Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The NBC television program "Law and Order" is a popular one -- so much so that it has spin-offs that have been equally popular with large swaths of the American public. Maybe it is the content or the introductory pulsing theme music that attracts, but pro-life advocates may have one less (or one more) reason to watch.

Tonight, the program will feature a plot line that, as the promotional says, is literally ripped from the headlines.

Law and Order will feature an episode called "Dignity" that begins with the shooting death of a late-term abortion practitioner in his church.

That's a not-so-removed reference to the summertime shooting of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller, who was killed on a Sunday morning at the Lutheran Church (ELCA) he attended in Wichita, Kansas.

Entertainment Weekly describes the aftermath of the shooting on the NBC program this way: "The killer is represented in court by an anti-abortion league lawyer played by Richard Thomas with perfectly calibrated restraint. Indeed, this is the performance NBC should be touting this week: Thomas is nuanced where everyone around him is encouraged to take sides and squabble."

EW says the shows two cops and two district attorneys each take respective sides in the abortion debate and says viewers will "be surprised at the low-key but still quite shocking final scene."

Jill Stanek, a pro-life blogger, isn't ready to go along with the "balanced" approach to abortion EW claims the program will have.

"I expect the show will throw ideological bones to both sides but ultimately come down favoring pro-aborts," she said.

The Idaho Statesman newspaper sets up the scene for the shooting.

"In the opening scene, a man is greeting parishioners at a church, and when he enters the church alone, the camera reveals he is hiding a gun under his belt. Moments later, he takes a seat when - bang - he's dead. Someone has come up from behind and shot him," it indicates.

"This is an episode where the characters reveal their own inner turmoil on the question," the newspaper adds, saying the abortion debate will get a good hearing.

Law and Order has had controversial topics before and is also known for having Dana Reeve, the deceased wife of actor and embryonic stem cell research advocate Christopher Reeve, and pro-life former presidential candidate Fred Thompson as characters on the program.

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