Abortion

Anti-Choice Washington Post Columnist Tweets Gosnell Potshot in Response to Boston Bombings

Jennifer Rubin saw fit to take a snide dig at a Post colleague on Twitter over coverage of Kermit Gosnell.

Less than two hours after bombings tore through Monday’s Boston Marathon, Jennifer Rubin, who writes the Right Turn column for the Washington Post, tweeted an anti-choice potshot about the trial of Kermit Gosnell, a provider of illegal abortions.

That language—”a local crime story”—is a direct reference to Rubin’s colleague, Washington Post reporter Sarah Kliff, who has been widely criticized by conservatives and anti-choicers for not covering the Gosnell story. When confronted on Twitter about not covering the story on April 11, Kliff said that she had not covered Gosnell because “I cover policy for the Washington Post, not local crime.” As Amanda Marcotte noted at Slate, “It was exactly the wrong response. … By Friday morning Kliff’s tweet was prima facie evidence for conservatives that the media was spiking the story.”

Rubin has participated in the anti-choice media campaign alleging a pro-choice media bias driving a lack of coverage of the trial, even though the Washington Post has published several pieces on Gosnell, including but hardly limited to this, this, and this.

Two hours after Rubin sent that tweet, and four hours after the bombings, Rubin tweeted an agreement with conservative blogger Erick Erickson that the day was not one for beating up on President Obama. At the time of publishing she has not responded to an inquiry about why she feels attacks on President Obama are an inappropriate response to the Boston bombing, but using the tragedy to lob anti-choice potshots at a colleague about the Gosnell trial is acceptable.

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