A BBC documentary on abortion has been slammed by critics for its brazen pro-abortion bias.
Presented by Anne Robinson, Abortion On Trial claimed to feature “nine people with conflicting opinions”, yet only two had any pro-life leaning, despite it being broadcast on the publicly-funded BBC.
In addition a series of ‘experts’ were invited to join the discussion, none of whom were pro-life.
One-sided
Each of the women on the panel had had at least one abortion, as had Robinson herself.
Isabel Mohan, reviewing the programme for The Telegraph, said: “Ultimately, abortion wasn’t really ‘on trial’ here at all; this lot were far too immersed in their own experiences to be considered impartial judges or jurors.”
It has also been criticised for its explicit call for the law on abortion to be liberalised – specifically to permit women to abort their babies at home.
Bias
Among the experts were Diane Munday, who campaigned for abortion in the 1960s, and Lord Steel, the former MP who introduced the Bill which became the Abortion Act 1967. Both used the documentary to call for complete decriminalisation of abortion.
During the programme, pro-life views were repeatedly attacked, with Munday telling a pro-lifer that “you don’t convince people, you haven’t convinced people” that abortion is morally wrong, and vocally disagreed with a guest who felt abortion based on gender should be illegal.
In her voiceover, Robinson went so far as to query whether pro-life advocates “have a case” at all, and other guests were verbally abusive to the two pro-lifers.
No discussion
Chris Sugden, writing for Anglican Mainstream, said abortion was “celebrated and advocated” on the show.
He also said, “this was TV advocacy for further relaxation of the current law, with no real exposure or discussion of the issues at stake.
“Fairness and balance on which the BBC prides itself require an equal amount of time now be given to other sides of the argument”, adding: “There is a major public debate out there and major arguments which were ignored.”
‘Blatant attack’
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) hit out at the BBC’s pro-abortion bias in its choice of participants, revealing that at least three pro-life women who had been considered to take part were snubbed.
Margaret Cuthill, an abortion recovery counsellor of many years and one of those dropped, said the purpose of the programme was not to examine how the Abortion Act had affected women.
Instead, she said it was “a blatant attack to remove what protections are in law at the moment”.
‘Misleading’
SPUC’s Dr Anthony McCarthy described the programme as “the entire agenda of the abortion industry promoted through the mouths of badly-informed grieving post-abortive women”.
Right To Life’s Peter D Williams branded it “misleading and unhelpful”.
He said: “This was a badly biased BBC programme, which showed little to no concern for a fair-minded presentation of even the most basic issues of abortion”.