Abortion Issue Aired on Cable TV : Broadcasting: Two programs on Torrance public access channel present opposing views of the volatile topic.

Proponents and opponents of abortion rights are taking to cable television to air their views on one of this election year’s most contentious issues.

In Torrance, a graphic 45-minute program about abortion clinics produced by the South Bay Pro-Life Coalition is being broadcast on the city’s community television channel (Paragon Cable). The program, with an introduction by actor Charlton Heston, will be aired nightly through next week.

“I hope and pray undecided voters will have a chance to see this film before the election, so that they can make an informed decision when they go to the polls,” said J.T. Finn, director of the South Bay Pro-Life Coalition. “Anyone who sees this film will definitely feel abortion is a grave injustice.”

Finn said the group plans to have the program aired on community access channels in other South Bay cities in the coming months.

Abortion rights supporters have also taken to the airwaves. Another program being aired on the Torrance cable channel concerns the debate over parental consent--whether minors seeking an abortion should be required to have permission from their parents.

The program, called “Abortion Denied,” was produced by abortion rights advocates to argue against consent requirements. Aired in September and October, the show will be replayed on the Torrance community television channel beginning Nov. 11.

“I found it to be a very effective medium and I plan to use it more in the future,” said Linda Holliday, a Torrance resident who submitted the program on behalf of the National Organization for Women’s Palos Verdes/South Bay chapter. “It’s a very safe and comfortable way for a person to receive information.”

Michael Smith, Torrance’s cable television administrator, said the city had yet to receive complaints about the programs from either side in the abortion debate. He said he believes that the shows are the first of their kind to air in the South Bay.

“We play anything that is not obscene, as long as it is requested by a Torrance resident or by a nonprofit organization based in Torrance,” Smith said. “Public access is completely content-neutral. We cannot exercise any editorial control.”

In late 1990 and early 1991, some City Council members objected to the airing of “Race and Reason,” a white supremacist cable television series, on Torrance’s public access channel. City Atty. Kenneth Nelson told the council that Torrance could not ban the series, however, because it was protected by First Amendment free speech guarantees.

Deborah Blair Porter, a local representative of the National Organization for Women, said the group plans to have abortion rights programs aired in other cities: “I think that any political issue that is present at the grass-roots level can be effectively presented on community access television.”

In addition, she said, the group hopes to support other programming on women’s issues besides abortion. “The only problem is time and money,” Blair Porter said.