French TV channel fined for presenting abortion as cause of death
On 13th November the French Communications Authority (Arcom) fined a television channel €100,000 for presenting abortion as the "first cause of death" during a Catholic programme.
Every Sunday, the French television channel CNews (in collaboration with the newspaper France Catholique) broadcasts a programme called "En quête d'esprit", hosted by the Catholic journalist Aymeric Pourbaix. In February 2024, the programme had presented a graph showing that abortion accounted for 52 per cent of deaths worldwide. The data came from the Worldmeter counter, which is based on the latest estimates of worldwide abortions published by various sources, including the World Health Organisation (WHO). According to the WHO, there are around 73 million induced abortions worldwide every year.
In light of this data, the journalist described abortion as "the world's leading cause of death". This statement caused a wave of outrage in the mainstream media. Many protested, claiming that abortion could not be considered a "cause of death", especially after the recent introduction of abortion as a constitutional right in France.
On 13 November, the Audiovisual and Digital Communications Authority (Arcom) imposed a fine on the news channel CNews: 100,000 euros for presenting abortion as "the first cause of death", in violation of the "obligation of honesty and rigour in the presentation and processing of information".
This form of censorship of certain positions on abortion and the status of the unborn also has significant consequences for religious freedom.
Source: lemonde.fr, europeanconservative.com
Image: X (AymericPourbaix)