On Friday night, a terrible tragedy occurred. A man was fatally shot in his home by a sniper in the nearby woods. Dr. Barnett Slepian was an abortion provider in Amherst, New York.
The country reacted with outrage and a demand for justice as indeed it should. Leaders of the pro-life and pro-choice movements responded immediately, condemning the violence and extending sympathy to the family. (The response of the pro-life community can be found at web sites such as that of the National Coalition for Life and Peace, National Right to Life and Feminists for Life.)
And then something else terrible happened. The media neglected to report the facts. The facts are that we don't know who committed this heinous act. While there may be reason to believe that the perpetrator held anti-abortion beliefs, we can not just assume this because the person murdered was an abortion provider. One thing is certain: the murderer was NOT part of the pro-life community. The pro-life community is non-violent and has never advocated violence. A sniper is clearly not part of the pro-life movement. Yet, this is exactly the way the media portrayed the situation. Prominent and respectable news organizations such as CBS, NBC, CNN and The Associated Press all failed to report the response of the pro-life community and many actually reported that pro-lifers supported the violence.
When advocates for the unborn and terminally ill provide support for women in crisis pregnancies, offer companionship to the dying and peacefully protest unjust laws, they are called "anti-choice." However, at the first indication that an act of violence may have been committed by a person who holds anti-abortion views, the media affixes the label "pro-life" to the perpetrators of violence and death. Considering that the pro-life movement has always professed respect for life from "conception until natural death," it baffles me how the media could ever mistakenly call a person "pro-life" who unnaturally ended the life of another through violence.
This weekend, the Coalition For Life at Dartmouth attended the annual fall conference of the Ivy League Coalition For Life (ILCL), an organization comprised of pro-life groups at the nation's most prestigious universities. Our group is a testament against the false stereotypes promoted by the media that portray pro-lifers as lunatics, social outcasts and uneducated fanatics. The goals of ILCL are to raise awareness of life issues on our campuses and to train the future leaders of the pro-life movement.
On the first night of the conference, we heard about the senseless act of violence that was directed against Dr. Slepian. Contrary to what the media would have the public believe, we were NOT glad to hear about the murder. All of the students at the conference were outraged at his murder and greatly saddened for his wife and children. Leaders from five of the national pro-life groups were present at the conference and none of them expressed anything but the deepest abhorrence for such violence. This was the reaction of most people with anti-abortion views, and it was the sole reaction of the pro-life community. Although there were one or two fringe anti-abortion groups that did not strongly condemn the violence, they are clearly not part of the pro-life movement, and it is unfair as well as factually incorrect to present them as such. We are left wondering why our national media (The Associated Press) succumbed to such poor journalism and biased reporting.
Biased, inaccurate reporting benefits no one. By incorrectly portraying the pro-life movement as violent, the media creates further division and misunderstanding in our country over this very sensitive and important issue. Americans can not begin to address the issues at the heart of the abortion controversy if they are being misinformed. Biased reporting negatively affects both the pro-life and pro-choice movements and impedes their efforts to find common ground.
Pro-life groups will always promote respect for life and advocate for an end to violence of all types. Through the murder of Dr. Slepian, our nation has seen yet another example of how the culture of death is destroying our society. It is time we work together to promote respect for all life and an end to all violence. The media can aid in this quest for peace by presenting the facts in an unbiased manner which promotes cooperation and informed discussion.
The Coalition For Life at Dartmouth wishes to express its strongest condemnation of all acts of violence, including the murder of Dr. Slepian.
