The Caring Outreach Presents: What's Happening in Media

Sometimes the media does help extend the pro-life message to the public.
The following information has been gathered from various media sources.
When we found a link to a website it appears after the item.

Note: The media sources reported in this section are not being endorsed by
The Caring Outreach but are listed to keep you informed of pro-life happenings
in the mainstream media.

Click any of the categories below to read what's happening in media...

Television ... Music ... Internet... Radio...Print... Movies

Television

On CSI Miami in October 2002, lead character Horatio Caine (David Caruso)
watches a technician remove an early-term fetus from its mother's womb following
a car crash: "Not just skin cells, is it?" Caine says.

HBO's Six Feet Under in a July 2003 episode had main character Claire terminating
her pregnancy at a local abortion clinic. Producers of the episode portrayed the clinic
as a sterile, unfriendly place, running women through like cattle at a slaughterhouse.
Still, Claire moved through the scenes emotionally detached. After the procedure,
a friend drove her home to recover and that was that. But a later episode mirrored real
life: Though Claire, like many women, experienced mainly relief in the immediate wake
of her abortion, a breakdown followed. Asked to babysit her infant niece, she becomes ill. Then she has a dream in which she meets her aborted child in heaven.

In running some amazing microscopy photos of a developing baby, NBC's Today Show (10/12/06), probably inadvertently, undercut the arguments of their friends on the pro-abortion side. On this morning's Today co-hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer oohed and ahhed as they ran dramatic photos of a 24 week old fetus with Vieira even calling it a "child," something the abortion-on-demand types are loath to do. Interestingly neither Lauer or Vieira even mentioned the abortion word during the entire segment.

A full transcript of the Ron Mott segment and ensuing discussion that took place in the 7:30am half hour of the October 12th Today show and some pictures can be seen at: http://newsbusters.org/node/8276

• The National Geographic Society aired a two hour production “Inside the Womb with Multiples” that was beautifully produced. The Illinois Federation for Right to Life sent out the following information in their daily e-news. Triplets in the Womb Caught on Video - Jennifer Bennett was pregnant with triplets. She and her husband, Daniel, allowed the National Geographic Channel to “document via ultrasound” the development of the three babies, inside her womb.  The ultrasound videos were then digitized to produce a computer-generated, three-dimensional video of the pre-born triplets. The stunning result revealed clear images of the unborn babies, kicking, jockeying for position, and even holding hands. Kudos to ABC for this short and positive segment…

  To watch portions of this amazing video, please visit: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2788933

• A TV program, House, dealt with abortion twice in 2007. At first the rude, unsentimental, yet somehow lovable Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) sticks to his pro-abortion guns. In a Jan. 20 episode, House advises a rape victim to "terminate" the resulting pregnancy.  

  "Abortion is murder!" the young woman objects.
  
  "True, it's a life," he replies: "And you should end it."
  
  Later in the conversation, the woman says of abortion,
  "It's murder—I'm against it . . . You're for it?"
  
  "Not as a general rule," he says, referring to murder.
  
  She presses him, "Just for unborn children?"
  
  "Yes," he says.
  
  Later, House and the woman discuss God. (She believes in Him; House doesn't.)

The episode is remarkable because, though House is always condescending, the scriptwriters allow the woman to state her faith-based, pro-life case without making her seem silly or blindly hyper-religious. Inexplicably, though, the woman has the abortion.
"House does not shrink from controversy," said Robert Knight, director of the Virginia-based Culture and Media Institute. "And the most controversial thing you can do on TV is challenge political correctness on social issues."

An April 3, 2007, installment of House went further. This time, Dr. House and his team treat Emma, a photographer about 19 weeks pregnant with a life-threatening heart condition. House's basic message: The "fetus" is threatening your life. Abort or die. But Emma refuses to abort and demands that House save them both.

House's boss, physician Lisa Cuddy, refuses to back House's recommendation to terminate. That sends the medical team, now led by Cuddy, in search of new treatment. Later, when House agrees to participate in exploratory in utero surgery, the hand of the "fetus" emerges from the incision and briefly grasps House's finger. He freezes in astonishment and—in something wholly alien to his grizzled character—rapt wonder.

"It was some of the most shocking footage …ever seen on TV," Knight said of the reenactment of the controversial 1999 photo in which a 21-week-old baby seems to reach from his mother's womb during prenatal surgery and grasp the surgeon's hand.

"House was stunned," Knight said. And, in a stunningly un-Hollywood development, House thereafter refers to the "fetus" as a "baby."

Emma thanks House after he saves mother and child. Thank Dr. Cuddy, he replies. He would have killed the baby to save the mother. And so House remains House: Prickly, pragmatic—and pro-choice.

The entire article can be purchased from World Magazine here. Once at the site, go to the
Jan. 12 2008 archives.  A $5.00 fee is required to purchase the article.

*This scene had been posted on www.youtube but was removed due to terms of use violation.   

Editor’s note: This episode shared remarkable details with the photo taken of the experimental surgery performed on Samuel Armas in 1999 by Michael Clancy.  This story and the amazing photo that has been printed around the world can be found on the net at: http://www.michaelclancy.com/story.html

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Music

A new song called Butterfly, a new release by a group called Bluefield, has the potential to be a tool to reach many.  Jill Stanek wrote in her column Pro-Life Pulse on April 3, 2008 that she thought “this song can change minds and hearts and save lives.  In fact, the duo singing it, Bluefield, told me three different girls have contacted them to say the song changed their mind.”

Bluefield is currently on the road promoting "Butterfly," and the band has been surprised to meet reticence….   Despite its uphill flight, "Butterfly" has ascended to the 60s on the country music charts.”

Jill Stanek’s column can be found at: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60481

Butterfly can be heard at: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=78391605

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Internet

Pictures of the Developing Baby on YouTube

4D Ultrasound Sonogram, Baby in Womb - a DVD from National Geographic  (2-minutes and 30-seconds) and can be viewed on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXYc0JojI-E&NR=1

Powerful!   Abortion Procedures on YouTube

The O'Reilly Factor - America's Dirty Little Secret
Bill O’Reilly interviewing a young woman who had a five day saline abortion process at the age of 14 to abort her child.   Watch the interview at:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=rZTDxdYRsBk&feature=related

Father Frank Pavone – This is a suction abortion - 2-minutes and 52-seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBOAPleF1t0&feature=related

Father Frank Pavone – This is a dismemberment abortion - 3-minutes and 46-seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us_y9GP_-DA&feature=related

The Silent Scream (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) A Pro-Life Anti-Abortion Video   
The Silent Scream (27-minutes) is on YouTube with permission from APF.

Bernard Nathanson offers an explanation of ultrasound methods of the unborn using fetal models with comments on development and how an abortion is done.  He shows a victim of abortion using an ultrasound while the baby is being aborted...
Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjNo_0cW-ek#

Read our most recent Press Release here...

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Radio

Sixty Second RADIO ADS
Heartbeat and Your Rights

Planned Parenthood's Golden Gate chapter (PPGG) tried to have pro-life radio spots by the USCCB removed from the airways, claiming that they spread "lies" and "gross inaccuracies" about abortion.

Second Look Project, an awareness campaign sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), ran a number of radio and print ads, including one entitled "Heartbeat". The USCCB stated that all the information in the ads was documented and succeeded in running them in three areas.

You can hear these ads on website of the Second Look Project sponsored by USCCB at: http://www.secondlookproject.org/tslp_radio.html

Also on this site you will find:

Statistics: Women who have had abortions cite the following reasons.

List of Booklets highlighting 15 basic facts about Roe v. Wade or its impact.

There are also transit ads and print posters at the site.

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Print

The PLOTS THICKEN
by Lynn Vincent, World Magazine
January 12, 2008

As Roe v. Wade turns 35, some in Hollywood are changing their minds about "choice." and it's showing up on the silver screen (and on television).

At a Feminists for Life event at UCLA, keynote speaker and actress Patricia Heaton asked the crowd of about 100 how many were pro-life and how many were pro-choice. A show of hands revealed a mixed group, but heavy on pro-life views. Heaton then asked a pro-life member of the audience to explain why she held that view. "I don't want to judge my parents because they did what was right for them," said one young woman.

"But I've grown up knowing that they aborted two of my siblings. I've grown up my whole life wondering if they were glad they kept me." Like that young woman, many of today's filmmakers grew up ravaged both by the divorce culture and the promises of the sexual revolution, Nicolosi said: "The pro-life themes in their films aren't political statements-they're cultural statements. Gen-X and Millennial filmmakers understand that an abortion most often means mom just didn't want to be inconvenienced, in the same way she just didn't want to stay married to dad."

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NRL News -

Photo of Unborn Baby's Hand Continues to Change Hearts and Lives
- By Liz Townsend

One moment can change your life. That's what Michael Clancy has discovered in the eight and a half years since he snapped the groundbreaking photo of an unborn baby clutching his doctor's hand during fetal surgery.

Clancy is now a fervent pro-lifer, spreading the message that unborn babies are precious human beings and deserve protection. He will be a featured speaker at the upcoming NRL Convention in Washington, D.C., July 3-5.

"It was the earliest human interaction ever recorded," Clancy told NRL News. "It proved that the child at 21 weeks in utero is a reactive human being."

When he took the photo in August 1999, Clancy was a freelance photographer filming the fetal surgery procedure for USA Today. Unborn baby Samuel Armas had been diagnosed with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, which occur when the spinal column fails to fuse properly, leaving a lesion (or opening) that is highly susceptible to infection. Dr. Joseph Bruner and his team at Vanderbilt University were operating to close the lesion.

After the incision was made in mother Julie Armas's abdomen, her uterus was removed and laid on her thighs. An opening was made in the uterus, and the surgeons were supposed to operate on Samuel without any part of his body emerging from inside.

However, as Clancy eloquently describes on his web site, www.michaelclancy.com, "out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing.

"The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, 'What happened?' 'The child reached out,' I said. 'Oh. They do that all the time,' she responded."

The amazing photograph of Samuel reaching out to his doctor appeared in USA Today and The Tennessean September 7, 1999. Although Clancy never sought notoriety, his work immediately caught the attention of the media and of people around the world.

Clancy was shocked, however, when fetal surgeon Joseph Bruner told USA Today in May 2000 that the photo did not show purposeful movement by Samuel. Bruner claimed that he saw the hand near the incision and he "reached over and picked it up. . The baby did not reach out. The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on."

But Clancy posted on his web site the series of frames that depict the moment of contact between Samuel and Dr. Bruner, and they show that Samuel is moving his own hand, grasping the doctor.

"The doctor questioned my credibility," Clancy told NRL News. "But Samuel punched out, and even damaged the surgical opening. That 21-week-old child reacted to the touch of his surgeon."

Clancy went on to testify at a congressional hearing in 2003 along with then-three-year-old Samuel, who was born 15 weeks after his surgery. During the hearing, as reported in National Review, Sen. Sam Brownback pointed to a large copy of Clancy's photo and asked Samuel who it was. "Baby Samuel," he answered. Brownback then asked what was happening. "They fixed my boo-boo," said Samuel.

Although he considers himself "shy," Clancy agreed to speak at the annual banquet of a local crisis pregnancy center about two and a half years ago. After he spoke, "they gave me the first standing ovation I ever had," Clancy recalled. "Afterwards, 20 to 30 people were lined up to speak with me, and told me I need to continue telling my story."

Clancy listened to their advice, and is now telling people about his first-hand witness to the humanity of the unborn. He also encourages people to download the photo from his web site and distribute it far and wide.

"It changes one heart at a time, that's what this picture does," he said. "This is God's work. This is the youngest interaction with a child inside the womb ever recorded. As long as it keeps being put where people can see it, it can save lives."

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Movies

In the movie Knocked Up, blond-and-beautiful television producer Alison is tapped for her on-air dream job, but while celebrating she gets pregnant during a one-night stand. She decides not only to keep the baby but also to build a relationship with the father.

In Bella, a soccer star's life is upended when he kills a young girl in a traffic accident. Realizing a new reverence for life, he convinces a friend to carry her unplanned pregnancy to term.

In Noelle, a priest whose job is to shut down ailing parishes encourages an unmarried woman to keep her baby, the fruit of a liaison with the arrogant heir of a wealthy family.

In the comedy Juno, the title character, a pregnant teenager, decides to carry to term and place her child for adoption-because a pro-life teen picketing the abortion clinic where Juno had gone to terminate her pregnancy points out that Juno's baby already has fingernails. The film is nominated for a Golden Globe Award. ( Editors note: .and won Academy Awards later in the year.) ..the movie is saying the character's choice is heroic, and audiences are responding by saying, yes, it is heroic. And if you're a 16-year-old girl watching the movie, it shows you a different 'choice.'

Even liberal critics are heaping kudos on the film. KPBS called Juno "a gift every film lover should want this holiday season." The Los Angeles Times dubbed it "poignant and unexpected." Even Rolling Stone praised the movie for taking "the girl view by letting teenage Juno . . . bypass a hasty abortion in favor of having the baby."

Editors note: Another unhappy movie, Waitress was released about the same time as Knocked Up. This movie was about a pie maker extraordinaire named Jenna who is in an abusive relationship with her husband, Earl..All during the pregnancy, Jenna journals letters addressed to her growing, unborn child, in which she honestly expresses her mixed feelings. And when her baby finally is born, this beautiful daughter changes everything. Jenna finds the courage to leave her abusive husband, end her destructive affair, and meaningfully pour her life into her daughter, like filling into a pie crust. (This was from an article by Dr. Marc Newman on One News Now June 13, 2007)

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