Walter Cronkite's Push for Abortion and Homosexuality, 1965-2003

LifeSiteNews ^ | 7/21/09 | Patrick B. Craine

[wagglebee]

July 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Famed CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite has been lauded in the media since his death on Friday, at the age of 92, with tributes paid not only from secular media, but even Vatican Radio and other Christian news sources. 

But while remembered by many as "the most trusted man in America," many of Cronkite's more radical, but lesser known views, would be considered repugnant even to many of his greatest fans.

For instance, up until his death Cronkite served as honorary chair of the Interfaith Alliance, an organization dedicated to countering the influence of conservative Christianity on federal politics.  In 2007, the Alliance initiated a campaign to force Christianity out of the public sphere by promoting policies that would silence the Christian voice.  They recommended that churches be prohibited from endorsing political candidates, that research and health policies should not be based on "religious doctrine," and that faith-based schools should be banned, among other things.

Part and parcel with Cronkite's campaign against religion in public life was his outspoken vocal support of abortion and same-sex marriage.  In 2003-2004, for example, Cronkite wrote a column for King Features Syndicate, which was published in about 180 newspapers throughout the U.S.  In the column he discussed 'Marriage and Abortion', expressing disregard for "conservatives" who oppose abortion and same-sex "marriage."

"It certainly is the right of the anti-abortionists and those who oppose gay marriages to defend, express and even propagandize their beliefs," he says, "but is it their right to impose their definition of morality on those who hold opposing views? The answer is a resounding 'no'. ... This columnist believes that among conservatives and liberals alike there is a majority who would put the sanctity of individual rights even above the sanctity with which some would endow the banning of abortion and gay marriage."

Cronkite served as anchor of CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, a time of great change in America.  His tenure included the JFK assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam War, and he helped to shape American sentiment on these landmark events.  But his time as anchor also included the most devastating of landmarks in American history, as many American pro-life activists would see it - the legalization of abortion.

And, no less than with the moon landing or the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite shaped American sentiment on abortion.  Despite such overwhelming praise from sources Christian and secular, Cronkite's views on abortion and his role in its legalization ought not to be forgotten.

In 1965, before abortion was made legal in the U.S., Cronkite made CBS the first network in America to feature a documentary on abortion when he hosted the hour-long episode of CBS Reports entitled 'Abortion and the Law', which can be found on the CBS News website.

The documentary claimed to tackle the controversial issue impartially, dealing with the "legal, moral and medical aspects," but in fact, it amounts to an hour-long argument in favour of legal abortion.  Amidst a barrage of experts spouting the need for abortion and women giving horrifying testimonies about illegal abortions, Cronkite pays mere lip service to the pro-life viewpoint.

In his introduction, Cronkite states:  "As long as the abortion laws remain unchanged, abortion will continue to be a critical problem, and for those involved, they call for desperate decisions that result in dangerous medical complications. 

"Women have abortions for all kinds of reasons.  The unmarried girl abandoned by the father of the unborn child, the girl who'd rather not have a child than marry the baby's father, but 80% of the women who have criminal abortions are married.  They're women who feel they cannot afford another child, or fear they are too old to bear another baby, or that the baby may be born abnormal."

At one point Cronkite introduces a doctor who is supposed to speak on the emotional effects of abortion, but while mentioning the trauma of losing one's child, the doctor emphasizes the emotional impact of having to obtain an illegal abortion in secret.

Towards the end the documentary discusses the status of abortion in other countries, including in Europe, Asia, and South America, and ending in Chile, with Cronkite describing the horror of illegal abortion there. According to Cronkite supposedly 1 in 4 Chilean women had had an abortion, while the documentary shows (in decorous 1965 fashion) the death of a woman from an illegal abortion.

"What happens in Chile is no different than what happens to thousands of women in the United States," Cronkite warns, "who are hospitalized each year because of post-abortion complications.

"While men of science, and law, and theology talk about medicine, and legality, and morals," he says, "hundreds of thousands of pregnant women, unmindful of what may happen to them, secretly and fearfully seek abortions. For them, there is a wide gulf between what the law commands and what they feel they must do."

Cronkite concludes, "We believe the moral, medical, social, and economic aspects of abortion should be opened to public discussion, for if changes in the law are advisable, this can only be done by the American people themselves.  This is Walter Cronkite for CBS Reports.  Good night."

[gidget7]

I never realized a lot of this. Of course I knew he was a liberal, but did not no he was so rabid about it.

[newfreep]

‘ol Walter & Michael Jackson must be basking in some warmth these days...

[Dutchboy88]

Our challenge is to persuade people that your view of morality arising from somewhere beyond opinion, is a legitimate view.

Even here at FR, the vast majority support Hollywood by attending the movies, thus giving tacit ascent to the far left’s opinions setting the morals for the country. We don’t really do what we advocate.

Why would groups like the Vatican praise this darkened pagan for his work? He hated everything they wanted to promote. Hmmmmm.

[Albion Wilde]

Post 5: Commie scumbag traitor.... 5.5 million Asian men, women, and children... were slaughtered because of this bastard and his lies.

Post 7: With every passing day, I learn to loathe Cronkite more and more.

Post 8: He did more than help the North Vietnamese, he handed them victory.

Post 10: he bears huge responsibility for the "blame America first" worldview that pervades society in the post-Vietnam era.

Post 11: I couldn't stand Walter Cronkite and never did trust him!

Post 13: Walter Cronkite said “he was glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan”

Post 14: ...Another ancient, fossilized liberal who never saw a line he wasn't willing to cross...

Post 19: How many lives was he responsible for between Vietnam and... abortion on demand...?

And to think: Dan Rather longed to be just like him!
The moral of this story, FReepers, is that FreeRepublic did Dan Rather a great big favor!

[LeoWindhorse]

Timothy Leary got to old Walter with LSD in the late 60’s

[ElPatriota]

I've been trying to be "respectful" to those who die...

But this guy is from the time when the MSM was powerful enough to decide that we the people did not have the right to know JFK was nothing less than a cheating womanizer and so they kept it secret from us.

So RIP and good bye!

[larry hagedon]

Walter Cronkite used his bully pulpet as a news anchor to spread Democratic, Socialist and Communist propaganmda. He did more to defeat America in the Vietnam war than did the Communists.

I watched it happen.

[ZULU]

Walter Cronkite = Walter Crackpot.

[panzerkampfwagen]

Walter was a pig. A leftist filthmonger that was just another traitor to Christian America. I hope he packed his sunscreen.

Piss on him. He betrayed the country, its fighting men and millions of unborn.

need I say it again: Piss on him. Where he’s now, he’ll welcome the moisture.

[GOPJ]

Cronkite was also the first person I heard speak of global warming.

[Red Dog #1]

"but is it their right to impose their definition of morality on those who hold opposing views?"

Isn't ironic for a lefty to accuse someone else of "imposing" their morality on others?

[444Flyer]

It’s all jokes until you enter eternity.

[em2vn]

His grave will be the next one I visit after pissing on McNamara’s grave.

[cpforlife.org]

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[SuziQ]

"It certainly is the right of the anti-abortionists and those who oppose gay marriages to defend, express and even propagandize their beliefs," he says, "but is it their right to impose their definition of morality on those who hold opposing views?

Conversely, those who are PRO abortion and homosexual marriage have every right to try to convince their fellow citizens to agree with them, but do THEY have the right to FORCE their definition of morality on the MAJORITY who disagree?

[Ciexyz]

I had to endure him on PBS's New Year's in Vienna specials for years. What did he have to do with Vienna? At least his replacement this year with Julie Andrews made sense, considering her connection with The Sound of Music, filmed of course in Austria.

[Clemenza]

"Will of the People" and "Majority Rule" are two concepts that ANY true "conservative" should be against. The masses are fickle and often stupid and will vote themselves into slavery.

"Right" and "wrong" should NEVER be subjected to the popular will.

[Theodore R.]

Never mind, the American people still think he was reliable and truly “the most trusted man” in a country where one can’t trust too many.