CNN Rejects Catholic Group's Obama-Themed Pro-Life Ad

February 20, 2009 RSS Feed Print

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

The conservative Catholic group Fidelis says CNN has rejected its television ad that uses Barack Obama's life story to make the pro-life case. Fidelis group submitted the ad—which has run on Black Entertainment Television in Chicago and that Fidelis says has garnered 1.6 million online viewers, landing it in YouTube's top 10 most viewed category on Inauguration Day—to run on CNN next week during Obama's big address to Congress.

Watch the ad here:

From Fidelis:

CNN claims the ad "suggests a position in favor of the advocacy message, without having permission of the persons involved."

Burch reacted to CNN's claims: "This is absurd. Our ad does not suggest that Barack Obama is pro-life. Instead, we make the obvious point that Obama's mother gave birth to a child that ultimately became the 1st African American President. This is a fact, not an opinion."

The standard CNN used to reject the ad did not prevent the network from airing a 2005 ad sponsored by the pro-abortion group NARAL that suggested that then Judge John Roberts supported violence against abortion clinics....

"CNN doesn't accept advocacy ads that portray personal decisions in a manner that suggests a position in favor of the advocacy message, without having permission of the persons involved. CNN is not accepting this particular advocacy ad because it deals with a highly personal and private matter and does so without the consent of those involved."

"There is nothing objectionable in this positive, life-affirming advertisement. We never mention the word abortion. We show an ultrasound of a baby. And we congratulate Barack Obama on becoming the first African-American President. And we simply ask people to imagine the potential of each human life," said Burch.

Tags:
abortion,
CNN,
religion

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Also, being the private person I am, I wouldn't want to see my life cited in an ad for the good or the bad. Michelle Obama seems to be the same way as she didn't like the idea of the new dolls that came out resembling her daughters.

I think this discussion is about the ad and not our particular views on abortion.

Agnostic_2 of NY 2:29AM February 24, 2009

Also, being the private person I am, I wouldn't want to see my life cited in an ad for the good or the bad. Michelle Obama seems to be the same way as she didn't like the idea of the new dolls that came out resembling her daughters.

I think this discussion is about the ad and not our particular views on abortion.

Agnostic of NY 2:29AM February 24, 2009

Also, being the private person I am, I wouldn't want to see my life cited in an ad for the good or the bad. Michelle Obama seems to be the same way as she didn't like the idea of the new dolls that came out resembling her daughters.

I think this discussion is about the ad and not our particular views on abortion.

Agnostic of NY 2:28AM February 24, 2009

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Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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