That description isn’t ideological. Every embryology textbook at every major medical institution informs the reader that human life begins at fertilization. Indeed, even the way we debate about abortion implicitly reveals this fact. ‘I believe the cutoff for abortion should be at 15 weeks,’ says the ‘moderate’ pro-choice person. Indeed? Fifteen weeks from what, exactly? The question answers itself. Even most abortionists will admit, with chilling frankness, that their job involves ending lives.

I wonder if the American abortionist who told the BBC that he kills babies would be censored if he attempted to be similarly honest on French TV. ARCOM, the French media regulator, recently fined the conservative TV channel CNews a staggering €100,000 after presenter Aymeric Pourbaix observed in February that abortion is the leading cause of death worldwide according to the WHO’s estimate of 73 million deaths per annum.

The comments were made in the context of an infographic shown on the Catholic show En quête d’esprit, and as Hélène de Lauzun reported, they sparked “a wave of indignation in the mainstream press on the grounds that abortion cannot be considered a ‘cause of death’ because the foetus should not be considered a living being.” The channel, owned by Catholic businessman Vincent Bolloré, ended up backtracking and apologizing for showing the infographic. An investigation was launched nonetheless.