Misinformation attacking Democrats

Right-wing media -- Fox News in particular -- and other abortion opponents have recently tried to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to attack Democrats for alleged abortion “extremism.” When the House of Representatives took up a stimulus bill to deal with the impact of the coronavirus, these outlets and personalities attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) by promoting the inaccurate allegation that she tried to include “abortion funding” in the bill. As the legislation made its way through the Senate, the right-wing media narrative turned to an allegation that Democrats were holding up the bill because they wanted funding for Planned Parenthood included. In fact, it was Republicans who tried to include explicit language around abortion in the spending bill by adding Hyde Amendment language, which prohibits federal funding from covering the costs of abortions, except in very limited circumstances. Republicans also targeted Democrats for wanting to include assistance for nonprofits that receive Medicaid funding, such as “community health centers, rape crisis centers and disability service providers” and which could have also included Planned Parenthood.

In addition, right-wing media figures and abortion opponents also launched attacks on New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seizing on his statement in a news conference that “we're not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable.” Right-wing media used Cuomo’s comment to fuel another round of dishonest outrage, including reviving a line of attack about the governor’s expansion of abortion access in his state last year (they falsely claimed he was promoting “infanticide”).

Right-wing media and abortion opponents also attacked Democratic governors for comments or actions related to keeping abortion clinics open under their stay-at-home orders. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer faced multiple lines of attack for her stay-at-home orders, including comments she made on the podcast The Axe Files in response to a question about how some states are banning or restricting abortion during the coronavirus pandemic. Whitmer said that “some people have tried to say that” abortion care “is considered the same as” elective surgeries that states are suspending during the outbreak. She said that was “ridiculous” and that “a woman’s health care, her whole future, her ability to decide if and when she starts a family is not an election, it is fundamental to her life. It is life-sustaining. And it’s something that government should not be getting in the middle of.” Right-wing media jumped on the “life-sustaining” part of her comments and also attacked her for keeping abortion clinics open during the pandemic.