Fusion has gone through many iterations and mission shifts over the course of its brief existence as an English-language Univision affiliate. Throughout, however, the network has remained consistent in one aspect: its advocacy for far-left domestic political causes. with its latest paean to Planned Parenthood being but the most recent example.
A few months ago, we noted the cancellation of what had been Fusion's flagship show: América With Jorge Ramos. The network's original Ramos vehicle was subsequently repurposed into "Show Me Something", which features Ramos on the road, as opposed to his traditional in-studio format. That leads us to his latest episode, which amounted to a thirty-minute infomercial for Planned Parenthood.
Here's a snippet of Ramos enabling Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards to peddle the misinformation of the nation's leading abortion provider.
CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: They're trying to end women's access to health care across the board.
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, FUSION: So you think they are...the problem is that they are linking Planned Parenthood with abortions? Is that, is that the problem, all the time?
CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: It's not. I don't think it's only abortions, because obviously we provide abortion services and we think that's important, but that's a small part of what we do. Federal funding doesn't go for abortion. It hasn't for many, many years, uh...
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, FUSION: The, the...constantly they're saying that. I mean, it's abortion, it's abortion.
CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Well they're saying that, but I don't, but I'm just saying, it's not true.
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, FUSION: According to Planned Parenthood, abortion accounted for just 3% of its services in 2015.
Fusion's tens of viewers were treated to a full half-hour of this kind of slow-pitch softball practice between Ramos and Richards, wherein nothing resembling a tough question (or even a probing question or followup, for that matter) was asked of Richards or anyone else. It is a small wonder that Fusion didn't embed a graphic with a toll-free number or website where viewers could donate to Planned Parenthood, so one-sided was this episode.
Richards was framed as a heroic "women's health" advocate fighting the 'evil Republicans'. Planned Parenthood talking points were presented as unassailable truth - for example, the data featured above, that abortion accounts for only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services. Entirely unmentioned, however, was the fact that abortion accounts for 86% of Planned Parenthood's revenues.
Richards was also allowed to spread another major misconception - which is that no federal funds go to abortions. Perhaps not directly pursuant to the Hyde Amendment, but there is no doubt that because assets are fungible, federal dollars ultimately enable abortion.
During the entire show, there were no interviews with anyone on the pro-life side. And when Ramos mentioned last year's Center for Medical Progress (CMP) undercover videos detailing the conspiracy to sell fetal parts for profit, it was only for Ramos to underscore -in an affected tone- that "the videos were heavily edited."
Ramos, of all people, should know that videos are quite often edited for time considerations...right? To suggest that CMP committed some sort of malfeasance isn't only specious, it is cowardly considering that Ramos' newscast mostly ignored those videos, precisely when they were going viral.
Ramos and Richards also went to great lengths to present Planned Parenthood as a women's health practitioner par excellence, offering a multitude of services while downplaying the organization's moneymaker - abortion. But that dark cloud loomed over the entirety of their tour of the brightly-decorated East Orlando facility just outside the University of Central Florida.
As if it wasn't already sufficiently signaled that the unfettered right to abortion is to be revered as the highest among progressive policy initiatives, the show closed with a cameo appearance from Chelsea Clinton. The show ended with assurances that Planned Parenthood will live on, regardless of congressional funding.
In the end, I have to confess that the show lives up to its title. I was shown something indeed - namely, the lengths to which Univision, its weak-sister affiliate Fusion, and its star anchor Jorge Ramos will distort, defame, and misrepresent in order to foist a radical agenda upon its viewership.
