News outlets may have turned a blind eye to Planned Parenthood’s baby parts-selling saga, but primetime entertainment is hot on the case. At least two major fall finales in four days, in fact, drew their plotlines from the ongoing debacle. And any time art imitates life, the creators’ interpretation is everything.
As we reported, Thursday’s episode of Scandal on ABC had a shocking abortion scene so cloying as to be hardly believable. Case in point: the protagonist smiling through her abortion as Silent Night joyfully rang out in the background. Sighs of relief were heard all around when CBS’s The Good Wife presented a balanced look at the case, leaving viewers to discern the situation for themselves.
The episode featured a take on the lunch conversation between Center for Medical Progress citizen journalists (referred to as “Citizens for Ethical Medicine” in the show) and abortionist Deborah Nucatola. The show’s writers clearly did their homework, interpreting footage from multiple CMP videos, testimony from former StemExpress procurement agent Holly O’Donnell, and the legal arguments which tissue procurement organizations and members of the abortion industry have utilized to attack CMP.
The Good Wife has frequently tackled the abortion issue with little detectable bias and surprisingly thoughtful writing, doing due diligence to present both sides of the debate accurately. In 2013, the show featured a plot tackling the legal complications attending surrogacy and the treatment of preborn children as “genetic material” possessed by the parents. In a March episode, two characters debated the implications of Roe v. Wade during a hunting trip. The conversation was thought-provoking, well-researched, and intelligent. Most refreshingly, writers dispensed of the platitudes often assigned to Pro-Lifers portrayed in media.
Likewise, in Sunday’s episode, Restraint, characters did not fall decidedly on one side or another of the issue, but simply presented the scenario through a comparatively unfiltered lens. This level of artistic integrity, reliant on actual facts and not overt bias, is what renders this week’s episode of The Good Wife a victory for the Pro-Life position. The facts of the Planned Parenthood baby parts harvesting case are horrifying, and presenting them without an agenda is, by default, a boon to the Pro-Life cause. Facts are all we need in order to sway public opinion in our direction.