This Thursday PBS NewsHourStephanie Sy, a correspondent, included three views from pro-abortion activists in her prerecorded piece. However, she found a way to ask the pro-life activist why she supported the Texas heartbeat law, which prohibits the majority of abortions.
Another misleading poll that claimed most Americans opposed banning abortion after unborn babies’ heartbeats can be detected was used by the broadcast.
Sy spent the first few minutes of the nine-minute segment listening to soundbites from abortion clinic workers complaining about women going to Texas to have abortions. Sy then spoke with Rebecca Parma, Texas Right to Life. She asked Sy how she could “justify” rape victims not getting abortions.
Sy brought up an interesting poll by Marist that showed that only 58 percent opposed to banning abortions after it is confirmed that there has been a heartbeat. National Review pointed out with great intelligence that the questions were not written in a way that would allow some people to object to the law. This could be because they desire a stricter law that covers the very beginning stages of pregnancy.
Without informing respondents of the details of current law, the question asks: “Do you support or oppose a law that allows abortions but only up to the time cardiac activity is detected about 6 to 8 weeks into pregnancy?”
Some people who wish abortion made illegal after the first 2 months may object to a proposed law. This could be because they believe it would make abortion less legal. The survey even claims that 59 percent of Republicans oppose a heartbeat law.
But, in the past, polling by Marist has repeatedly suggested that more than half of respondents would support banning abortion throughout an entire pregnancy except in exceptional cases.
PBS moved the reporter to the third pro-abortion activist. The PBS reporter made sure that viewers knew she did not regret her decision and believed her life was better for it.
ZORAIMA PELAEZ, PRO-ABORTION ACTIVIST: I was working full time, going to school part time in community college, and I learned that I was pregnant. I thought of my sisters immediately. My younger sister was my oldest sister. Also, many of my closest friends and family members were young mothers. And I saw how much they struggled to raise their children as single young mothers in safe, sustainable environments. And I knew that, you know, I wasn’t ready emotionally, financially to be a mom.
SY: She says she never regretted her decision. When Pelaez had her abortion, in Texas, the procedure was stigmatized, but accessible.
PELAEZ: I mean, I was past six weeks, definitely. I would not have been able to get abortion care in the state, and I don’t know if I would have been able to afford to go out of state.
At the close of the report, there was more back and forth:
SY: Advocates for women’s right to choose are holding their breath during what may be only a temporary reprieve. How do you think things would have been different for you if you had been unable to terminate your pregnancy?
PELAEZ: I know almost for a fact that I would not have become the first person in my family to graduate from college — that I would not be in law school right now. And I would probably have not have met my husband and on the verge of starting a family of my own on my — on my own terms.
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The following is a transcription:
PBS NewsHour
October 7, 2021
STEPHANIE SY: The law provides an exception only for women facing medical emergencies. There is no exception for women who are victims of rape or incest. There is no exemption. How do you justify that ethically, to force a woman to have the baby of her rapist?
REBECCA PARAMA, TEXAS RIGHT NOW: These are tragic, heartbreaking situations. At the end of the day, the question we ask at Texas Right to Life and what applies in this law is, it all comes down to: What is the preborn child? They are human beings from that moment of fertilization worthy of moral and legal protection, and that is regardless of the means of conception.
SY: The divide in beliefs on abortion in America is deep, but on how to enforce restrictions, much less so. New PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll shows one-third of Americans support a law that bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, but 74 percent of Americans oppose allowing private citizens to enforce such a law. Outrage over SB8 among women’s reproductive justice activists has spread across the country from Washington to San Francisco, and back in Austin, Texas where Zoraima Pelaez lives. She’s a reproductive rights advocate who had an abortion a decade ago.
ZORAIMA PELAEZ, PRO-ABORTION ACTIVIST: I was working full time, going to school part time in community college, and I learned that I was pregnant. I thought of my sisters immediately. My younger sister was my oldest sister. Many of my family members were also young mothers. And I saw how much they struggled to raise their children as single young mothers in safe, sustainable environments. And I knew that, you know, I wasn’t ready emotionally, financially to be a mom.
SY: She says she never regretted her decision. When Pelaez had her abortion, in Texas, the procedure was stigmatized, but accessible.
PELAEZ: I mean, I was past six weeks, definitely. I would not have been able to get abortion care in the state, and I don’t know if I would have been able to afford to go out of state.
SY: The new Texas law is effectively a ban on almost all abortions in the state, and that’s what the people behind it intended.
PARMA: We’re estimating that between 100 and 150 pre-born children and their mothers are being spared from abortion every day in Texas while this law is in effect.
SY: For now, the law is on hold, but the state of Texas is appealing. Whole Women’s Health also resumed today’s abortion services for women 18-weeks pregnant.
AMY HAGATROM MILLER, WHOLE WOMEN’S HEALTH: We opened our schedule to expand beyond that six-week limit in our Texas clinics already.
SY: Advocates for women’s right to choose are holding their breath during what may be only a temporary reprieve. How do you think things would have been different for you if you had been unable to terminate your pregnancy?
PELAEZ: I know almost for a fact that I would not have become the first person in my family to graduate from college — that I would not be in law school right now. And I would probably have not have met my husband and on the verge of starting a family of my own on my — on my own terms.
SY: Instead, for millions of Texas women of child bearing age, the terms will be set by how the next court, and likely, eventually the Supreme Court interprets SB8.
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