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Tonight is MTV's "No Easy
Decision" Broadcast Part Three of Three By Dave Andrusko Last week we wrote about what was being described as MTV's "stand-alone special about teen abortion." It will air tonight at 11:30. There is no cageyness: this is about an unmarried couple's decision to abort the second child they conceived together. So why would we--you and/or I--watch this? For several reasons. I have only seen a couple of episodes of the network's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom series. From others who watch them regularly, I've learned that no young woman has aborted. So this is "new ground," the "new ground" pro-abortionists are so eager to see represented on television. They fervently believe the more abortions are talked about and completed, the more "normalized" taking the life of an innocent unborn child will become. I don't think that's necessarily true at all, and have never thought so. I will watch it because of some comments I read this morning on an "exclusive" preview of the show: "Why MTV's special report on abortion is worth watching." As you would expect, a reviewer who lauds the program for taking place is not going to tell us the couple--Markai and James (and the young woman's mother)----are taking the abortion "casually." Just the opposite. "We witness everything from Markai's tearful (and informative for viewers) call to the clinic to ask about abortion methods, to a post-procedure argument with James during which he refers to the unborn fetus as a 'thing.' As she snaps, 'You will never feel my pain,' it's clear that we won't, either, unless we've been through a similar situation. But this special gets as close as possible." Every viewer will judge for him- or herself on that score. Two other reasons to watch. First, viewers know this couple's back story because they were featured on the second season of 16 and Pregnant. Their innocent unborn child--we're told the decision to abort came when the baby was six-weeks old--came into their lives less than a year after the birth of their first child, Za'karia. To the rote explanation--"No one is pro-abortion"--Markai adds, "but you have to do what's right." Second, according to the preview, after the documentary there will be in-studio discussions--"first with Markai and James, then with two other young women who chose abortion as teenagers." If we are going to be better advocates when women have crisis pregnancies--and better shoulders to cry on if they make a tragically wrong decision--we need to hear them in their own voices. |