The liberal media were disheartened Monday after Planned Parenthood announced it would take a roughly $60 million hit to its funds just so they could carry out more abortions. The new Title X rule put out by the Trump administration bars clinics from referring patients for abortions. The CBS Evening News was so distraught that they kicked off their evening programming with the story.
Meanwhile, both ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News relegated the story to new briefs later in their programs.
During the opening tease of stories ahead, floundering anchor Norah O’Donnell boasted that the network “talk[ed] to both sides of the debate.” But in reality, they only allowed 13 seconds for the comments from March for Life president Jeanne Mancini. The full segment lasted two minutes and 41 seconds. That meant Mancini’s comments were only eight percent of the full segment (tease not included).
As she was introducing the story, O’Donnell chided how “the rule, pushed by religious conservatives, prohibits clinics from referring women for abortion.”
From the get-go, the entire story was delivered as if Planned Parenthood was a victim. “Calling the new Trump administration rule ‘unethical and dangerous’, Planned Parenthood said it had no choice but to withdraw from the federal program and turn down some $60 million a year, because it is unwilling to counsel patients if it could not refer them for abortions,” bemoaned legal correspondent Jan Crawford.
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Crawford even parroted Planned Parenthood-generated statistics as if they were cold hard facts. “It’s unclear how many women would be affected. Planned Parenthood said it has served about 40 percent of the Title X patients,” she declared. “And that some who would be eligible for free or discounted services under the program may have to seek care elsewhere.”
In addition to carrying water for Planned Parenthood like that, Crawford also shared two back-to-back soundbites from an interview the acting president and CEO of the organization, Alexis McGill Johnson, gave to the network:
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON: This attempt by the Trump administration to enforce the gag rule is another coordinated attack on reproductive healthcare.
CRAWFORD: Planned Parenthood acting president and CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson.
MCGILL JOHNSON: The impact will mean that people may choose to forego care. They may choose to delay their care until this is resolved. And that’s what’s unacceptable.
In wrapping up the report, Crawford warned viewers of Planned Parenthood’s financial situation. “They said some states or going to pick up this shortfall. They can tap into some of their emergency funds, contingency funds, and also through fund-raising. But Norah, they stress that is not a long-term solution,” she lamented.
There was also some touting of how the organization promised to “continue to fight this in court”. But it was difficult to understand how they could do that since Crawford admitted the rule was “almost identical to one issued by the Reagan administration and upheld in 1991 by the Supreme Court.”
LifeNews Note: Nicholas Fondacaro writes for Newsbusters, where this originally appeared.