The state wasn't even given the opportunity to brief them on the merits of the case. The Supreme Court unanimously rebuked the over-zealous circuit court, yet a majority of the Justices granted doctors the unprecedented right to present not their own constitutional claims but those of their patients. In politics in general, in the courts, and in the media, the abortion distortion factor is one of the forces that the abortion business has been able to count on most in its quest for public support, protection, and more business. In theory, it would appear to be an unshakable prop, and a crucial one. The media's normal rules on objectivity and fairness to both sides in a controversy suffer badly from the abortion distortion factor.
Reporters commonly become agents of the rhetoric of abortion defenders.
Columnists such as Nat Hentoff, Mark Shields and John Leo have commented on this eloquently and frequently. The debate is framed in terms favorable to one side. The legislative and political victories of one side are given much more prominence than the wins of the other. Events favorable to one side are ignored or given minimal attention. First Amendment questions for prolifers have been largely ignored.