Ask Mainstream Media to Stop "Talking Right" About Women's Healthcare Options



The "pro-life" lobby has successfully manipulated Congress and the Courts. Now, legislation and court cases around the country are threatening to overturn the right to choose, a very private health decision for women.

What's more disturbing is the fact that the mainstream media, who supposedly provide us with "fair and balanced" perspectives, have actually adopted the very language that far right strategists invented for talking about women's medical procedures.

The term "partial-birth abortion" is "not medical terminology" according to the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and many other leading legal and medical associations. Yet, the media continues to use this phrase and others as legitimate medical terms, making right-wing rhetoric seem like factual language in the minds of voters.

Next week, the United States Supreme Court will hear two important cases - both of which have been called out by all major American medical associations for using political rhetoric rather than medical language to describe abortion.

Reproductive Health Reality Check is asking mainstream media to refrain from using extremist rhetoric in their reporting of these cases and others. Join them in calling on news executives to ensure that journalists stop "talking right" about a woman's right to choose.


Dear News Executives:

As social conservatives have increased their influence in government, there has also been an increase in mainstream media's use of right-wing rhetoric, particularly regarding women's reproductive health procedures.

Next week, the United States Supreme Court will hear two important cases - both of which have been called out by all major American medical associations for using political rhetoric rather than medical language to describe abortion. One example of such language is the term, "partial-birth abortion." This was a phrase constructed by social conservatives, and according to the American Medical Association, has no basis in medical terminology. Yet it is used regularly by mainstream media as though it were a medical procedure.

Americans rely on the media to provide facts and label value judgments as such. The judgment of medical professionals should mean more to journalists than the ideology of people in politics.

[Your comment]

During this especially charged electoral season, it is imperative that mainstream media figure out how best to cut through the ideology and present Americans with the reality of court cases and legislation alike.

Please, during this final week before the election, report the issue involving the abortion ban with less ideology and more facts.


Sincerely,

[Your name]
[Address]
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