Life Begins at Conception - If You're a Panda

James Taranto in OpinionJournal points out an inconsistency in the Associated Press' reporting:

Life Begins at Conception--if You're a Panda

"A 13-year-old giant panda gave birth to a cub at San Diego Zoo, but a second baby died in the womb, officials said Wednesday."--Associated Press, Aug. 3

"A cancer-ravaged woman robbed of consciousness by a stroke [Susan Torres] has given birth after being kept on life support for three months to give her fetus extra time to develop."--Associated Press, Aug. 3

Update
You know, I've read this again, and the difference in tone between the two AP excerpts couldn't be more striking.

In the first excerpt, you can almost feel the angst, sorrow, and disappointment at the loss of another rare giant panda "baby" inside its mother's womb.

But then look at the second excerpt. Probably thinking about how the "radical right" hijacked Terri Schiavo's "right to die", the AP writer can barely conceal the contempt for Susan Torres' husband who, rather than allowing her to "die with dignity", has "kept on life support" his "cancer-ravaged" and "robbed of consciousness" wife for the sole purpose of allowing a parasitic "fetus" to incubate within her womb.

Update # 2
Or, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Update # 3
Dom Bettinelli notes that AP has now "corrected" its double standard:

Looks like we caught the AP’s attention because they’ve subsequently reversed themselves. The panda story now says: “A 13-year-old giant panda gave birth to a cub at San Diego Zoo, but a second fetus died in the womb, officials said Wednesday,” while the story of Susan Torres’ baby now says: “A brain-dead woman who was kept alive for three months so she could deliver the child she was carrying was removed from life support Wednesday and died, a day after giving birth.” However, later in the story it still refers to the baby as a fetus.

"Her family decided to keep her alive to give her fetus a chance. It became a race between the fetus’ development and the cancer that was ravaging the woman’s body."

"Doctors said that Torres’ health was deteriorating and that the risk of harm to the fetus finally outweighed the benefits of extending the pregnancy."