{"id":44777,"date":"2014-01-06T17:01:39","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T22:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=44777"},"modified":"2014-01-08T10:08:32","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T15:08:32","slug":"downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/","title":{"rendered":"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"DowntonAbbey\"<\/p>\n

Every now and again, popular television gets something right. And when it does, it deserves applause.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing of the latest episode of Downton Abbey, which saw Lady Edith Crawley (played by Laura Carmichael) walk straightway out of a back-alley abortion clinic and choose life for her unborn child.<\/p>\n

For those of you who are not Downton devotees (don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m actually one of you), let me try to set the stage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Edith is the middle daughter of Lord and Lady Grantham of Downton Abbey. Seemingly unlucky in life and in love, Edith, who authors a newspaper column, has fallen for her editor, Michael Gregson (played by Charles Edwards). A night together leads to an unplanned pregnancy, and Edith is faced not only with the prospect of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy (in the 1920s, no less) but also with the reality of Michael\u2019s disappearance. She decides to have an abortion.<\/p>\n

Sitting in a back-alley abortion facility with her Aunt Rosamund (played by Samantha Bond), Edith agonizes over her choice, torn between the prospect of being an \u201coutcast\u201d and the knowledge that she would be \u201ckilling the wanted child\u201d of a man she loves. After hearing another woman sobbing in the clinic, Edith decides she can\u2019t go through with killing her unborn child, and she and her aunt leave.<\/p>\n

Of course, the story doesn\u2019t end there. Just as in real life, the story never ends when an unborn baby is saved \u2013 that\u2019s when a new story begins. And for Edith, as Downton Abbey fans will attest, the new story comes with a slew of new choices, including Edith\u2019s struggle over whether to give her newborn baby up for adoption.<\/p>\n

But the most important choice has already been made: Edith chose life for her baby.<\/p>\n

Of course, we all know Downton Abbey is fiction, so why does this really matter?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Last year, Season 3 of Downton Abbey drew 24 million viewers in the United States alone, \u201cmaking it the most-watched drama in PBS history<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a huge platform from which to deliver a message \u2013 any message. Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes could have gone the route of portraying life as cheap and abortion as inconsequential. Instead, he showed that abortion is not the answer and that life is, indeed, a beautiful choice.<\/p>\n

The message of life is always a message worth celebrating. Hats off to Mr. Fellowes for using his platform to spread this message to millions of people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every now and again, popular television gets something right. And when it does, it deserves applause. I\u2019m writing of the latest episode of Downton Abbey, which saw Lady Edith Crawley (played by Laura Carmichael) walk straightway out of a back-alley abortion clinic and choose life for her unborn child. For those of you who are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":44878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDownton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler) - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler) - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every now and again, popular television gets something right. And when it does, it deserves applause. I\u2019m writing of the latest episode of Downton Abbey, which saw Lady Edith Crawley (played by Laura Carmichael) walk straightway out of a back-alley abortion clinic and choose life for her unborn child. For those of you who are […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-06T22:01:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-08T15:08:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/DowntonAbbey.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"625\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"501\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gina L. Diorio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gina L. Diorio\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gina L. Diorio\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/45c1b3601de13664a6eaa162b2e16098\"},\"headline\":\"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler)\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-06T22:01:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-08T15:08:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\"},\"wordCount\":423,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\",\"name\":\"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler) - Live Action News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-06T22:01:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-08T15:08:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/45c1b3601de13664a6eaa162b2e16098\",\"name\":\"Gina L. Diorio\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4efc53a73a6186fcedfda054ed0f55?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4efc53a73a6186fcedfda054ed0f55?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gina L. Diorio\"},\"description\":\"Gina Diorio's professional experience includes high school English and history teacher, founder and principal of a writing services firm, and campaign manager and district director for a Member of Congress. Currently, she works in public relations in the Greater Philadelphia area. She is a proud New Jersey native and holds a B.A in history and an M.A. in Public Policy.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/ginadiorio\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler) - Live Action News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler) - Live Action News","og_description":"Every now and again, popular television gets something right. And when it does, it deserves applause. I\u2019m writing of the latest episode of Downton Abbey, which saw Lady Edith Crawley (played by Laura Carmichael) walk straightway out of a back-alley abortion clinic and choose life for her unborn child. For those of you who are […]","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2014-01-06T22:01:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-01-08T15:08:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":625,"height":501,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/DowntonAbbey.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gina L. Diorio","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gina L. Diorio","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/"},"author":{"name":"Gina L. Diorio","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/45c1b3601de13664a6eaa162b2e16098"},"headline":"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler)","datePublished":"2014-01-06T22:01:39+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-08T15:08:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/"},"wordCount":423,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Issues"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/","name":"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler) - Live Action News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-06T22:01:39+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-08T15:08:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/downton-abbey-story-affirms-pro-life-values-spoiler\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Downton Abbey story affirms pro-life values (spoiler)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/45c1b3601de13664a6eaa162b2e16098","name":"Gina L. Diorio","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4efc53a73a6186fcedfda054ed0f55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c4efc53a73a6186fcedfda054ed0f55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gina L. Diorio"},"description":"Gina Diorio's professional experience includes high school English and history teacher, founder and principal of a writing services firm, and campaign manager and district director for a Member of Congress. Currently, she works in public relations in the Greater Philadelphia area. She is a proud New Jersey native and holds a B.A in history and an M.A. in Public Policy.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/ginadiorio\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}