The Patriot News, a newspaper based in central Pennsylvania, recently retracted an 1863 editorial that panned Abraham Lincoln’s iconic Gettysburg Address. (www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/14/patriot-news-retracts-1863-editorial-that-dismissed-lincoln-gettysburg-address.) The editorial had called Lincoln’s remarks “silly” and wrote
“For the credit of the nation, we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of.”
The paper says it “regrets the error” of not recognizing the historic nature of the speech for a hundred and fifty years. At the time, the paper leaned heavily toward the Democratic Party and was not about to heap praise upon Republican Abraham Lincoln with his re-election campaign around the corner.
However, this was not the last time the Patriot News editorial board allowed its political biases to cloud its judgment.
Last year, the board published a scathing editorial against Pennsylvania’s proposed Women’s Right to Know Act, a bipartisan bill which would have offered vital information to pregnant mothers prior to abortion. www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2012/02/simply_demeaning_invasive_ultr.html
The Patriot News editorial took particular issue with the provision mandating that ultrasound images must be displayed. They missed altogether that, currently, ultrasounds (including trans-vaginal ultrasounds) are commonly performed prior to surgical abortions as they aid the abortionist in determining the gestational age and stage of development of the unborn child. That information dictates the type of abortion technique.
The bill would have required the ultrasound image to be visible for the woman to view, if she chooses. In Pennsylvania, the abortionist is under no obligation to display the image, even upon request. The type of ultrasound required would have been left up to the determination of the abortionist.
Yet, according to the Patriot News editorial, “any woman in Pennsylvania wanting an abortion would be required to first get a trans-vaginal ultrasound.” That’s just false.
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The editorial labeled this informed consent legislation “invasive.” It omits the reality of what abortion does. Abortion itself is a highly invasive procedure that can cause physical and psychological harm to the mother and always violently ends the life of an unborn child. There is no mention of the excruciating pain felt by the unborn children when their tiny bodies are torn apart in abortion.
A year before that editorial was published, the Patriot News editorial board also scolded pro-life lawmakers in the Pennsylvania General Assembly for pursuing legislation to prevent atrocities like those committed by abortionist and now-convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell. The horrors of Gosnell’s Philadelphia abortion facility were not even enough to dissuade the Patriot News editorial board of its pro-abortion bias. www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/05/unfair_standards_gosnell_clini.html
Hopefully, it does not take 150 years for the Patriot News editorial board to realize their error in carrying water for an abortion industry that gives cover to the likes of Gosnell and fights to keep women in the dark about their pregnancies.
