{"id":310818,"date":"2024-04-23T14:45:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T19:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=310818"},"modified":"2024-04-23T08:57:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T13:57:04","slug":"media-value-embryos-suits-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-value-embryos-suits-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"The media assigns value to frozen embryos only when it suits their agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tragedies continue to occur in the Middle East amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and one of the latest stories out of the warzone is the destruction<\/a> of Gaza’s largest fertility clinic. The destruction happened in December, but it’s only hitting the news four months later. Media outlets that usually dehumanize human embryos were quick to report the incident as mournful.<\/p>\n

It was reported<\/a> last week that “thousands” of frozen embryos were destroyed in an explosion when an Israeli shell struck the facility in December. The lids of liquid nitrogen tanks in the corner of the embryology unit were blown off, allowing the tanks that housed the human embryos to heat up. More than 4,000 human embryos are said to have been destroyed along with 1,000 specimens of sperm and eggs. The Guardian, The Telegraph, and the Colorado Spring Gazette<\/a> were among the other outlets that covered the story. Colorado has no restrictions<\/a> on abortion whatsoever, yet ran the Reuters story with the headline to the\u00a0 “exclusive” story as “‘5000 lives [were lost] in one shell.'”<\/p>\n

‘5,000 lives<\/em>‘<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bahaeldeen Ghalayini, 73, the obstetrician and gynecologist who opened the clinic in 1997, said, “We know deeply what these 5,000 lives, or potential lives, meant for the parents, either for the future or for the past.”<\/p>\n

He added, “All these lives were killed or taken away: 5,000 lives in one shell.” This is inaccurate as there were a reported 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm and egg specimens, which are not living human beings, as embryos are.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/a> reported that the embryos were “the last hope for hundreds of Palestinian couples…” The news outlet reported on the loss of embryos with compassion. It also shared with sympathy the story of one couple who lost embryos in the clinic’s destruction along with twins that were miscarried after the war began. However, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled just over a month ago that frozen embryos could be considered children under the state’s wrongful death of a minor act, Reuters reported<\/a> that the court’s “members are all elected Republicans or appointed by a Republican governor” and that the ruling had concerning “implications.” Reuters worried the ruling would inspire “activists,” writing:<\/p>\n

Getting so-called fetal personhood laws – recognizing fetuses as having the full legal rights of people – passed has long been a goal of anti-abortion activists. Alabama is one of several states that have passed provisions granting some measure of legal protection to fetuses.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, hypocritically, just weeks before Reuters was expressing concerns about the loss of human embryos in Gaza and the effect on the parents of those embryos, it voiced no concern<\/em> for the parents of human embryos in Alabama who had lost their frozen embryos in an ‘accident.’ Those parents sued the fertility clinic over the destruction of their embryos, and Reuters was worried that it would mean more<\/em> embryos wouldn’t be able to be destroyed.<\/p>\n