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BBC Plans To Broadcast From Abortion Clinic Opposed By Pro-Life Groups

Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: 23/04/2012 14:27 Updated: 23/04/2012 14:39

Derbyshire

Plans by the BBC to broadcast a two hour radio special from a family planning clinic have been attacked by an anti-abortion group.

The programme, to be hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire, will be broadcast in May, according to a report by the Independent.

It is planned to include interviews with women considering or undergoing abortions, as well as the staff at the clinic including doctors and counsellors.

The clinic will be identified in the programme, the Independent said.

Derbyshire told the paper that the makers appreciated the "sensitivity" of the issue but believed it would provide an insight into a cultural "taboo".

Anti-abortion groups attacked the plans, and the timing of the show given an ongoing investigation by the Department of Health into claims abortions were offered on the basis of gender.

LIFE Spokesman Mark Bhagwandin said: “We have to wonder about the objectives behind this programme.

"The BBC position that it wants to do this show because abortion is taboo is most baffling, when we consider there are over 500 abortions performed every day."

The group said that the BBC was providing "free advertising" at a time when clinics are "reeling from recent allegations of improper conduct".

"We strongly urge the BBC not to proceed with this programme."

The BBC reportedly notes the sensitivity of the issue in its ethical guidelines, saying "very few are undecided" on the subject.

An abortion provider's website recently came under a sustained attack by a computer hacker, which resulted in a two years and eight month jail sentence for the 27-year-old man responsible.

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Plans by the BBC to broadcast a two hour radio special from a family planning clinic have been attacked by an anti-abortion group. The programme, to be hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbysh...
Plans by the BBC to broadcast a two hour radio special from a family planning clinic have been attacked by an anti-abortion group. The programme, to be hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbysh...
 
 
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Ros Power
22 Fans
08:12 AM on 04/24/2012
To be fair to the BBC, the last programme they did on abortion left the viewer in no doubt about the grim horror of abortion; the tragic and ghastly reality of abortion.

It was a programme of depressing bleakness and profound sadness, a shocking insight into the world of killing.

I do not believe it is truly possible to do a programme that deals with abortion on an intimate and immediate level that leaves one sympathetic to the practise. It's not possible.

Of course one can do a programme that deals with abortion in the abstract as a "choice", a kind of intellectual or philosophical debate, which is sympathetic to abortion, but not a programme that actually confronts the subject on a human level.

I believe that the horror and violence of abortion simply cannot be suppressed or filtered out in a programme that directly confronts the subject, and therefore any such programme is likely to win people over to the side of life, justice, light and truth.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
GingerlyColors
No will to change it, no right to criticize it
72 Fans
07:21 AM on 04/24/2012
I cannot see any problem with the BBC doing an unbiased report from the abortion clinic. In 1988 the BBC broke the abortion taboo when Eastender's Michelle Holloway (nee Fowler) became pregnant by 'Lofty' during her short marriage to him, the wedding itself being another story. Michelle who already had a daughter, Vicki, by 'Dirty' Den Watts was unhappy in her marriage and in an explosive episode of Eastenders, broadcast the evening before a Private Members Bill to reduce the time limit for abortions (the Alton Bill) was debated in the House of Commons, had the pregnancy terminated at 12 weeks. This incensed Lofty and led to the breakup of their marriage. I was impressed with the way that the BBC and Eastenders dealt with such a sensitive subject in an unbiased manner and therefore I feel that BBC 5 Radio should go ahead with the broadcast. I have stated my personal views about abortion on previous postings, believing that the time limit should be 13 weeks as it is in many other countries and that doctors, nurses and midwives should be allowed to opt out of carrying out the proceedure for religious or moral reasons - there are plenty of people who will do it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Galician
Keep calm and carry on
317 Fans
 
10:15 PM on 04/23/2012
We should change this tittle, it's not abortion vs pro-life and those who have had abortion aren't "pro-dead".
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Pro veritate
27 Fans
10:46 PM on 04/23/2012
No, of course they aren't. They are often frightened, disappointed and in need of support.

The culture of death is being perpetrated by others - those who run the abortion mills, those who seek to gain political advantage out of appeals to "free choice" and those who seek to silence those standing up for the hundreds of thousands being disposed of in this modern day carnage, while, incidentally, often being those who support those who have had or are considering abortion through the pro-Life support organisations.
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Ros Power
22 Fans
08:24 PM on 04/23/2012
This should be interesting. There are rumours that abortions are being offered "on demand" by some clinics in the UK - i.e. that there are some abortions that are being performed without meeting the strict requirements of the 1967 Abortion Act, which mandates that abortions must only be carried out on the grounds of medical necessity.

If this programme can expose criminal practises, then we may be a step closer to putting some people behind bars, and restoring the law which effectively protects unborn children.
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Andrew Casemore
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05:22 PM on 04/23/2012
On three occasions recently on the bbc I have heard the views of anti-abortion campaigners but not of women having abortions. This will help address the balance and as such keeps the bbc unbiased.
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mmartini54
Roll on 2015!
322 Fans
10:14 PM on 04/23/2012
F&F. Too many of our hard won rights and freedoms are being eroded without a squeak, it would seem. Bravo BBC (even though I can't stand their fatuous early morning news magazine)..
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Pro veritate
27 Fans
03:49 PM on 04/23/2012
Lets hope they choose one of the clinics breaking the law by using pre-signed doctors' certificates - and hold their feet to the fire to get them to explain why they did it, why they feel they are above the law, and how they are going to ensure that they follow the law in future.

Don't hold your breath, though... this is the Biased Broadcasting Company we are talking about here.
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Chiefy17242011
Cyber-Nat, Cyber-Democrat
417 Fans
04:14 PM on 04/23/2012
It's funny at what point the BBC starts becoming "Biased".

It's generally when they start to discuss issues that you don't agree with.

Now, to me, Biased is when an organisation has an active policy of promoting one point of view over another. Presumably, in the interests of Balance, they will just as equally be doing a session from a so-called "pro-life" advisory service ?

Bias is as bias does. Many of us here in the Parish of North Britain can point to what we consider to be active bias on behalf of the National Broadcaster. Care to lend us your support in the claim that the BBC is biased against Scottish Nationalism ?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
imokit
no longer has missing words!
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03:35 PM on 04/23/2012
If you're against abortion then surely hearing the views of women going through abortions will be enlightening. It will be an interesting documentary. I don't understand the objection to it.
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andrewcartright
84 Fans
04:05 PM on 04/23/2012
These people are not as against abortion as they claim, if they were they would spend their time forcing us to provide better sexual education to our children, preventing the unwanted pregnancies from existing, this way there wouldn't be a debate.
The pro-life groups want to force their opinion onto everyone else.
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libliz
11 Fans
09:28 PM on 04/23/2012
Thank you, andrewcartright! Agreed! The best abortion prevention is birth control, education, and non judgmental parents!
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Zurichilux
A liberal conservative controversialist
175 Fans
03:15 PM on 04/23/2012
The message im getting from the anti-abortion group is that they want to smother and silence anyone who has different views from them, especially the women who is directly affecting. That Victoria Derbyshire is a right slave driver at those live conference things. I watched the last one at Hackney and the way she goes on at the stage helpers is something else. She seems so softly spoken when you hear her on the radio.
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