 84-20 which outlines the process whereby abortions can be publicly funded. But the pressure is not coming from the residents of New Brunswick. In fact, polling shows that 73% of Atlantic Canadians do not support public funding of abortion. No, the pressure is coming from the liberal-elite dominating our main-stream media.
It seems that the closing of the Morgentaler Clinic has been very hard for some staff at the CBC to take. Now they are going to the United States in an effort to build momentum and public sympathy for pregnant women who need to travel two hours in order to have their babies dismembered, decapitated, and disemboweled.
To be clear, these women need sympathy, just not the kind that involves making it easier to kill their pre-born child.
While human rights activists for the pre-born work hard to engage the culture and build public support by donating their time, energy, talents and money, abortion supporters sit at home and let the taxpayer funded CBC do all the work for them.
Did I mention that last week there were 100,000 pink and blue flags within a five minute walk from CBC’s Ottawa bureau, and in full view from their plush studios overlooking Parliament Hill only blocks away?
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
