That Fox News panders to the homophobic religious right and pro-life extremism is underscored by what seems to be more frequent appearances by Tony Perkins, head of the "Family Research Council." This so-called "family values" organization has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its virulent anti-LGBT views, some of which have been articulated, without rebuttal, on Fox. Along with opposing marriage equality, the FRC is part of the movement that, in seeking to ban abortion, would put abortion back in the hands of back alley butchers whose practices would rival that of convicted murderer Dr. Gosnell. So there was some irony in the official Fox "news" interview with Perkins, this past week-end, about Gosnell whose comments received no push back from Fox's Shannon Bream who does appear to be America's "pro-life" newsroom's "pro-life" news correspondent

Shannon Bream is a graduate of the Christian conservative Liberty University so it's not surprising that she has become quite the affectionado of abortion related news items. Back in 2010, she validated anti-choice extremist Fr. Frank Pavone's point that young people are fired up about abortion. In January of 2012, she credulously reported the story of an "abortion survivor," a woman who uses this story to raise money for anti-choice groups. In March of 2012, she endorsed an anti-abortion movie. This past January, she provided warm affirmation for an anti-choice TV show. And this past weekend she provided a platform for Tony Perkins to promote his offensive and bogus view that Gosnell's clinic is equivalent to safe, legal abortion - a meme that Fox News has also been promoting.

Bream reported that Gosnell's jury would be returning on Monday. She advanced Charles Krauthammer's whine that not many people even know who Gosnell is. On cue, Perkins whined about how the "media had been ignoring this." He added that this case is difficult for those who are pro-choice because "it's not the best face to put on abortion, in fact it shows the true story of this rejection of the value of human life." This being Fox, the interviewer didn't mention that Gosnell's clinic was NOT representative of procedures done in American abortion clinics.

Bream thought "it was interesting" that US Senator Mike Lee's (R) resolution, calling for investigation and review of abortion clinics, was rejected by Democrats who wanted to introduce their own resolution that would cover all sub-standard and abusive health care. She alleged that "they clearly didn't want the word abortion associated with that resolution." This being Fox, Bream didn't mention that Democrats cited clinics such as the Oklahoma dentist who exposed patients to HIV and other examples of sub-standard and criminal care. Not mentioned was that part of Lee's resolution used bogus science to claim that fetuses feel pain after 20 weeks and as such "there is compelling government interest in protecting the lives of the unborn" from that point - in other words, banning abortion after 20 weeks. I find it interesting that Lee invoked the Declaration of Independence and slavery in promoting his bogus view that all Americans believe in protecting life from the moment of conception.

Perkins claimed that he supported good health care; but cited the lack of inspection of Gosnell's clinic to show "the reality" is that abortion clinics "slip through the cracks." He mentioned how, when he was a Louisiana state rep. he helped pass abortion clinic regulations. Perkins, who supports a movement that will pressure women into doing unsafe self-abortions or resorting to back alley butchers, said this issue is about women's health. He praised the House of Representatives efforts to "reach out" to state officials to ask if they're regulating clinics. (What about state's rights and overreaching government regulations?) Bream concluded with the hope that both sides of the abortion debate could agree that women should get safe, medical care.

Right Shannon, if Perkins gets his way and abortion is criminalized, women will really get safe, medical care because those who wish to criminalize abortion, like Perkins, care about women's health. Ya think!