{"id":95254,"date":"2012-10-08T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=95254"},"modified":"2012-10-07T21:17:51","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T01:17:51","slug":"the-guardian-ends-the-debate-on-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/10\/the-guardian-ends-the-debate-on-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardian ends the debate on abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are no valid pro-life arguments. All right thinking people have seen the light, the Guardian<\/em> reports, with support for legal limitations on abortion\u00a0 limited to the slack jawed troglodytes of the political right, Conservative Party MPs (possibly the same thing) and religious loonies.<\/p>\n

I may have overstated things somewhat, but that is what I have taken away from this story entitled \u201cJeremy Hunt backs<\/a> 12-week legal limit on abortion.\u201d Not the most striking of headlines, I admit, but here is the lede \u2014 trust me, it is worth diving in to this story as it is an object lesson in the difference between news reporting and advocacy journalism.<\/p>\n

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that he backs halving the legal time limit for women to have abortions, from 24 weeks to 12.<\/p>\n

The intervention by Hunt reignited hostilities over one of the most polarising issues in politics on the eve of the Conservative party conference.<\/p>\n

Coming just days after Maria Miller, the women\u2019s minister, backed calls for a reduction in the legal limit for abortions, Hunt\u2019s comments deepened fears among pro-choice campaigners that abortion laws are set to come under renewed assault.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Where do you thing this story is headed? A sober analysis of the state of the abortion debate in Britain, or rubbishing Jeremy Hunt for his views on abortion and for causing political mischief for the Conservative Party \u2014 why that would worry the Guardian<\/em> is beyond me, but there it is. After this rather loaded introduction, the article offers some rather thin comments from the minister in support of his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not someone who thinks that abortion should be made illegal. Everyone looks at the evidence and comes to a view about when that moment is and my own view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this is followed by comments from the Labour Party\u2019s shadow health minister. She calls the comments \u201cshocking and alarming\u201d and \u201canother assault on women\u2019s reproductive rights.\u201d The opposition hammers Hunt for plucking 12 weeks \u201cout of thin air\u201d and not basing his decision on \u201cmedical evidence\u201d \u2014 and true to form, we get an anti-American crack.<\/p>\n

Let me say I do not find the shadow minister\u2019s comments problematic. They are strong comments that candidly express the shadow minister for health\u2019s views. What concerns me is that the Guardian<\/em> gives her four paragraphs to critique the minister\u2019s two paragraph opening quote.<\/p>\n

The article then moves on to an independent medical voice, who perversely claims the minister\u2019s remarks will lead to more abortion. The story line then returns to the minister, who is asked whether he was now, or had ever been a member of the Communist Party<\/del> Christian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the reason I have that view is for religious reasons. There are some issues that cut across health and morality, a bit like capital punishment does for crime. There are all sorts of arguments in favour and against in terms of deterrence and justice, but also there is a fundamental moral issue that sits behind it. I think abortion is one of those issues.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Guardian<\/em> tosses in a a few unsourced opinions.<\/p>\n

Political commentators have questioned the wisdom of sparking a political row over such an emotive issue as the party heads into its conference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the article closes with a knife in Hunt\u2019s back from Prime Minister David Cameron\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for No 10 said that the prime minister did not share Hunt\u2019s view about a cut to 12 weeks. Cameron said during the last general election campaign that he would support a reduction to 20 or 22 weeks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

David Cameron does seem set on giving Edward Heath a run for the money as winner of the worst Conservative PM contest. But GetReligion<\/em> reader, do you notice anything missing?<\/p>\n

Might there be someone to speak to this issue other than a marginal Conservative MP<\/a> whose endorsement does not help but hurts Hunt.\u00a0 Where is the smartest man in England, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams? Dr. Williams\u2019\u00a0views<\/a> on the economy, foreign policy and other non-church topics are often solicited by the Guardian<\/em> but we hear nothing from Labour\u2019s favorite archbishop on an issue dear to his wooly heart. Where is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols<\/a> or any other Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, Humanist or, heaven help us, conservative Christian voice speaking on this issue?<\/p>\n

Is the science truly silent on this point? Was no one available from any of the government\u2019s scientific quangos that have been studying embryology, medical ethics, or reproductive health care issues? Maybe a word from someone from the Christian Medical Fellowship<\/a> \u2014 a coalition of Christian physicians in the U.K.? Might they have a view on the 12 vs 24 week mark?<\/p>\n

It may be a sign of my age, but a line from a Monty Python record \u201cMatching Tie and Handkerchief<\/a>\u201d ran through my mind as I read this story.<\/p>\n

Man:\u00a0<\/strong>I think all right thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired.<\/p>\n

All:<\/strong> Yes, yes\u2026<\/p>\n

Man:<\/strong><\/strong> I\u2019m certainly not! And I\u2019m sick and tired of being told that I am.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong> Mrs. Havoc-Jones?<\/p>\n

Mrs. Havoc-Jones:<\/strong> Well, I meet a lot of people and I\u2019m convinced that the vast majority of wrong thinking people are right.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong> There seems like a consensus there. Could we have the next question, please?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is an absurdist quality to this article. The Guardian<\/em> does not believe it is important to give both sides of an argument, or it believes there is no credible opposition to the view that abortion is a non-negotiable right. This is advocacy journalism or it is arrogance. It may be seeking to endorse a particular political outcome and has marshaled some facts and omitted others in support of its argument. Or, it truly believes that there are no credible arguments against abortion and only draws upon the fringe for comments.<\/p>\n

My sense is that this story is a mixture of arrogance, disdain and advocacy. The Guardian<\/em> has chosen a side in the culture wars, but in doing so, it has dropped any pretext that it is engaging in journalism in its reporting on this issue.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are no valid pro-life arguments. All right thinking people have seen the light, the Guardian reports, with support for legal limitations on abortion\u00a0 limited to the slack jawed troglodytes of the political right, Conservative Party MPs (possibly the same thing) and religious loonies. I may have overstated things somewhat, but that is what I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,25,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglicanism","category-catholicism","category-journalism","category-social-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nGuardian ends the debate on abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are no valid pro-life arguments. 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