Liberal newspapers across the nation have no problem selling advertising space for pictures of babies to promote such products ranging from diapers to online investment firms. However, three major papers -- USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune -- rejected an ad from a pro-life organization that showed an infant at roughly 20 weeks' gestation because it's “too controversial.”
An article by Caleb Parke on the Live Action News website stated that the ad featured an illustration of an adult hand holding a 20- to 24-week-old baby with the quote: “This child has no voice, which is why it depends on yours. Speak up.”
Heroic Media, a non-profit organization whose mission “is to educate the public in general and reach women facing unplanned pregnancies with life-affirming alternatives through the use of mass media, such as television commercials, Internet outreach, and billboards, expressed outrage that the newspapers were willing to talk about the issue but not to show the reality of life at 20 weeks.”
Joe Young, executive director of the group, said he was shocked and angered that the newspapers were willing to provide a voice for only one side of the abortion issue.
I am disturbed that these papers would run article after article promoting the notion that abortion is a victimless act without consequences.
The fact remains, children who are unique individuals -- never again to be duplicated -- are being killed in the most violent way imaginable, and they feel the excruciating pain of that death.
Young added that the newspapers took issue with the image of the baby, which abortion mills like Planned Parenthood slam as “products of conception” or “POCs.”
That tactic is similar to the abortion supporters referring to an unborn child as a "fetus," which is a much less sympathetic and sterile term.
“It seems as though it's okay to talk about the issue in general,” Young said, “but when you actually put a face to the discussion, then it becomes controversial.”
The ad was produced a week after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which “prevents an abortionist from performing an abortion at or after 20 weeks, based on empirical scientific medical evidence that proves that unborn babies can feel pain.”
Science shows that at eight weeks after fertilization, the unborn child reacts to touch, and at 20 weeks, the unborn baby responds to what would be felt as pain.
At that time, the pro-life organization released a statement noting: “Americans deserve to know the truth about the children sentenced to die for no fault of their own and that we have a chance to spare some of them through this legislation."
Soon after the newspapers rejected the ad, Heroic Media resubmitted it with a different image, now one of a 20-week-old baby "in utero" or in the womb.
As a result, the Chicago Tribune agreed to run the ad with the second image as long as the organization indicated that it was an advertisement.
“Our hope is that the American public begins to advance this debate with both the mother and child in mind,” Young said.
“This issue, the late-term killing of developing children, is one that should now be addressed in the U.S. Senate, and we encourage our fellow citizens to let their senators know our desire to see that happen,” he concluded.
