I receive a newsletter via email daily from the NRLC and I must admit, this one surprised me. I watch Law & Order some times. Used to watch it a lot before becoming somewhat bored with it. But, whenever any Pro-Life issue was addressed it usually made us Pro-Lifer's out to be the bad guys. But, I'll allow you to read the email yourself, since Dave can explain things so much better than I.


By Dave Andrusko

Last week NRLC received a letter about "Dignity," tonight's episode. I didn't happen to see the letter until recently. But I probably would not have bothered to open it had it come to me first, based on the program's two previous treatments of the abortion issue.

But then there is the last line of the letter from the executive producer: "At the very
least, it ["Dignity"] will confound those who thought they had us pegged." As I watched an advanced copy of the program today, I realized that truer words have rarely been spoken.

Since I want you to watch I will only briefly discuss the contents.

The show obviously is pegged to the killing last summer of abortionist George Tiller. As NRLC wrote at the time, we unequivocally denounced this act of violence as both morally wrong and contrary to every principle we espouse. In this space I wrote, "When some deranged person talks him- or herself into believing
that an act of violence is justifiable, it not only plays into the hands of abortion
advocates, it also does untold damage to the cause of life to which so many of us have dedicated our lives."

But what makes the Law & Order episode so riveting is that virtually every pro-life
argument you knew you would never hear on a network program is a part of "Dignity." More important, it occurred to me as I listened in utter astonishment that each of these observations could have presented in a way that was artificial, forced, or (as so often is the case with network portraits of pro-lifers) something that you would expect from an idiot. None of that was the case. These were real flesh-and-blood people, not caricatures.

Just one other thought, something else "ripped from the headlines," in this case the
undeniable pro-life bent of a number of recent opinion polls. It is presented as a given that the country is becoming pro-life!

Be sure to take the time to watch Law & Order tonight. You will be as pleased as you are surprised.

Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.