Dr. Alveda King: Media Lies Belie Duty to Publish Truth about Abortion and Civil Rights

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., Sept. 30, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- "If media members print distortions, half-truths, or lies, they are duty bound to print corrections. Associated Press reporter Bob Lewis has printed a lie," said Dr. Alveda King, director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life. King, speaking in reference to a Washington Post excerpt where AP reported:

"In little-noted LG race, GOP's voluble and volatile Jackson debates wonky Dem doctor, Northam -- By Associated Press

"ARLINGTON, Va. -- Virginia's lieutenant governor candidates... clashed over health care, how to care for the dangerously mentally ill and women's access to reproductive health services..."

King explains: "In his story on the Virginia Lieutenant Governor candidates' debate, Mr. Lewis printed as fact a false claim [easily fact-checked as false] of one of the candidates. Mr. Lewis's article states that the 'personhood' bill considered by the Virginia legislature last year would have outlawed most forms of abortion in the state. In fact, the bill would have outlawed no abortions in the state."

A brief Google search would reveal that the personhood bill's summary declares that any rights granted to an unborn child are "subject only to the laws and Constitutions of Virginia and the United States, precedents of the United States Supreme Court, and provisions to the contrary in the statutes of the Commonwealth." So the bill is restricted by Roe v. Wade and every subsequent abortion decision by the Supreme Court. In other words, it would prohibit no abortions. Missouri has had almost identical language in its state code for years, language that has been upheld in court and which has barred zero abortions.

"Obviously Mr. Lewis and perhaps millions of Americans don't understand the concept of 'personhood' that upholds the constitutional mantra that all men [people] are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Now that the door is open on the discussion of unalienable [civil] rights, let's demand the basic and intrinsic civil right of life for all persons, born and preborn," Dr. King insists.

"On the wings of 50th anniversary of The Civil Rights Act enacted July 2, 1964 are the cries of the aborted babies. While the landmark legislation outlawed major forms of racial, ethnic, national, religious, minority, and female discrimination, people in the womb were left out."

"Mr. Lewis's misleading story must be corrected immediately -- anything less would mean that the Associated Press no longer values the truth," she concluded.