Pro-Abortion Media Demand ‘Healthy Pregnancy’ at SCOTUS
Talk about a double-standard. In a new move, the media – abortion’s biggest fans – are supporting pregnancy in the name of “basic decency.”
The U.S. Supreme Court heard Young v. United Parcel Service (UPS) arguments on Dec. 3. For the case, former UPS employee Peggy Young argued her company violated the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act by refusing her lighter duties while pregnant. Although UPS has since changed its policy, Young lost her job. In response, the media bashed UPS as a throwback to the “’Mad Men’ era” and called for “healthy pregnancies,” while organizations like NARAL Pro-Choice America hosted protests.
The Media’s Double-Standard on Pregnancy
For a media adamant on the termination of pregnancy, journalists’ support for Young is ironic.
In the Washington Post, columnist Ruth Marcus argued for “a needed accommodation” during pregnancies. The case “sounds like a throwback to the ‘Mad Men’ era, when employers weren’t expected — or required — to welcome women in general and pregnant women in particular,” she lamented.
But as Marcus rooted for pregnancy, she contradicted a piece published by her outlet deeming the termination of pregnancy as “a deeply affirmative value.”
For NPR, Nina Totenberg wrote, “Women's reproductive rights are once again before the U.S. Supreme Court.” Her headline probed, “Did UPS Discriminate Against A Pregnant Worker By Letting Her Go?” (Like Marcus, Totenberg left out her outlet’s pro-abortion leaning.)
As President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, Ann M. Starrs described in a piece for the abortion-happy Huffington Post how UPS “forced Young to choose between having a healthy pregnancy and taking unpaid leave.”
Unabashedly, she linked pregnancy to abortion. “The case illustrates the often hostile legal and policy environment U.S. women confront on issues surrounding pregnancy,” she said, “whether they are looking to have a healthy birth, prevent an unplanned pregnancy or obtain an abortion.”
The Daily Beast’s Emily Shire found irony – with the pro-life movement’s stance. Noting how organizations like Americans United for Life (AUL) supported Young, she wrote, “It simply doesn’t jive with mainstream impressions of how pro-life organizations treat women as a whole.”
“[D]oes the pro-life movement see a certain irony in throwing their weight behind a woman’s rights when said woman wants to stay pregnant, even as they opposing a woman’s right to choose?” she asked for her outlet – a champion of abortion clinics in high-schools.
Bustle’s Abby Johnston complained how “The decision could have a huge impact on women, who are somehow magically expected to be baby-making machines and seamlessly continue their professional careers.” (Her colleague once argued abortion is “the best for kids.”)
“[I]t’s about time that we acknowledge that pregnancy is a major medical event for working women,” wrote,” wrote lawyer Gillian Thomas for Slate (which previously described the termination of pregnancy as a “social good”).
No-regrets-abortion supporter Al Jazeera published a piece entitled, “Stop hanging pregnant workers out to dry.” In it, Raina Lipsitz argued “In a free and equal society, women who choose to undertake [pregnancy] would be treated like soldiers, not broken-down cars.”
“It’s time to can the platitudes about the glories of motherhood and provide pregnant women with the practical support they need and deserve,” she continued. “Basic decency demands it.”
Other pro-abortion outlets joined the discussion, including The New York Times’ Adam Liptak who interviewed Young and MSNBC’s Irin Carmon who interviewed a woman in a similar situation.
Pro-Abortion Organizations Protest for Pregnancy
As if the media’s hypocrisy wasn’t enough, abortion supporters also chimed in. Organizations championing abortion – including Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, NARAL and National Women’s Law Center – rallied for Young on Dec. 3 at SCOTUS.
Outside the court, NARAL (whose president claimed “anti-abortion” means “anti-American) issued chants including, “Pregnant women are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” and “I’m all about that bump, ‘bout that bump, NO TROUBLE!”
The organization also tweeted a sign reading, “Pro-pregnancy, pro-accommodation, pro-choice!”
WTOP’s Kristi King tweeted a sign at the #StandWithPeggy rally reading “Pregnant women carry important packages too!” That sign later was later placed in front of the rally’s podium.
Speaking at the rally, The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses’ Chief Executive Officer Lynn Erdman told the pro-abortion crowd, “Women who are pregnant are caring for two lives--sometimes more than two!"
Another speaker who spoke at the rally as a Walmart striker held a sign reading “respect the bump” and “No women should RISK the life of an unborn child just to work to provide.”
Another sign behind the podium read “everyone deserves a safe delivery.”
They should take their messages more seriously. Journalists stressing the value of pregnancy while emphasizing the “good” of abortion contradict themselves. Each and every pregnancy is beautiful – and the intrinsic worth of an unborn baby shouldn’t be dependent on an agenda.
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter.
