Saturday 5 October 2013

Sky News - It Is A Baby


Liu Xinwen in hospital after forced abortion
Photo from Sky News report

I was horrified when I read the heart breaking report of how a Chinese mother was forced, by Chinese authorities, to abort her baby against her will because she already had one child. While that news saddened me I took heart in how Sky News and its reporter, Mark Stone, unwittingly revealed that they view the unborn as a baby, not just a clump of cells.

According to the Sky News report, China Couple Speak Of 'Forced Abortion', a woman who was six-months pregnant was dragged off to the district hospital by a number of Chinese officials. There she was injected with an abortion-inducing drug.

The abortion was induced despite the fact that the couple had allegedly indicated their willingness to pay the financial penalty, which the Chinese government imposes when the one child rule is exceeded.

It should be noted that Chinese law prohibits forced abortion. The one child policy is enforced through financial penalties. The one child policy is not enforced through forced abortions.

Having brought this matter to the attention of the Chinese government, Sky News is now waiting for feedback regarding this incident. They were informed that the matter is being investigated.

I hope that those guilty of this offence will face criminal charges.

I found it extremely interesting that Sky News used very specific words to describe the unborn child in its report. It used words that the mainstream media generally would avoid like the plague when they report on abortion.

It seems clear to me that Sky News deliberately chose to use words that would convey the message that Chinese officials had killed a baby boy, not a mass of cells, which is how the abortion industry would prefer us to view an aborted child.

There is no doubt that Sky News definitely doesn’t want this incident to be viewed as just another abortion. No, Sky News wants the message to be loud and clear. A tiny defenceless baby boy was killed by the Chinese officials!

Note how Sky News emphasises in their report that the six-month old unborn child is “fully formed”. They refer to the aborted child as the “baby” of the mother and father. They also refer to the aborted child as a “boy”.

Sky News reports how the father of the aborted baby showed them exceptionally graphic photos of a bucket next to his wife’s hospital bed. Inside that bucket “is her aborted child”, reports Sky News.

They also report how the father said: “His nose, ears, mouth are all there” and “It is a child that would have lived if not for the forced abortion. It's because of their cruelty. Look, his hand is very obvious.

The word foetus is used only once in the Sky News report. They only use it when they refer to the already dead baby boy. Sky News reports that the “boy, died a day later in her womb. It took a further day for the foetus to be delivered.

I personally think that Sky News has done a fantastic job of highlighting that this was a defenceless baby boy that was killed. This was not just a mass of cells that was flushed out of the mother’s womb, which is what the abortion industry would much prefer is communicated about the aborted child.

What we must not forget however is that this imagery of a defenceless baby boy, complete with hands, which Sky News portrays to its audience, remains true not only when it is the Chinese government forcing the mother to have the abortion. 

This image of a defenceless baby boy would remain true even if it was entirely the mother's decision to have the abortion. The image does not change depending on who makes the decision to have the abortion.

It is for this reason that, while I am exceptionally pleased with Sky News’ description that this was a defenceless baby boy who was murdered, I do however have to ask why Sky News has not previously used similar language and imagery when it has reported on abortion.

I firmly believe that it is important to be entirely truthful with mothers and anyone else involved in the abortion discussion. There should be no doubt ever, just as this Chinese couple had no doubt, that the subject matter is a helpless child who, if permitted, will grow up to be like us.

Mainstream media do not need to take sides in the abortion debate, but even if they do, they shouldn’t lie about the facts. 

Just as Sky News has done in this report, the media should always acknowledge honestly that the subject in an abortion is always a defenceless baby. It is always a human being who, like us, wants an opportunity to live.

I hope that Sky News and Mark Stone were not only describing the baby in the way that they did because it best suited their political objective to trash the Chinese government? I really do hope that they are not being duplicitous and that the image of the baby will not change depending on who makes the decision to abort. 

I hope that we can look forward to future Sky News reports on abortion, which will, like this Sky News report, honestly report that the subject of abortion is a defenceless baby. It is always a defenceless baby.

No comments:

Post a Comment