Not that this is really a surprise, but it's more blatant than ever. Next time some newspaper dons the robe of noble service to the community, keep in mind most in the profession are just trying to get their own way...and integrity is not a concern.
BreakPoint with Charles Colson
Commentary #040908 - 09/08/2004
A Modern 'Modest Proposal': A Pro-Choice Journalist Opens Up
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
So you'd like to be a journalist, but you're not sure you'd be sufficiently
objective? Don't worry about it. More and more journalists are dropping all
pretense of objectivity, apparently with few consequences.
Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee found this out
firsthand. A couple of weeks ago he sent out a press release about the reversal
of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act by a federal judge in New York. In
response, he received this e-mail:
"What's your plan for parenting and educating all the unwanted children you
people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets and
maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents and the
system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the
Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?"
That kind of thinking is nothing new for the pro-abortion opinion-makers, but it
is rarely spoken. What is new here is that it was plainly spoken and that it
came from the North American news editor at Reuters News Service, Todd Eastham.
Oh, but wait -- Eastham told WASHINGTON POST columnist Howard Kurtz, "[I] was
not responding in my capacity as an editor. I didn't intend this as a
professional communication." Well, now, that clears that up. Or it would if
Eastham hadn't sent the communication from his business e-mail address. That
kind of thing tends to raise some pesky questions, especially when it clearly
violates Reuters's editorial policy.
But we do have to give Eastham points for honesty here. After all, how many pro-
choicers openly admit that they think it would be better for "unwanted
children"
to die before birth than to live and possibly cost us taxpayers a lot of money?
Or that they believe those children are automatically destined for a life of
crime? Most pro-choicers manage to cloak those views in compassionate-sounding
language, or the language of "choice," but it usually boils down in the end
to
Eastham's view: crass utilitarianism.
In fact, Eastham's words are eerily reminiscent of Jonathan Swift's famous essay
"A Modest Proposal," in which he suggested that unwanted children be sold
for
food, since their parents couldn't support them. The difference is that Swift
was writing satire. Eastham, regrettably, is serious. Like the people Swift
mocked, Eastham apparently sees human life in terms of economic costs and
benefits, rather than viewing humans as having inherent value.
The tired old argument that pro-lifers want to bring babies into the world only
to watch them be abandoned and become a burden on society is just not true.
Christian ministries around the country not only work with mothers in crisis
pregnancies, but also continue to help them after their children are born. Right
here at Prison Fellowship, our Angel Tree program offers mentoring, camping
programs, and Christmas gifts to children whose parents are in prison.
If he bothered to spend five minutes researching the subject, Mr. Eastham might
recognize that Christians take seriously Jesus' command to welcome little
children in His name. He might even be forced to ask himself who is truly
failing the children of this country: those who fight for their right to life,
or those who think of their lives as simply numbers on a balance sheet.
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Copyright © 2004 Prison Fellowship THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.
THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. "BreakPoint with
Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on news and trends from a Christian
perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide, BreakPoint
transcripts are also available on the Internet. BreakPoint is a production
of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship: 1856 Old Reston
Avenue, Reston, VA 20190.
FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION
"Reuters Editor Unloads on Unborn Children and President Bush," National
Right
to Life Committee, 30 August 2004. (Click here to read Reuters' editorial
policy, which states, "Reuters journalists do not offer their own opinions or
views.")
<a href='http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Kurtz083004.html' target='_blank'>http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Kurtz083004.html</a>
<a href='http://about.reuters.com/pressoffice/company/editorial.asp' target='_blank'>http://about.reuters.com/pressoffice/compa...y/editorial.asp</a>
"Statement by National Right to Life on the future of the Partial-Birth Abortion
Ban Act," National Right to Life Committee, 26 August 2004. This is the press
release to which Eastham was responding.
<a href='http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Release082604.html' target='_blank'>http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/Release082604.html</a>
Steven Ertelt, "Reuters News Editor May Be Disciplined for Scathing Abortion
Email," LIFENEWS.COM, 1 September 2004.
<a href='http://www.lifenews.com/nat777.html' target='_blank'>http://www.lifenews.com/nat777.html</a>
To express your opinion about Mr. Eastham's e-mail, go to this page.
<a href='http://www.reuters.com/-helpSection.jhtml?p=contactUs' target='_blank'>http://www.reuters.com/-helpSection.jhtml?p=contactUs</a>
Howard Kurtz, "Laura Ingraham, Reporting for W2004," Media Notes column,
WASHINGTON POST, 30 August 2004. Scroll down to the section titled "Loaded
Response."
<a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45203-2004Aug29.html' target='_blank'>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Aug29.html</a>
Read the full text of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" (1729).
<a href='http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html' target='_blank'>http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html</a>
BreakPoint Commentary No. 040901, "Judiciocracy: Judge Casey and the Partial-
Birth Abortion Ban."
<a href='http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint_Commentaries1&CONTENTI..' target='_blank'>http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section...ies1&CONTENTI..</a>.
Charles Colson, "The 'Final Solution' to Crime?" The Wilberforce Forum.
<a href='http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint1&template=/CM/HTMLDisp..' target='_blank'>http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section...=/CM/HTMLDisp..</a>.
BreakPoint Commentary No. 010612, "Eugenics By Any Other Name: The
Abortion/Crime Link." (Free registration required.)
<a href='http://www.pfmonline.net/transcripts.taf?_function=detail&ID=2247&Site=BPT&_..' target='_blank'>http://www.pfmonline.net/transcripts.taf?_...47&Site=BPT&_..</a>.
BreakPoint Commentary No. 031007, "Antics with Semantics: Why 'Pro-Life' Means
Pro-Life." (Free registration required.)
<a href='http://www.pfmonline.net/transcripts.taf?_function=detail&ID=2858&Site=BPT&_..' target='_blank'>http://www.pfmonline.net/transcripts.taf?_...58&Site=BPT&_..</a>.
Gina Dalfonzo, "Copying from the Same Script," BREAKPOINT ONLINE, 10
November
2003. Dalfonzo addresses the approach of various media to the Terry Schiavo
case.
<a href='http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint_Store&template=/CM/HTM..' target='_blank'>http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section...plate=/CM/HTM..</a>.
Learn more about Angel Tree's outreach to prisoners and their families.
<a href='http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Angel_Tree1' target='_blank'>http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Angel_Tree1</a>
Care Net supports over 750 pregnancy centers across the United States and
Canada.
<a href='http://www.care-net.org/' target='_blank'>http://www.care-net.org/</a>
Scott Klusendorf, PRO-LIFE 101: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING YOUR CASE
PERSUASIVELY (Stand to Reason Press, 2002).
<a href='http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint_Store&template=/Ecomme..' target='_blank'>http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section...plate=/Ecomme..</a>.
NOTE: Referral to websites not produced by Prison Fellowship, the Wilberforce
Forum, and BreakPoint is for informational purposes only and does not
necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.
