The media organization that was founded "on a mission to create a more informed public" recently ran a lengthy piece touting abortion. As AFN detailed, NPR Michigan reporter Kate Wells even took a microphone into an exam room at Northland Family Planning and recorded a woman actually having an abortion.
Though the 11-minute segment was meant to paint abortion in a positive light, Pro-Life Action League's Eric Scheidler does not think it had that effect.
"They really clearly intended this piece to be a puff piece about how wonderful abortion is and how much relief women feel, but in fact, Americans across the country were sort of shocked and dismayed at the ice-cold cruelty of listening to an abortion taking place," Scheidler submits.
He adds that Wells' piece also ignored the fact that women are scarred, both physically and emotionally, by abortion, and it overlooked the number of abortion workers who are leaving the industry. Also lacking from her report was the understanding that babies in the womb can feel pain as early as 12 weeks old.
Meanwhile, within the same month, NPR addressed the "secret toll" executions have on workers and those who witness the death of a convict.
In her 12-minute piece, Chiara Eisner details the execution by lethal injection of Corey Johnson in 2021, which did not take at first. The prisoner apparently said, "I feel like my mouth and my hands are on fire" – words that reportedly haunted a minister who was in attendance.
So NPR took the time to look into how the death of a convict who went on a killing spree in early 1992 negatively affected many people, "but not when it comes to innocent unborn children who are simply striving to thrive and flourish in their mothers' wombs and be born," Scheidler says.
"We're just highlighting this contradiction at NPR and calling on National Public Radio to really show both sides of the issues," the pro-lifer tells AFN.
Because NPR is funded in part by federal tax dollars, Scheidler reasons that the media outlet should tell both sides in its reporting and discontinue what LifeNews.com calls its "one-sided propaganda."
