We’re glad to see that NPR is stepping up and fact-checking seven persistent claims about abortion. We haven’t read the piece yet, but we’re assuming that they’ll fact-check the claim that it’s “women’s health care.”
NPR did a fact-check claiming to debunk 7 abortion myths, but at least 5 of their responses are wrong or deceptive. This is why the media fact-checking genre has been such a joke. It’s really just spin meant to push an opinion. https://t.co/yZGrXVZUBR
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
NPR reports:
Since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision ruled that women have a constitutional right to end their pregnancies, proponents and opponents of abortion rights have worked to own the conversation over the issue.
In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 629,898 legal induced abortions were reported across the United States.
Lingering claims circulate about abortion, including about the safety of it, who gets abortions and even who supports or opposes access to abortion.
Below, seven popular claims surrounding abortion get fact-checked.
More than 600,000 legal abortions were reported in 2019? So we’re guessing another one of those persistent claims is that supporters of Roe v. Wade believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.
Claim 1 is about support for ending Roe. They cite a poll showing Americans support abortion being legal but somehow ignore all of the polls showing Americans do support restrictions on elective abortions after 1st trimester. Those restrictions are not possible under Roe. pic.twitter.com/aIt1buwDmi
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
Claim 1 Cont: The reason for the disconnect is that most Americans wrongly believe that overturning Roe means a complete ban on abortions: https://t.co/vjI2HqSDbp
The reason they think that is that news organizations like NPR mislead their readers about that.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
We guess that’s another claim to be fact-checked: that overturning Roe v. Wade would make completely ban abortion.
Claim 2 is disputing that abortions skyrocketed after Roe.
I don't need to link to any other sources on this one because their own chart shows it to be true. This is what I call the "true, but inconvenient, so we will label it false" approach to fact-checking. pic.twitter.com/IEzjnGRrIR
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
We noted that NPR relied heavily on data provided by the Guttmacher Institute, a “reproductive health research organization” that supports abortion rights. That’s kind of a weak fact-check.
Claim 3 is disputing that abortion is dangerous.
To justify this debunking, they compare deaths of mothers from abortion to those from pregnancy. Of course, abortions are just a small subset of pregnancies. Also, when pro-life people say this, they also mean for the baby. pic.twitter.com/TOGFWRKvxr
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
Abortion is definitely dangerous for the baby.
Another claim they "debunk" is that "people are getting abortions late in pregnancy"
Except they don't debunk it, they just suggest the percentage is small. But the reason they only show % is because 10% of the 800k yearly abortions is 80K! pic.twitter.com/F8oBSP7PY8
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
For context: There are only 12K firearm homicides in the US each year. So 80K mostly elective abortions after the first trimester can be considered a rather significant amount for many people.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
The other claims they seem to debunk are claims that barely anyone makes (such as that no one who is transgender gets an abortion).
They didn't even attempt to debunk any pro-abortion myths and got many of these wrong. Terrible fact-checking for a news organization.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 7, 2022
Great debunking of the debunking! But you don’t mention the fetal pain claim. They are basing their claim on a 2005 study. Here’s the latest science. https://t.co/fP8FCqePza
— Susan Ellis (@sbegsc) May 7, 2022
This is literally government propaganda
— General Grant (@BMW33313) May 7, 2022
Why are our tax dollars funding a government funded organization that never fails to side with the Democratic Party?
— DGood (@DGood1973) May 7, 2022
I’m surprised by the fact check on “the only people getting abortions are cis gendered straight women.” Who’s making that claim and who cares?
— Nick (@SKOLDadJokes) May 7, 2022
The authors also write that “Current abortion rates are lower than what they were in 1973 and are now less than half what they were at their peak in the early 1980s, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization that supports abortion rights.” If they support abortion rights, why do they care if the number of abortions has dropped since the ’80s? It’s almost as if they’re trying to appeal to pro-lifers with that stat: “Look, it’s still hundreds of thousands of abortions each year, but it’s less than it was 40 years ago.” Be pro-abortion … pump those numbers up!
Related:
MSNBC panel discusses ‘Christian extremism’ driving a pro-life movement that’s based in racism & designed to shame https://t.co/tThC1jrShU
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 7, 2022
Join the conversation as a VIP Member