Commentary: The Pro-Life Message Moving to Go Mainstream

TV Ads and Documentaries Connecting with the Culture

The Pro-life Message going mainstream may be taking place soon in the state of Iowa. Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, announced last January that he was running for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - For decades, mainstream media has worked hard to control the tone, vocabulary, and boundaries in coverage about the horrors of abortion. They have endeavored to bewitch contemporary society with words like choice, anti-abortion, victimization of women, etc.

In fact, for a recent TIME magazine op-ed, Tim Padgett, who serves as TIME's Miami and Latin America bureau chief, took on the role of philosopher, scientist, moral theologian and Catholic spokesman in asserting that "most of us have long since discarded Rome's primitive homunculus model in favor of more modern and reliable science demonstrating that until a fetus develops a central nervous system and cerebral cortex - after the first trimester - it cannot be regarded as a sentient being let alone a human being."

The March for Life, 40 Days for Life and other events confirm the real fact - that this is not true. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, who have not bought the misinformation that violates basic principles of ethics, reason and logic.

The philosophical arguments notwithstanding, many veterans in the pro-life world are confident that men and women of all walks of life would be changed regarding their anti-life convictions if they were made aware of the violence connected with killing the unborn child.

The media has worked hard to block or distort coverage of these large pro-life events and has ignored any content or developments that would give strength to the message of life. As they say here in Washington, "if the news doesn't report it, it never happened."

Evangelical leader Chuck Colson calls this the "spiral of silence."

In describing his recent "Two-minute Warning" video on the subject, the Chuck Colson Center describes this condition. "Media outlets can often misrepresent the pulse of Americans and this can be a discouragement to people who want to stand up for their true beliefs. People are naturally fearful of finding themselves in the minority, which often leads to a reticence to express an opinion contrary to that which is currently popular.

"Silence is what those who oppose free thought and discussion want."

This information vacuum has been filled artificially by focusing the spotlight on a woman's right to choose, thus keeping the child's right to life - a more fundamental right - in the darkness. In addition, they have also ignored the trauma of abortion on the mother as well as complications during the procedures.

However, the most serious absence in coverage concerns the procedure itself; allowing sanitized commentaries to shroud the actual violence perpetrated against the unborn child.

An entry made Monday, November 21 on Manhattan Declaration website stated, "Through its promotion of the new movie 'The Gift of Life,' the Pro-Life movement has begun using mainstream media to spread the important message of fighting for the unborn. This time around, the focus of the movie's message is not on human development, the abortion holocaust, or even on the ever so vigilant opponents of the pro-life movement. Rather, this movie focuses its attention on the lives of people who nearly became victims of abortion. There are stories all around us of those closely affected by the horrors of abortion. And these are the stories that are going to help define the culture of life.

Hosted by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, The Gift of Life looks at the sanctity of life as a moral issue through at the stories of individuals who were nearly the victims of an abortion, but through God's grace were spared.

The film also highlights leaders of the Pro-Life movement. These men and women have dedicated themselves to bringing the message to society that every human being possesses an inalienable right to life.

Another example of the Pro-life Message going mainstream may be taking place soon in the state of Iowa. Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, announced last January that he was running for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

In his declaration, Terry stated, ""We will run ads on the Super Bowl 2012 that show dead babies," he began, "the victims of abortion. We will, with the help of God, bring America face to face with the victims of Obama's policies. This campaign is about human rights, ladies and gentlemen."

"It will be first and foremost about the human rights of babies that are being brutally slaughtered and thrown in dumpsters and landfills," Terry stated.

In a press release on Tuesday, Terry announced that five 30-second TV commercials are planned to be run "in Iowa on every TV news outlet in the state."

"And then, they will begin running in Boston and New Hampshire. We will run them on the local news and/or the national news...right where they belong."

Terry is using a little-known law concerning the content of political ads for broadcasting. These commercials can be viewed at http://www.terryforpresident.com/ad3.php.

Today's huge pro-abortion public relations campaign disguised as the evening news and other mainstream news programs is losing ground due to the increasing number of alternate channels of communication being established every day.

Their mission is also being thwarted as the truths about abortion and the fundamental right to life is finding its way into mainstream America. This can produce a tidal effect in opinion. As Father Frank Pavone, Executive Director of Priests for Life once said, "America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion!"

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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