The Baltimore Sun is hardly a right-wing rag, in fact its editorials and its overall news judgment, as many a Marylander registered on this site can tell you, is rabidly left-wing. But even the Sun, reporting on yesterday's heinous, grisly discovery of four murdered stillborn infants in Ocean City, Md., used the term "baby" to describe the victims. The Associated Press also used the term "baby" to describe the pre-born or stillborn victims.
So what's holding Andrea Stone of USA Today back? The word "baby" appeared twice in her July 31 story, but only in quotes, from a police spokesman and the Worcester County State's Attorney. Likewise the term "infant" was only used once in Stone's story, again within quotes from a police report.
Also to the Sun's credit--although really it should be standard practice when the MSM report on abortion matters-- Sun reporter Lynn Anderson avoided the left-wing euphemism "woman's right to choose" in favor of a grammatically correct phrase that includes the word "abortion." In this excerpt, Anderson is describing the law under which suspect Christy Freeman may be prosecuted:
The legislature passed the law after it was amended to include language that abortion-rights advocates said would protect a woman's right to a medical abortion. Some say it is unclear whether the law protects women from prosecution for self-induced abortions.
In other words, Freeman and her lawyers could argue that, having the right to secure an abortion protects her from being penalized for terminating her pregnancy herself.
The bottom line: this grisly multiple murder story has the potential to capture the public's attention in a way that transcends to overarching social and legal issues.
Watching the language the media use to report the facts of the case should clue us in to how wedded some in the mainstream media are to left-wing euphemisms and phraseology regarding abortion and the unborn child.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
It's only a "baby" if it has
July 31, 2007 - 17:10 ET by motherbeltIt's only a "baby" if it has a "mother" who wants it. If not, it's a "fetus" and a "woman." Got it?
wonder when the lefties will see the contradiction
July 31, 2007 - 17:15 ET by mbuelseveral recent charges have brought this same thing to light:
Inspired by the killing in 2002 of California resident Laci Peterson,
who was in the late stages of pregnancy, Maryland's statute provides
for the prosecution of an individual for the murder of an unborn child
if the person "intended to cause the death of the viable fetus,
intended to cause serious physical injury to the viable fetus, or
wantonly or recklessly disregarded the likelihood that the person's
actions would cause the death of or serious physical injury to the
viable fetus."
while still using the ridiculous, leftist "fetus" position on the unborn baby, you can't charge someone with murder, while allowing the mother to terminate the viable fetus, whenever she damn well pleases.
If it's murder one way, it's murder both ways.
Stop making sense
July 31, 2007 - 18:27 ET by WingletDriverCan't you see that the use of common sense is anti-woman? You must be a horrible man to not commiserate with a woman who is victimized by either her assailant or the fetus within her. /sarcasm off
I live in MD, which is a vehemently pro-abortion state. Even so, they had the common sense to pass Laci's Law a couple of years ago. Now they are tying themselves in knots because this small window into reality has been opened. They are cursing the light that is streaming through.
btw. . .The last time I saw the polling on pro-life issues, the only consistently pro-abortion demographic was young adult males. Most women in all demographics are pro-life. Unfortunately, a lot of pro-life people do not vote that way.
Yep, isn't it interesting
July 31, 2007 - 21:44 ET by GregEYep, isn't it interesting that Scott Peterson is in prison not only for murdering his wife, but for murdering the unborn baby. And when I challenge any pro-abortion person with a simple question about that, they answer with something out of left field, then proceed to get pissed off.
Ken... I was surprised
July 31, 2007 - 17:12 ET by Clear thinkerKen...
I was surprised when yesterday even Fox news kept using the word fetus instead of baby.
Get Email updates from Fred http://socialnet.imwithfred.com/email_alert_july_26.html
"Fetus" allows the baby to
July 31, 2007 - 21:48 ET by GregE"Fetus" allows the baby to be dehumanized, hence making the killing of it ok. Oh, unless of course it's against the mothers will, at which point someone killed her baby. The blatant and completely passed-over hypocrisy is astounding.
I'm pro-life and I still
July 31, 2007 - 22:14 ET by tracheostomyI'm pro-life and I still think "fetus" is simply a term that Fox uses for brevity's sake. "Pre-term-infant" is a bit long winded and rather confusing for your average TV viewer, who's a bit tired and fuzzy after working an 8-hour day.
Yet I also believe the word "fetus" has been hijacked by the left. Where it once was a valid term that meant "pre-term infant", it was bastardized into a mere blob of tissue. . .or even a parasite.* They do the same thing with so many other words like tolerance, patriotism, terrorist, centrist, God, etc.
-PJ
* And as I have said numerous times before, if the fetus is a parasite or tumor, then it is not a natural part of "your own body" and hence a separate entity in any case, whether it's a "real" baby or not.
"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07
BABY....BABY...BABY... Wha
July 31, 2007 - 19:24 ET by bigtimerBABY....BABY...BABY...
What part of that does not the leftists of this world understand?
Never-mind...
Agenda...agenda...agenda.
They do not believe in that
July 31, 2007 - 21:00 ET by Sonny LykosThey do not believe in that old saying: "A rose by another name is still a rose."
Guess it's a mass of cells if "it's" death is desired, but a baby if not desired.
Maybe if one ever rapes a liberal woman who cries "RAPE!", he can counter: "It's not RAPE, but merely a protrusion of mine being inserted into a receptacle of yours." Like a plug into an outlet. Sheese! What's the big deal?
Sonny... Bingo.
July 31, 2007 - 21:03 ET by bigtimerSonny...
Bingo.
A Cry In The Dark just
August 1, 2007 - 09:31 ET by Mike BrattonA Cry In The Dark just wouldn't have been the same with this terminology: "The dingo ate your post-partum fetus."
Words mean things.
--Mike
www.thebrattonreport.com
Weren't the libs crying
August 1, 2007 - 15:32 ET by ErgoDyneWeren't the libs crying that if abortion were outlawed, we'd have coat hanger abortions in back alleys?
"If we make killing babies legal, then people won't kill their children in back alleys with coat hangers."
I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.