Youth Pro-life Leaders Respond to MTV’s Abortion Episode

Opinion   |   Bryan Kemper and Kristan Hawkins   |   Dec 29, 2010   |   8:33PM   |   New York, NY

For weeks we have been hearing about the MTV special that would feature a teen couple contemplating abortion.  We were tempted to write about this show last week but decided to wait until the show aired.  We know that MTV is no bastion of decency or truth, but we did not think the show would actually go as far as it did.  We were wrong.

One very telling feature of the show was that it played without commercial interruption; this is not normal for MTV.  This show was obviously funded by some one or some organization with an agenda; a very deadly agenda.

To be honest it felt like this was almost scripted as the perfect pro-abortion propaganda film.  The couple was young, poor, and volatile; and they also already had one baby.  They talked about God and the father had a Jesus tattoo on one shoulder and was wearing a necklace that looked like a rosary. They could have made it an extreme case, but they kept it simple; I don’t think they could have cast a better couple for this show to make the audience sympathize with their decision to kill their child.

The teen mom goes to her best friend for advice and decides to call the abortion facility to ask a few questions.  We have a hard time believing this call was not pre-staged and the questions set up by the show.  First she asked about what kind of abortions were available and the phone operator for the abortion facility of course used the typical rhetoric like “pregnancy tissue expelled’ and “pregnancy removed”.  When she asked the clinic worker about what would happen to her she was told she might feel relieved or sad, but more towards relief.

Interestingly enough, the show discussed the fact that the abortion facility would not allow children in the waiting room; one can only imagine how bad it would be for business.  They know that if some of these women saw precious little children playing on the floor of the lobby, they would back out of their abortions.

After Markai’s abortion, one surprising conversation she had with her husband was the conflict they showed between the couple when he referred to the baby as “it”.  She got angry with him for using that term but still denied that the baby was actually a human being. They even talked about how the decision to abort their child was a “parenting” decision, like this was the same as send your kid to their room or grounding them.

What the show ultimately attempted to show was that of course this was a hard decision, but in the end it was something she had to decide on her own.  They showed some inner strife to try and keep the appearance of a non-biased portrayal.  They wanted us to feel sympathy and to come away saying that now matter what our opinion on the abortion debate is. Even after Markai has her abortion and is sitting with Dr. Drew in the studio, she still cannot say with certainty that she made the right decision. When asked about how she felt about the abortion, Markai responded that she is still confused and sad. Dr. Drew, being the ultimate abortion expert, just brushed her emotions off as something everyone goes through. Where is the compassion? Where is the counseling she needs?

The show ended with Dr. Drew interviewing three girls who have had abortions, all of whom were supposedly happy with their decision.  He stacked the panel to make I seem that no one regrets the decision and even said that most girls within two years feel like they made the right decision. There was even talk about how the decision to abort a child was a “parenting” decision, like this was the same as send your kid to their room or grounding them.

As a leader in the youth pro-life movement I was horrified as I watched this show, knowing the damage it will do to young women.  This show trivialized the killing of innocent children and tried to make teens think this is a normal and healthy option for them.

After watching the show, Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life of America commented, “We just witnessed the planned, televised murder of an innocent human person.  It was a blatant assault on the youth of America in an attempt to push them towards abortion.”

I whole-heartedly agree with Kristan, I believe this show was nothing but pro-abortion propaganda. The show was designed to de-stigmatize abortion, to make it seem like nothing more than going to the dentist to have a bad tooth removed. We can only hope and pray that the small amount of struggle and grief they did show will overshadow the lies they portrayed to us.

The good news is that we know we are winning the battle to show the truth, that is why pro-abortion organization are desperate to get this kind of destructive show to America’s youth.

There are some amazing youth pro-life organizations who are on the front lines fighting to bring the truth to young people in America and around the world. Stand True, Students for Life of America, Crossroads, Rock for Life, Survivors, Generations for Life, Youth Defence and so many more are committed educating, equipping and activating young people.

In just a few weeks many of us will come together to host the largest and most effective student pro-life conferences in the world, in Washington D.C.  The Students for Life of America National Conference will help build strong pro-life warriors as we build a culture of life and ultimately bring an end to preborn genocide in America and around the world.

The founder of MTV once claimed that he did not influence the youth of America, but that he owned them.  There is a strong; growing movement of young people who stand on the truth and MTV will not succeed as long as we have a breath left in us.  Many years ago I wrote a youth pro-life pledge and I feel the final line of the pledge is an appropriate message for us to send to MTV:

You will not silence our message,
You will not mock our God,
You will stop killing our generation!

LifeNews.com Note: Bryan Kemper is the president of Stand True Ministries, a pro-life group that reaches out to youth and young adults. He is the author of a new book, Social Justice Begins In The Womb. Kristan Hawkins is the president of Students for Life of America.