Given that the GOP Christian right wing is militantly anti-abortion, it's not surprising that Fox News is a propaganda arm for the anti-abortion lobby. And we're not just talking Fox "opinion" shows which, in the delusional world of Fox are exempt from Fox's "fair & balanced" descriptor, but Fox "news" programs which also provide validation for anti-choice views such as opposition to the HHS birth control mandate. Last year, alleged Fox News host Shannon Bream provided warm affirmation for an "abortion survivor." Last week-end, she provided an uncritical promotion of a new reality series. No, not real housewives or wild redneck women - but an internet series about Christian women who feel shame about their sinful abortions. But as a "fair & balanced" news network, Fox would never promote a right wing agenda. Ya think!

Former beauty queen and graduate of Liberty University, Shannon Bream, reported on a new Christian reality, "Surviving the Secret," an internet show on a Christian internet network (Knock TV) that follows several women after they have had an abortion. The chyron described the show as women "recovering from an abortion." She then played video done by Fox religion correspondent Lauren Green.

The clip began with a woman talking about how those who have had an abortion are ashamed that "their secret will come out." Green explains that the secret will come out in a bible study group consisting of women who are "trying to recover from the guilt they feel after having an abortion." A woman in the group is shown saying "there's no condemnation in Christ." Greene notes that the message here is that "Christian redemption" will heal "emotional wounds." She is then shown, individually, talking about how women should know that if they make the choice to have an abortion, "there's a price to be paid and it's huge."

The show's creator, Cecil Stokes, said that he did it when he realized all those women who are "living with a secret" and "feel alone." After Green cited statistics about abortion, she reported that the women in this show hope to bring "a different kind of understanding to a very difficult issue." One of Green's interviewees said "it's not something you wear as a badge." (Scarlet letter?) Another woman who, after her abortion, decided not to have children said that she made that decision because she felt she "didn't deserve happiness or to have any more children and all that changed when I went through the first bible study."

So the Fox lesson here is that abortion is a deeply sinful and shame inducing thing. Of course the reality is that scientific evidence doesn't support post-abortion depression. But you didn't hear that on this "news" piece that was just more of Fox's validation for those who want to take us back to the days of back alley abortions. If these Christian women feel shame, it just might be because of their indoctrination by a patriarchal and punitive type of Christianity that's based on fear and guilt. A bible study group is probably not the best place to deal with these emotions. Professional counseling would be a much better option.

Once again, Fox News promotes a right wing message and in so doing promotes an otherwise obscure internet "reality show" praised by anti-choice zealot and Fox fave Lila Rose. Not all women regret their abortions. But you won't hear that on the "fair & balanced" Fox News.