Friday, 28 November 2014

PUBLISHING LETTERS AGAINST ABORTION REQUIRES FEARLESSNESS (Letter to Dom Post, November 29)

Tom Scott makes me laugh. That’s his job but when he says ‘Newspapers should still be fearless’, I suspect the joke escapes him.
 

My letters to The Dominion Post about abortion are never published. My opinions on other topics are occasionally, but nothing mentioning the ‘a’ word. Thousands of New Zealanders object to our abortion law and it’s misinterpretation and many write letters, but only rarely do even the most innocuous make it into print.  What reason is there for their suppression, but fear?
 

Publishing letters against abortion requires not just professionalism but courage of editorial staff who’ve had abortions or love someone who has. Readers suffering PTSD following abortions would naturally react negatively. So would medical staff who do abortions. Same with school nurses who take teenagers for abortions and lie to their mothers. Pan the camera wider to include the pharmaceuticals and clinic operators who make billions worldwide from the trade. Add in the overwhelming evidence of links between abortion and breast cancer, for instance, which we never read about in The Dominion Post.
 
 
Tom Scott says ‘people need to know stuff’. Too right. What does it take for a newspaper to publish information or letters opposing abortion? Fearlessness.

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