Because the corporate media is so in the tank for abortion, anything not resembling a Planned Parenthood infomercial tends to stick out like a sore thumb. Such is the case with NBC News’ profile of Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown and his wife Amy.
Watch as NBC does something we very rarely see on network television: an expression of regret for having an abortion, as Amy Brown disclosed she did over her 2008 abortion.
STEPHANIE GOSK: In 2008 at age 24, former Army Lieutenant Amy Brown got an abortion. A decision she now regrets that she says left her shattered. Soon after, she met Sam.
AMY BROWN: He's helped me process it with compassion and with empathy.
I’m still not sure whether the report itself was intended to showcase a change in strategy among some Republicans- “a softer stance” is how Lester Holt characterized this change, or whether it is intended as a warning to the abortion industrial complex.
Most notably, Sam Brown expresses no appetite for federal restrictions on abortion, and no desire to change Nevada’s existing abortion law which sits at 24 weeks. But Brown also says that “women should always feel loved, supported, part of that support is- is knowing that there are other options beyond abortion.”
Correspondent Stephanie Gosk’s report is based on the longform item written by Natasha Korecki, which provides a lot more background than does a 2-minute newscast report which was framed as “beware the shift”.
On the one hand, Amy Brown’s expression of regret is more fully captured in the written piece albeit, as noted by the great Mary Margaret Olohan, buried in its 27th paragraph:
“I could tell that Sam understood that this hurt, and that it was a very difficult decision, and that it was one that I regretted,” she said. Amy said she initially thought that having an abortion would bring her “freedom” but she instead was filled with remorse over the decision and wished she would have considered other options. “I could tell that he got it and that he felt my pain.”
The entire concept, the idea of regretting an abortion and needing to heal from it, is largely verboten in the media. While we are on the one hand told to give full airing to women’s lived experience, on the other, this lived experience is very rarely talked about, if at all.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on NBC Nightly News on Wednesday, February 21st, 2024:
LESTER HOLT: Now to the race for 2024 and an issue Democrats hope drives voters to the polls: abortion rights. And now some Republicans, after suffering losses on abortion since the fall of Roe v. Wade, are taking a softer stance. Here's Stephanie Gosk.
STEPHANIE GOSK: West Point grad and Purple Heart recipient Sam Brown will most likely be the Republican candidate for Senate in swing state Nevada. The Democrats are already attacking.
AD: But extremists like Sam Brown have fought to strip away women's rights.
GOSK: In an interview with NBC News’ Natasha Korecki, Brown clarifying where he stands on abortion.
SAM BROWN: I would not support a federal abortion ban.
GOSK: In Nevada, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks.
SAM BROWN: I'm not here to try and change anything about our existing law.
GOSK: His position shaped, he says, by his wife's experience.
AMY BROWN: I just felt like I was all by myself processing this major event all by myself.
GOSK: In 2008 at age 24, former Army Lieutenant Amy Brown got an abortion. A decision she now regrets that she says left her shattered. Soon after, she met Sam.
AMY BROWN: He's helped me process it with compassion and with empathy.
GOSK: The former Army Captain suffered severe burns from an IED in Afghanistan. Amy was his dietitian helping him recover while at the same time she says, he was helping her.
SAM BROWN: Women should always feel loved, supported, part of that support is- is knowing that there are other options beyond abortion.
GOSK: Brown, like most Republicans, supports the overturning of Roe v. Wade which has become a major political challenge and is largely to blame for the party's lackluster midterm results. Now abortion is front and center again in this election.
SAM BROWN: We need to make sure that we're caring for women during pregnancy and after pregnancy.
GOSK: Republicans in some places changing the message. Stephanie Gosk, NBC News.
