Abortion

Is the Maryland General Assembly "about to vote" on a controversial pregnancy "freedom" bill? Not exactly: Maryland legislators proposed the Pregnant Person's Freedom Act of 2022, which is in committee, but at the time of writing the bill is not undergoing a final vote, as implied by a social media post. The claim was implied in a Facebook post (archived…

Does the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) support Planned Parenthood and praise politicians who support pro-abortion measures? No, that's not true: GSUSA has repeatedly denied any partnership with Planned Parenthood, and there is no evidence that it has endorsed individual politicians. The claim, which has circulated since at least 2004 after one Texas Girl Scout council was associated with…

Did Josephine Myrtle Corbin have four legs, raise a family and die at 60? Yes, most of these facts about her in a post are fairly accurate -- she was a real person who lived from 1868 to 1928 and she died just a week before her 60th birthday of an infection -- but the photos paired with the caption…

Do the reported adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines in the United States include the deaths of 2,433 babies, and is there another study that shows mRNA shots are not safe for pregnant women? No, that's not true: A Lead Stories analysis of the numbers found in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), based on data through October 29, 2021,…

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…