National Public Radio: A Perfect Example of Media Bias

An international women’s organization denounced National Public Radio (NPR) today for its bias against nearly a half of a century of research published in esteemed medical journals and implicating abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.

Mrs. Karen Malec, president of the organization reported her experience with the “Diane Rehm Show” which is broadcast on NPR. She said:  

“On the morning of December 14, 2000, I called the “Diane Rehm Show” in Washington, D.C. Diane Rehm was interviewing Richard North Patterson, the author of a novel entitled, Protect and Defend, which concerns a teenager considering an abortion.

“After introducing myself, I asked Mr. Patterson if he had explored the impact of the abortion-breast cancer link on teenagers. I explained that in the only study specifically commissioned by the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Janet Daling and her colleagues from the prestigious Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle reported in 1994 that teens who have abortions more than double their risk of breast cancer. As I started to add the fact that Daling found that teens with a family history of the disease have an incalculably high risk of breast cancer, the personnel at NPR unexpectedly cut to station identification. I was in mid-sentence when this happened.

“When Diane Rehm returned, she said to me, ‘Are you still there?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ Then Mr. Patterson asserted that neither the American Medical Association (AMA) nor the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) acknowledge an abortion-breast cancer link. I was not given an opportunity to respond because Diane Rehm rudely hanged up on me at that point. I would have informed her listeners that, although it is true that the AMA and ACOG deny 44 years of published research and more than two dozen studies linking abortion with breast cancer, the United Kingdom's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists warned its abortion practitioners last year that the abortion-breast cancer research ‘could not be disregarded.’ I was allowed to say only a few short sentences for the entire show.

“I recognize that the abortion-breast cancer research is not a politically correct subject for discussion. However, women’s lives are at stake, and we have a right to know that 27 out of 35 peer reviewed studies have linked abortion with breast cancer. It hardly seems just for the taxpayer supported NPR to expect women to unknowingly risk their lives in order to achieve an elective result.

“A letter and an e-mail were sent to Diane Rehm objecting to her lack of professionalism, fairness and objectivity. I have not received a response from Diane Rehm. More importantly, the public was not educated about all of the facts concerning the abortion-breast cancer research because NPR found them too discomforting. Tragically, more women will die of abortion-induced breast cancer because NPR put its ideology ahead of women’s lives and cooperated in the abortion industry’s ongoing efforts to deceive the American public.”

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women’s organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.