British TV Show Hunter on BBC1 Portrays Pro-Life Advocates as Kidnappers
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 21, 2009
London, England (LifeNews.com) — Pro-life advocates in England are upset that a program on BBC1 portrays pro-life people as kidnappers. They say the program is another example of the kind of media bias that makes millions of pro-life advocates appear as extremists who would engage in strange or illegal acts.
Betty Gibson of the Northern Ireland chapter of the pro-life group SPUC, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, described the episode of the crime drama to LifeNews.com.
"These supposed pro-lifers were shown inscribing ‘sacred’ on one of their captives and also killing a hostage," she said.
Here is how the BBC describes the show in a summary guide on its web site: "When extremists kidnap two seven year-old boys from very different backgrounds and promise to release them only if their radical demands are met, the case falls into the hands of the intuitive and pragmatic Iain Barclay."
Gibson says the BBC would never depict abortion advocates in the same way.
"The BBC wouldn’t dare portray other groups in this way," she said.
John Smeaton, the national director of SPUC, is also upset about the program and its warped view of pro-life people.
"Of course, this is just a fictional situation, but pro-life people are the last to threaten children. Indeed, we defend them," he said.
Smeaton hopes viewers see the irony in a program that describers defenders of children as attackers.
He also says the program doesn’t square with the truth about abortion.
"There is a grim irony that one of the extremists in the program has spina bifida and seems to want revenge for the deaths of people with a similar disability through abortion," he explained. "The overwhelming majority of unborn babies discovered to have spina bifida in Britain are aborted."
Smeaton also says the show comes at a time when American pro-life advocates are dealing with a new pro-abortion president, Barack Obama.
"We mustn’t be distracted by a TV show from our defense of vulnerable human beings, but maybe it’s worth remarking on such an eccentric portrayal of pro-life people just when the most pro-abortion president in US history has been inaugurated," he said.
ACTION: Contact the BBC and express your disappointment about its warped and biased presentation of pro-life people. You can find various ways to contact the station at https://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback
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