Abortion

Did a Democratic Pennsylvania state representative create a bill that enforces reproductive responsibility for men by requiring vasectomies for some "inseminators" and by offering a $10,000 reward for reporting "scofflaws" who don't submit? Yes, that's true, but an October 2, 2021, memorandum of co-sponsorship sent out by Democratic state Rep. Chris Rabb was extravagantly written, tipping off readers his was…

Did the New England Journal of Medicine backtrack and admit the COVID-19 vaccine may not be safe for pregnant women? No, that's not true: An update posted by the Journal did not change the number of pregnancies a study found resulted in a spontaneous abortion after receiving the COVID vaccine; the number remained the same from the study published in…

Are women fertile for roughly 24 days a year? No, that's misleading: The fertility window for women is approximately four to seven days a month, totaling 48 to 84 days a year, according to medical experts. Ovulation is usually one to two days a month, which is roughly 24 days but that is not the only time a woman is…

Did the NFL's Dallas Cowboys unveil a new uniform for their cheerleaders as of September 7, 2021? No, that's not true: The image of women looking down, while dressed modestly in blue cloaks with white hats displaying blue stars, carrying pom-poms, was digitally altered from a scene from a popular TV series about enslaved women. The meme is from a…

Does the state of Texas run an abortion "whistleblower" website that asks people to send anonymous tips about potential illegal abortions? No, that's not true: It's run by Texas Right to Life, a private anti-abortion organization. The claim was implied in an Instagram post (archived here) published on September 2, 2021. The post was a copy of a tweet by…

Does a doctor share evidence of vaccine harm to an Ohio school board? No, that's not true: A man who appeared at a school board meeting in Ohio repeated multiple COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories that Lead Stories has previously debunked as false with documented evidence from scientific studies. Social media users picked up on the man introducing himself as a…

Does a global deaths meme accurately reflect the severity and scope of COVID-19? No, that's not true: It considers a three-month period at the very start of the pandemic, before deaths from COVID-19 started to skyrocket. By cherry-picking the time period, the meme misleads as it understates the pandemic's true extent. The meme appeared in an Instagram post (archived here)…

Was Gloria Steinem the author of a comparison between abortions and buying guns? No, that's not true: Although Steinem posted such a comparison on social media, she noted that she was not the author of the message. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on July 26, 2021. It featured a graphic that read: Brilliant from Gloria…

Did the New England Journal of Medicine find that women who received the COVID-19 vaccine -- within 30 days of becoming pregnant and up to 20 weeks pregnant -- had a miscarriage rate of 82%? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Lead Stories that number was "incorrect" and a "misrepresentation of…

Did Chelsea Clinton say "if Jesus were alive today he'd be working at Planned Parenthood"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence she ever said that. The source for the claim is a fake tweet, which cannot be found on Clinton's verified Twitter account. A spokesperson for Clinton confirmed that she did not post the purported tweet. The alleged quote…