CNN Shows Pro-Abortion Bias in Smearing Reputation of Pro-Life Advocates

From http://www.lifenews.com/nat5115.html


CNN Shows Pro-Abortion Bias in Smearing Reputation of Pro-Life Advocates

by Matthew Balan
June 2, 2009

LifeNews.com Note: Matthew Balan is a news analyst at Media Research Center. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 2003, and worked for the Heritage Foundation from 2003 until 2006, and for Human Life International in 2006. This article originally appeared in NewsBusters.

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CNN anchor Kiran Chetry let an "abortion provider" from Alabama, whose center was bombed by captured fugitive Eric Rudolph, denigrate all pro-life activists who have ever protested in front of such centers as potential murderers during a segment on Monday's "American Morning."

When the “provider,” Diane Derzis, attacked “the people...who stand in front of these clinics every day....and the only way they see to take care of this is to kill us,” Chetry merely replied, “You don't believe those words? You don't differentiate between people who are opposed to abortion and pro-life for their religious reasons, versus those who are promoting violence?” (audio clips from the segment available here)

Chetry’s second question to Derzis during the interview was also rather sympathetic: “What is it like going to work knowing you have a target on your head?” This question, highlighted by Laura Ingraham on Monday, led the talk show host to call for the firing of the CNN anchor.

The anchor began her interview of the abortion clinic owner by asking for her reaction to the murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller, who was gunned down in his church in Wichita, Kansas on Sunday.

Once she offered her initial reply, Chetry followed-up by explaining Derzis’s connection to past violence against such clinics and asking her “target” question: “Your clinic was the one that was bombed, actually, as well, right, in Birmingham, Alabama, by Eric Rudolph, the suspect who’s now serving time because of that. What is it like going to work knowing you have a target on your head?”

After Derzis included a statement of pride in her work as an “abortion provider,” Chetry seemed to empathize either further with her: “And when you say you love what you do, can you explain more about that for people who, you know, understand what a contentious situation it is- it’s a choice that no one wants to have to make- people make it obviously. But when you say you love what you do, explain that.”

The CNN anchor then read a statement by Christian Defense Coalition leader Reverend Pat Mahoney, who denounced the murder of Tiller, and included his view that he didn't “know of one legitimate pro-life leader who would not unequivocally condemn this.” Derzis flatly called that view a “lie,” and when Chetry asked her to just clarify, she went much further:

DERZIS: These people- the rhetoric these people espoused calls for our deaths, every day, in front of these clinics. You know, he’s saying that only because of the timing of this particular shooting....These people have put the target on our chest, on our backs....The people, by and large, who stand in front of these clinics every day have their own agenda, and that agenda is to do away with abortion in whatever way they can. The election of Barack Obama put them in a corner. They're losing, and the only way they see to take care of this is to kill us. This is just the first of what I foresee as many more.

Chetry continued her sympathetic treatment of Derzis, exhibiting concern in her question that late-term abortions might become unavailable: “And this is certainly an uncomfortable question to ask, but, you know, it kind of- it makes you wonder, in all the articles I was reading, it said that Doctor Tiller was one of three doctors in this country that perform late-term abortion....So what happens if, you know, God forbid, there’s more violence- there’s more killing. Would that end late- the ability for late-term abortion?”

It’s no wonder that Ingraham would call for the anchor’s firing.