Even though I listen quite a bit to National Public Radio and watch a fair amount of fare on PBS, I share with most pro-lifers a sense that, on balance, neither is balanced on abortion. And with good reason. There have been some blatantly pro-abortion propaganda, almost to the point of embarrassment.

But it is also true that PBS a couple of years ago broadcast "Miracle Cell," which confirmed the amazing track record of success adult stem cells have had in restoring dead heart muscle and even the spinal cord damage of quadriplegia. And it is also true, to take just one other example, that in January 1997, the PBS documentary program MEDIA MATTERS devoted a major segment to an examination of how much of the news media had uncritically adopted as fact assertions about partial-birth abortions that were highly disputed from the beginning, and that were disproved when belatedly subjected to journalistic scrutiny.

Which brings us to November 8 and what PBS is advertising (under the heading, "Does Roe v. Wade Still Matter?") as THE LAST ABORTION CLINIC, a Frontline production that will air next Tuesday at 9 P.M. ET on PBS. (See www.pbs.org/frontline/clinic for more about the program.)

The devil is in the details, so unless a promo is blatantly one-sided it's difficult to know in advance the direction, let alone, the tone the program will adopt. But the mega-theme is straightforward. Pro-lifers are having such success (particularly in the South) that "Roe v. Wade is simply becoming irrelevant as states pass hundreds of abortion regulations across the United States." This is, unfortunately, an exaggeration, but there is more than a little truth in it.

One former abortion clinic director in Jackson, Mississippi, told Frontline, "[Pro-life groups] are going to chip away at Roe v. Wade until the law is on the books, but nobody will be able to access the service." Another abortion provider in the South chimed in, "The assault on abortion rights is very clever. It's very smart. And we are losing."

According to the information posted on the web page, last summer a Frontline documentary team "spent two months traveling across the South, where states have been particularly active in passing restrictions on abortion." Frontline producer Raney Aronson interviewed abortion providers and women having abortions, pro-life pregnancy counseling center staff, and "key legal strategists on both sides of the national debate." The results "document the success of the pro-life movement and the growing number of states restricting access to abortion."

The focus is Mississippi, dubbed the "Mississippi Miracle" by Americans United for Life. The state has passed a panoply of legislation in the last two years, everything  from A to Z. "We're sending a very clear message that we do want to protect the unborn," says Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck. "That's why we've passed the legislation that we have, and it's passed overwhelmingly. It's bipartisan support. It's Democrats and Republicans. ... It's the House of Representatives and the Senate. Mississippi is truly pro-life."

The pro-abortionists are, as you expect, panicky, while the pro-lifers are ecstatic. As you read about the state and consider what it has accomplished, our goal becomes duplicating the "Mississippi Miracle" in 49 other states.

As I say, the show could be a hatchet job, or it could be (not to coin a phrase) fair and balanced. Tuesday on PBS at 9PM Eastern Standard Time.

Please send any comments to me at dandrusko@nrlc.org.