Abortion

Was a 19-year-old girl in Texas sentenced to "96 years in prison" after traveling across state lines to gain access to an abortion procedure? No, that's not true: The social media account that shared this post is a satirical one. Furthermore, Texas law enforcement officials did not publicly announce such an arrest and conviction, and no reputable media outlet covered…

Does New Zealand allow abortions "on demand for any reason up to birth"? No, that's not true: According to a 2020 law, pregnancy terminations after the 20-week mark undergo a thorough review by at least two licensed health practitioners who have to consider multiple aspects of the situation to decide whether abortion is "clinically appropriate in the circumstances." The claim…

If Arizonans voted primarily for Republican candidates in the November 8, 2022, election, but a Democrat still won the race for governor, was the election rigged? No, that's not true: Election data from past years show ticket-splitting is common in Arizona. An Arizona pollster with two decades experience tracking election data told Lead Stories it is not unusual for the…

Do vaccines make people identify with a gender other than their gender assigned at birth by changing the composition of that person's DNA? No, that's not true: Vaccines do not change a person's DNA -- they provide immunity against diseases, an expert in genetics told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 26, 2022. The post's…

Does a graph show that the COVID-19 vaccine increases stillbirths? No, that is missing context: The graph was published on the U.S. government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) website. As VAERS itself repeatedly explains, its purpose is to collect a wide-open, likely repetitive, messy and incomplete list of anecdotal, amateur, professional and even malicious reports of post-vaccination problems.The graph…

Did Sen. Josh Hawley say the phrase "I will not use your pronoun" while questioning a "liberal general" at a U.S. Senate hearing? No, that's not true: Neither a video published on Facebook under this attention-grabbing headline nor the full recording contained this sentence. Participants in the hearing referred to each other by title or rank combined with their last…

Do Pfizer documents reveal that 90 percent of pregnant women vaccinated against COVID lost their babies, and that COVID vaccination is going to lead to "mass depopulation"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to support that claim. Extrapolations from a small data subset don't warrant application of non-professional assumptions about effects of vaccines in the absence of data. The…

Does a video posted on Facebook show Sen. John Kennedy releasing classified documents in the Senate or declaring that an interlocutor had "a deal" with President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden? No, that's not true: The video shows Kennedy questioning FBI Director Christopher Wray about a former FBI agent who was involved in investigations into Hunter Biden. Sen. Tom Cotton…

Did 44 percent of pregnant women in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trial have miscarriages? No, that's not true: Author/activist Naomi Wolf incorrectly analyzed public information when making the claim that "out of 50 pregnant women, 22 of them lost their babies." Wolf and two publishers have all retracted the claim, which continued to circulate nonetheless. Jeffrey Morris, professor of biostatistics at…

Is Canada killing poor people? No, that's not true: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) is legal in Canada but "being poor as your only 'condition' would clearly not meet the eligibility criteria for MAID," Canadian law professor Jocelyn Downie told Lead Stories. Applicants must meet all of five criteria. Economic trouble, poverty or any related term is not one of…