ABC News-the miracle baby is a WIN for the "pro-life" side [View All]

[underpants]

I flipped over there to see if they were going to have a report on Woodruff's recovery and this was the lead story. Never saw this one coming.
http://newsbusters.org/node/10954

ABC Recognizes Survival of 21-Week Baby 'May Change What People Think About Life'

ABC's World News led Tuesday night with an unusual spin, one favorable to conservatives: the survival of a baby born in Florida last October just 21 weeks and six days after conception, the least time ever spent in the womb by an infant who has survived (AP article). Anchor Charles Gibson teased: “A tiny miracle that raises big questions in the debate over abortion." Setting up his top story, Gibson acknowledged the impact on the abortion debate: “The fact that she has survived and grown to more than four pounds, and is about to go home, is a miracle, yes, but a miracle that may have an effect on the debate over abortion. And it may change what people think about life.”

Reporter Dan Harris soon outlined how “anti-abortion activists” are using her: "For her parents, Amillia's story is a personal and emotional one. But for anti-abortion activists, Amillia is a national poster child. Today they promised to hold her up as an example in future debates over restricting abortion.” Leading into a soundbite from Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Harris noted that “only one state, North Carolina, explicitly prohibits aborting a fetus as the point at which Amillia was born.” Harris, however, countered Perkins by stressing how “bio-ethicists we spoke with today argue that Amillia is a miracle baby, and that it's unwise to change public policy based on miracles." (Transcript follows)




Professor Arthur Caplan, University of Pennsylvania: "We don't have new treatments. There isn't anything to be done differently to try and save 21-week-old premature infants. And so, I think it would be wrong to just say, because this one made it, we ought to treat everyone when we don't have any new treatments."