Media Bias: Virginia Gov. Northam Racist Picture Rightly Condemned, Infanticide Statement Ignored

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is in the hot seat. Since last weekend, the embattled governor has been fielding calls for his resignation from both parties, but for entirely different reasons.
The controversy started last week when Gov. Northam went on a radio station to defend a pro-abortion bill that would allow abortion at any point during pregnancy. During that conversation, he essentially argued for infanticide for babies with special needs by denying them medical treatment after birth. His statement was shocking and pro-life groups called for his resignation.
He didn’t, and that wasn’t the end.
After the original story broke, internet sleuths looking into the governor’s history soon came across a photo in Northam’s medical school yearbook. In the photo is a man in blackface standing next to another man in a KKK white hooded outfit. Northam first confirmed that he was in the photo, then denied it and finally claims to have only dressed like Michael Jackson in a different situation. The reaction to these photos was swift. Gov. Northam soon had people from his own party calling for him to leave office.
There is no doubt that the statements Northam made and picture he’s in are both atrocious and deserve their condemnation. But why did the call for Gov. Northam’s resignation from his party and the media only occur after the racist yearbook photo and not for endorsing the murder of a preborn or born alive child?
One of the problems is that Democratic party is now far too entrenched with the radical elements of the pro-abortion movement. From the #shoutyourabortion movement to the Rise Up for Roe tour that disparaged Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh and America’s Founding Fathers, pro-abortion activists are determined to make abortion available on demand. This is no longer a movement that advocates for abortions being “safe, legal and rare” or for American exceptionalism, but instead celebrates the murder of preborn babies at any point during pregnancy.
By extension the media plays into this as well. Most outlets have covered Governor Northam’s obviously racist picture extensively, but few mentioned his statements on infanticide. Even in the media, abortion has become something that must be protected and not disparaged.
A similar situation occurred with David Daleiden, the investigative journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood’s alleged illegal activity surrounding the sale of preborn baby body parts to medical labs. As the full depravity of Planned Parenthood’s operation was exposed, the media’s focus almost immediately shifted from Planned Parenthood to Daleiden’s possible dubious activities. The horrors discovered were buried as quickly as possible by the media more interested in celebrating the organization’s former president Cecile Richards than exposing ethically questionable activity.
It is unlikely that this will change anytime soon.
Only time will tell whether Northam will step down, but it is unlikely that he will resign because of his comments on infanticide. The murder of a preborn or born alive child will continue to take second place to a decades old racist picture. Both are evil and both should be recognized, one should not take precedence over the other.
As a country, let’s be better.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brittany Raymer serves as a policy analyst at Focus on the Family, researching and writing about abortion, assisted suicide, bioethics and a variety of other issues involving the sanctity of human life and broader social issues. She regularly contributes articles to The Daily Citizen and has written op-eds published in The Christian Post and The Washington Examiner. Previously, Raymer worked at Samaritan’s Purse in several roles involving research, social media and web content management. While there, she also contributed research for congressional testimonies and assisted with the Ebola crisis response. Raymer earned a bachelor of arts in history at Seattle Pacific University and completed a master’s degree in history at Liberty University in Virginia. She lives in Colorado Springs with her beloved Yorkie-Poo, Pippa.
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