The media has no idea how to handle abortion after Roe
On Wednesday, CNN ran an article headlined “Trump says he wouldn’t sign federal abortion ban.” The headline at The Hill was nearly identical. USA Today’s headline included Trump complaining about the Arizona decision. The New York Times followed that same path. No matter what broadcast media, newspaper, or online outlet anyone visited on Wednesday, everyone got the same message: Donald Trump promised to not sign a federal ban on abortion and pushed back against the ban in Arizona. That’s a message that stands in stark contrast to Democratic warnings that Trump would support such a ban. Those headlines had to be reassuring for many potential Trump voters. They may even have generated doubt about the truthfulness of Democrats who have been warning about Trump. The media ran these stories knowing that Trump has lied tens of thousands of times—and despite knowing Trump has changed his position on abortion at least 15 times. They did so despite Trump’s repeated bragging about his role in bringing down Roe v. Wade. After all the lies and contradictions, the media continues to bat clean up for Trump, acting not just as stenographers, but editors, sifting his words to help him craft the message he wants. And there may be no issue on which the media’s assistance to Trump is greater than it is on abortion. These same outlets did not run headlines spotlighting other Trump statements from the same day. Such as the speech in which Trump repeatedly fumbled the name of the New York attorney general and repeatedly spewed a racist nickname while lodging an incoherent claim against President Joe Biden. “This is being run by Biden,” a slumping Trump said into the microphone. “They put a man into the state—Letitia Jones—peekaboo, I call her, peekaboo—peekaboo Jones. Peekaboo. They put a man into that one. To, uh, Letitia. They put a man into that one to run it and then he went into the DA’s office.” Maybe cleaning that up for a headline was just too much of a challenge. But on abortion, the media still seems set on treating Trump as if he is a trustworthy source. Despite his repeated bragging about destroying Roe, despite the impact Republican laws are having on ordinary pregnancy care, and despite how Republicans are persecuting women seeking medical care, the media can’t help but try to turn abortion into a “both sides” issue where Trump and Biden are equal spokesmen for partisan positions. There may be no better example of this false equivalency than Wednesday’s New York Times article that positions Trump and Biden as the “imperfect” leaders of two opposing camps. Not only does this article labor mightily to make it seem that Republicans and Democrats are somehow equivalent, but it opens with what the Times wants readers to believe is the most important issue: Biden’s past support for the 1977 Hyde Amendment, which prohibited the use of federal funds to pay for an abortion. The article mentions Hyde twice more to explain how Biden is a bad choice in trying to restore Roe. The article goes on to state that Trump and Biden are “both white men. They are both old. And neither has always said what their respective side of the debate wants to hear,” before finally acknowledging that “Biden’s shift on the Hyde Amendment is not as stark a reversal as Trump’s flip over the years from ‘pro-choice’ to ‘pro-life.’” Then, having admitted that the two positions are not equivalent, the Times goes right back to treating them as equivalent. The biggest chunk of the article, nine full paragraphs, is devoted to explaining why Biden is a bad choice to be the defender of abortion rights. That argument is centered on a statement Biden made at a campaign event in February. Here’s how the Times reported it versus what Biden actually said. See if you can spot the difference. New York Times: “I’m a practicing Catholic,” Biden said, according to a transcript provided by the White House. “I don’t want abortion on demand, but I thought Roe v. Wade had it right.” White House transcript: BIDEN: Trump is bragging about how he overturned Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court—a woman’s right to choose. I’m a practicing Catholic. I don’t want abortion on demand, but I thought Roe v. Wade had it right. The three trimesters, a doc should be part of it, and then a woman should have her choice early on. In an article supposedly about contrasting the two candidates, the Times simply left out the portions of Biden’s statement that showed just how stark this contrast is. Support for Roe isn’t some kind of recent flip-flop or shift in Biden’s position. It’s been his position since 1983, and he hasn’t wavered since. No matter what The New York Times says, Biden is the perfect champion for this cause. In the wake of state court decisions like the one in Arizona, Republicans may be claiming that they want a “common sense” solution, but they already had that solution. It was called Roe v. Wade. What the Times and every other media outlet seem
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On Wednesday, CNN ran an article headlined “Trump says he wouldn’t sign federal abortion ban.” The headline at The Hill was nearly identical. USA Today’s headline included Trump complaining about the Arizona decision. The New York Times followed that same path.
No matter what broadcast media, newspaper, or online outlet anyone visited on Wednesday, everyone got the same message: Donald Trump promised to not sign a federal ban on abortion and pushed back against the ban in Arizona.
That’s a message that stands in stark contrast to Democratic warnings that Trump would support such a ban. Those headlines had to be reassuring for many potential Trump voters. They may even have generated doubt about the truthfulness of Democrats who have been warning about Trump.
The media ran these stories knowing that Trump has lied tens of thousands of times—and despite knowing Trump has changed his position on abortion at least 15 times. They did so despite Trump’s repeated bragging about his role in bringing down Roe v. Wade. After all the lies and contradictions, the media continues to bat clean up for Trump, acting not just as stenographers, but editors, sifting his words to help him craft the message he wants.
And there may be no issue on which the media’s assistance to Trump is greater than it is on abortion.
These same outlets did not run headlines spotlighting other Trump statements from the same day. Such as the speech in which Trump repeatedly fumbled the name of the New York attorney general and repeatedly spewed a racist nickname while lodging an incoherent claim against President Joe Biden.
“This is being run by Biden,” a slumping Trump said into the microphone. “They put a man into the state—Letitia Jones—peekaboo, I call her, peekaboo—peekaboo Jones. Peekaboo. They put a man into that one. To, uh, Letitia. They put a man into that one to run it and then he went into the DA’s office.”
Maybe cleaning that up for a headline was just too much of a challenge.
But on abortion, the media still seems set on treating Trump as if he is a trustworthy source. Despite his repeated bragging about destroying Roe, despite the impact Republican laws are having on ordinary pregnancy care, and despite how Republicans are persecuting women seeking medical care, the media can’t help but try to turn abortion into a “both sides” issue where Trump and Biden are equal spokesmen for partisan positions.
There may be no better example of this false equivalency than Wednesday’s New York Times article that positions Trump and Biden as the “imperfect” leaders of two opposing camps. Not only does this article labor mightily to make it seem that Republicans and Democrats are somehow equivalent, but it opens with what the Times wants readers to believe is the most important issue: Biden’s past support for the 1977 Hyde Amendment, which prohibited the use of federal funds to pay for an abortion. The article mentions Hyde twice more to explain how Biden is a bad choice in trying to restore Roe.
The article goes on to state that Trump and Biden are “both white men. They are both old. And neither has always said what their respective side of the debate wants to hear,” before finally acknowledging that “Biden’s shift on the Hyde Amendment is not as stark a reversal as Trump’s flip over the years from ‘pro-choice’ to ‘pro-life.’”
Then, having admitted that the two positions are not equivalent, the Times goes right back to treating them as equivalent.
The biggest chunk of the article, nine full paragraphs, is devoted to explaining why Biden is a bad choice to be the defender of abortion rights. That argument is centered on a statement Biden made at a campaign event in February.
Here’s how the Times reported it versus what Biden actually said. See if you can spot the difference.
New York Times:
“I’m a practicing Catholic,” Biden said, according to a transcript provided by the White House. “I don’t want abortion on demand, but I thought Roe v. Wade had it right.”
White House transcript:
BIDEN: Trump is bragging about how he overturned Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court—a woman’s right to choose. I’m a practicing Catholic. I don’t want abortion on demand, but I thought Roe v. Wade had it right. The three trimesters, a doc should be part of it, and then a woman should have her choice early on.
In an article supposedly about contrasting the two candidates, the Times simply left out the portions of Biden’s statement that showed just how stark this contrast is.
Support for Roe isn’t some kind of recent flip-flop or shift in Biden’s position. It’s been his position since 1983, and he hasn’t wavered since. No matter what The New York Times says, Biden is the perfect champion for this cause.
In the wake of state court decisions like the one in Arizona, Republicans may be claiming that they want a “common sense” solution, but they already had that solution. It was called Roe v. Wade.
What the Times and every other media outlet seem to ignore in this debate is that Roe is not a leftist manifesto. It’s a moderate position Biden has held for 40 years.
When Biden tells women, “I will fight like hell to get your freedom back,” he’s promising to restore a law that he’s supported for decades. On the other hand, Trump has not only flipped his position on abortion at least 15 times, he’s fresh off a speech in which he attempted to wash his hands of the entire issue while admitting that his only concern is using this issue to win elections.
Roe was “common sense” middle ground. Republicans spent 50 years undermining it in favor of an extremist position that removes all protections and self-authority from women in favor of a religious concept that is utterly unsupported by science—or even Christian scripture.
After Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overturned Roe, Republicans didn’t react by seeking “common sense.” They treated it as a holiday from common sense, banning abortion at conception in at least 14 states. If Republicans don’t return from their convenient vacation and do something in Arizona, it will soon be 15.
The only reason that Trump is now on television trying to make his 16th flip and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake is out there railing against a ban she supported when she ran for governor two years ago is that Republicans are increasingly aware that this issue could cost them the 2024 election.
However, the media still can’t seem to get past the way they talked about this issue when Roe was still intact, when the compromise was safely staked out for everyone, and the arguments were about pushing that position one way or the other. By painting Trump and Biden as two equivalent champions of a divided issue, the Times and others are once again papering over the fact that Democrats are trying to ensure the rights of everyone, while Republicans aren’t simply trying to crush those rights, they are succeeding.
