MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Interrupts Her Own Network’s Reporter to Scold Him for Using the Term ‘Pro-Life’
MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell interrupted her colleague, Senior Capitol Hill Correspondent Garrett Haake, over his use of the phrase “pro-life” in a report on recent comments by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), backing down only after Haake reiterated he was quoting the congresswoman’s own description of herself.
Mace’s name has been in headlines multiple times during the past week, both for her willingness to call out fellow Republicans like Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and George Santos (R-NY) and for her outspoken criticism of how the GOP-controlled House has approached the contentious issue of abortion.
In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Mace accused the GOP of having “learned nothing from the midterms” regarding the abortion bills they were pushing forward during their rocky and controversial first week with a majority in the House. The two measures included restrictions on federal funding for abortions and regulating how medical staff must treat infants who are born alive after an abortion.
Republicans should be supporting bills to protect access to birth control and provide help to victims of rape and incest, argued Mace, and she would be introducing her own legislation soon.
Mace struck a similar tone on Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC’s Mitchell, criticizing the House bills as failing to be “serious about balancing the rights of women and protecting the right to life,” describing herself as “pro-life” but supporting exceptions like rape, incest, and the life of the mother. Reducing unwanted pregnancies should include access to birth control and helping address rural areas of the country where women lacked access to OB-GYN services, said Mace.
The two bills did pass the House, and on Thursday, Mitchell discussed them with Haake.
The House had passed “two anti-abortion bills Wednesday, despite a majority of Americans saying abortion should be legal,” said Mitchell, bringing up her interview with Mace from the day before.
Even though Mace “spoke very passionately about why she thought it was the wrong tone for her caucus to be pursuing this abortion legislation and why it was unfair to women, especially women who have been subjected to rape or incest or other forms of sexual violence — and she ended up voting for the abortion measures,” said Mitchell. “Explain that.”
“She told reporters after the fact, that at the end of the day, she was, as she described herself, pro-life,” replied Haake. “And that she felt it was important to vote for these measures despite their potentially politically damaging — or politically unappealing appearance, if you will, for, uh, future voters –”
“Garrett, let me just interrupt,” Mitchell interjected, “and say that ‘pro-life’ is a term that they may — that an entire group wants to use. But that is not an accurate description.”
“I’m using it because that’s the term she used to describe herself, Andrea,” said Haake, who had, indeed, used the words “as she described herself, pro-life.”
“I understand, I understand,” said Mitchell after a few moments of awkward silence, before changing the subject. “Anyway. That was her explanation. Let’s talk about Congressman Santos now.”
This dispute over terminology has been interwoven in our national debate about abortion for years, with those who support legal restrictions on abortion generally preferring to refer to themselves as “pro-life” and calling their opponents “pro-abortion,” and those who oppose restrictions on abortion often saying they aren’t necessarily pro-abortion, but rather “pro-choice,” with abortion being an acceptable choice among the possibilities, and then calling their opponents “anti-choice” or “anti-women’s rights.”
From a writer’s perspective, one can see the challenges inherent in trying to select neutral terms to discuss this most divisive of topics. Writing out “those who oppose increasing restrictions on access to abortion,” “those who support the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” or something similar gets awkward and wordy — the very antithesis of clear, concise reporting — and the terms generally used by either side to describe their opponents are often slanted, if not deliberately inflammatory (“baby killer,” “Christian fundamentalist,” etc.).
Mitchell was quick on the trigger to lecture Haake, calling it “not an accurate description” for people to call themselves “pro-life,” seeming to miss Haake’s clear framing that he was reporting on Mace’s own words (and the same words that Mace had used in her interview with Mitchell herself just one day earlier).
But to get to the heart of Mitchell’s objection: was it really “not accurate” to describe Mace and those with her views as “pro-life”? Does that distort or misrepresent her views, the issues, or anything else about the abortion debate?
Last May, the AP Stylebook took the position that “anti-abortion” and “abortion-rights” were the better modifiers, and discouraged the use of “pro-life,” “pro-choice,” or “pro-abortion” “unless they are in quotes or proper names.” A review of the replies and quote tweets of this post shows that the AP’s view does not reflect the consensus among proponents of either side of the debate.
A humble suggestion: using the terminology used by each group to describe itself may actually be the more neutral framing, because it most precisely conveys the core argument presented by those sharing that viewpoint.
“Pro-life” activists emphasize that the unborn child is a human “life” who deserves legal protections. “Pro-choice” activists argue that the government should not be involved in women’s “choices” about their pregnancies.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn prior cases like Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood means the abortion issue is likely to retain a prominent presence in our political scene for the foreseeable future. It would be helpful to figure out how we are going to talk about it.
Watch above via MSNBC.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
