TBS to Air Another Abortion Rights Show : Television: Ted Turner started a furor in 1989 with the first advocacy documentary. The follow-up is likely to do the same.

In July of 1989, Ted Turner’s TBS cable superstation touched off a furor with its documentary “Abortion: For Survival,” which frankly supported legal abortion.

Now, TBS is about to stir up the waters again with a follow-up documentary, “Abortion Denied: Shattering Young Women’s Lives,” scheduled for Dec. 7.

Like the first program, the follow-up was produced by the Feminist Majority, an organization with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Boston.

And like the first program, the coming broadcast will be presented unsponsored on TBS.

“Abortion Denied: Shattering Young Women’s Lives” aims sharp criticism at parental consent and notification laws that apply to girls under 18 who want to terminate pregnancy. More than 30 states have laws requiring the youngsters to notify a parent before having an abortion--but less than half enforce the statutes, partly because of court blockages.

TBS “seems very willing to deal with this issue and not feel that it’s so controversial they can’t touch it,” says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “Some people think it’s pro-choice. I think it’s factual. But they (TBS) are not going to worry that they’re going to get some complaints. Thank God, Mr. Turner has the guts to show it.”

Don’t tell that to Nellie Gray, president of the Washington-based March for Life organization, or Rep. Robert Dornan (R-Garden Grove), both of whom opposed the views of “Abortion: For Survival” in a panel discussion that followed last year’s program.

Neither has seen the new video, which a Feminist Majority spokeswoman says has been distributed since Aug. 1 for “educational purposes.”

But Gray says last year’s program was “totally loaded to be a pro-abortion show. My position about abortion is that it is not a debatable subject. This is a holocaust.

“It is extremely sad that TBS will not stand for the saving of innocent children. But after all, Ted Turner was the man who called all of us pro-lifers a bunch of bozos.”

Turner, who openly favors women’s rights to abortion, caused a ruckus before the showing of last year’s documentary when he labeled anti-abortionists “bozos” and “idiots.”

He also said before that show aired: “You bet your bippy we’re taking a position.”

Dornan, too, recalls Turner’s “bozos” crack and says that “Abortion: For Survival” was “terribly stacked . . . a propagandist film with a lot of lies in it.”

As for “Abortion Denied: Shattering Young Women’s Lives,” Bob Levi, executive vice president of TBS, maintains:

“The program does not represent a corporate stand on the issue. It is not intended to express the personal views of anyone at TBS. It’s a well-made piece of programming.”

As for presenting differing views, Levi says:

“In the past, we have aired alternative points of view. We carried Jerry Falwell for many years, and he carried all kinds of anti-abortion information on his program. So we believe that what we are doing here is fair. At this time, we have no plans to present any additional programs on the subject.”

And if someone with opposing opinions came forward with a program?

“We would certainly look at whatever they provided and consider it,” says Levi. “We always do.”

In a carry-over from “Abortion: For Survival,” the host for “Abortion Denied: Shattering Young Women’s Lives” will again be actress Christina Pickles, who played nurse Helen Rosenthal in the television series “St. Elsewhere.”

The half-hour Dec. 7 documentary will be given a choice time slot across the country--starting at 10:05 p.m. in the East, which means it begins at 7:05 p.m. here. But while last year’s program was shown three times, the coming broadcast will be aired only once, Levi says.

The Turner cable empire has a recent history of social activism under its maverick owner, who is no blushing violet when it comes to putting on programs that would be rejected out of hand by the cautious Big Three networks: ABC, CBS and NBC.

Turner is openly vocal on such issues as nuclear arms, friendship with the Soviets, preservation of the environment and abortion--and TBS specials have reflected this attitude.

A TBS spokesman says “Abortion Denied: Shattering Young Women’s Lives” was “never intended to be sponsored because we knew it would be a controversial program.”

Running “Abortion: For Survival” unsponsored reportedly cost TBS up to $500,000.

That show was the Feminist Majority’s reply to the anti-abortion movement’s 1985 film “The Silent Scream.” Both productions were considered by many to be outright propaganda.

Smeal acknowledges flatly that the upcoming TBS program on parental consent for abortion “takes a position.” The program’s view, she says, is that the laws requiring consent “are harmful to the teen-agers.”

Does the broadcast present various views? “No--we’re a women’s rights group. But in a way, it does. We don’t look at what’s right and wrong, but what the impact is. It’s not preachy.”

Well, that’s in the eye of the beholder. It will be hard to persuade Gray, Dornan and even some who agree with the program that “Abortion Denied: Shattering Young Women’s Lives” isn’t an outright tract. The title clearly states the premise.

What was truly surprising and questionable in TBS’ announcement of the show was the failure to include a follow-up panel of pro and con participants, like the one that was presented after “Abortion: For Survival.”

There’s still time to do so, of course. But Levi says, “The program is sufficiently authoritative and fair in its presentation so that we don’t think a panel is necessary to follow this program. We believe that the program is good enough that it stands on its own and that viewers can make up their own minds.”

“That’s outrageous,” replies Dornan. “It’s an idiotic and arrogant statement. Who ever heard of any lobbying organization--left, right, up or down--making a presentation so fair and balanced that they leave it up to the viewer? It will be one-sided. I’m going to call Ted Turner. He’s a friend of mine. I’m going to tell him he’s got to have a panel.”

Says Gray: “They don’t want to hear anybody saying that killing babies is wrong. That’s why they don’t want a panel. If they can’t control it, they’re simply going to eliminate the pro-life voice. And this is what we expect abortionists to do.”

Says TBS’ Levi: “We are merely making information available to people. Where some other network might not think it’s of interest, we do. This is our job as broadcasters. It’s our responsibility.”