Mini-series about premature babies premieres tonight

A new show called “NICU” will premiere tonight at 10pm Eastern on Discovery Health Channel. Discovery Health describes NICU as follows:

This 10-episode docu-drama series goes behind the scenes of top national neonatal intensive care (NICU) units, showing the day-to-day care required to sustain the smallest of lives. NICU follows real families as they experience the rollercoaster of emotions that come with having a premature baby and features doctors and nurses from leading hospitals in Baltimore, San Diego and Cleveland, as they work around the clock to ensure the survival of their tiny patients.

According to an e-mail bulletin I received from the March of Dimes, they are working with Discovery Health and Farmer’s Insurance to operate a text-to-donate fundraiser during the broadcast. The March of Dimes has been criticized by pro-life groups for its refusal to take a firm anti-abortion stance. After all, when the babies you are trying to save are the same age or not much older than the ones being killed in the late-term abortion wing, trying to be “neutral” is pretty pathetic.

Just watching the show, however, will not result in any money being given to the March of Dimes. As someone who watches Discovery Health on a fairly regular basis, I would say that the channel is, if not explicitly pro-life, at the very least strongly pro-natal. A show about premature infants and their families is inherently pro-life, so I encourage you to tune in.

I have noticed that Discovery Health has occassional language slips, like “first days of life” when they really mean “first days after birth.” Their support of programming like Adoption Stories normally balances that out. But if that kind of language happens in NICU, I may ask you to send them a polite email.

Oh, and speaking of birth, I left my mother’s womb on this day in 1988! If you want to help make my birthday special, click here.