Wednesday, August 23, 2006

30 days of bias

I had to stop watching "30 Days" on the FX channel tonight. They took a young woman who works at an abortion clinic and sent her to spend 30 days at a pro-life maternity home and pregnancy crisis center run by a Pastor and his wife.

I have always enjoyed these "30 days" shows, even though it is obvious that Morgan Spurlock, the producer, is biased and liberal, he still does a good job. But this one was so wrong on so many levels I just had to stop watching it. First of all, he said there are over 4000 pregnancy crisis centers in the U.S., yet he had to find the one run by an older white man. Right. But that is fine because it is obvious from watching that this pastor is taking care of women that no one seems to want to help. The one thing they never pointed out, as the young woman from the abortion clinic kept referring to "choice", was that her abortion "choice" costs women a few hundred bucks, whereas all this pastor was doing for the women, including housing and food for them after birth, was free. Which one is easier to do? Which one is more compassionate? Which one takes sacrifice and generosity of the soul? I think we all know the answer.

But the last straw for me was when the young women sees some pamphlets at the pro-life center that have a picture of an 11 week old unborn child and she turns to the camera and says "I have seen an abortion at eleven weeks and it doesn't look like this." Ok. Let's think about this. I don't suppose it did look like that since the baby was torn apart and no longer intact. But they just let her statement go. Also, it isn't like this is a big mystery. It is quite easy to see what an 11 week old unborn baby looks like. She could check any medical journal. My link is for expectant moms and not political in the least. She could even look at a sonogram if she wished. I suppose it's better to just pretend to yourself that the bloody mess you saw never did look like a real baby.

The owner of the abortion clinic must have referred to a 1982 bombing at her clinic about 3 or 4 times, wanting to leave the impression that pro-lifers are violent. When the truth is that the entire pro-life movement, up to the leader of Operation Rescue, condemned any and all violence to abortion clinics.

The young woman stands away from the Pastor and his wife as they try to talk to some women going into an abortion clinic, telling them that they can help the women have their babies. The young woman is disturbed by this, saying that this day is hard enough for a woman. Let's think about this again. All the pastor was doing was offering help. Not judging, not condemning. Do you think it is fun to stand on a sidewalk and look like a nut trying to help women from making the biggest mistake of their lives? I'm sure it is easy to be so self satisfied thinking you are "helping women" as you book appointments for them in a nice air conditioned office and receiving a paycheck to do it. Who is really going out on a limb for women here?

Ugh. I can't stand it.