Right-Wing Blogs Dishonestly Accuse Obama Of Trying To Reduce Minority Births

Conservative media ran dishonest headlines suggesting that the Obama administration is attempting to reduce minority births when it is actually trying to reduce teenage pregnancies.

In an April 16 post, the Daily Caller selectively pulled language from a CDC program in order to suggest that the Obama administration was trying to reduce births among minorities. In a post with the headline “Obama program aims to reduce 'births' among blacks, Latinos,” the Daily Caller claimed that “President Barack Obama is attempting to lower the rate of 'births' - and separately pregnancies - among blacks and Latinos.”

Fox Nation used the same misleading language while hyping the Daily Caller's post, posting an excerpt under the headline “Obama Program Aims To Reduce 'Births' Among Blacks, Latinos”:

Fox Nation Hypes Daily Caller

Both headlines, and the Daily Caller's description, are incredibly dishonest. The Obama administration is not trying to reduce minority births, but the rate of teen pregnancies in minority communities. In fact, the CDC material that the Daily Caller links to is titled “Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2010-2015.” The CDC page makes it clear that the program is intended to reduce the rate of pregnancy among minorities between the ages of 15 and 19:

The purpose of this program is to demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative, multicomponent, communitywide initiatives in reducing rates of teen pregnancy and births in communities with the highest rates, with a focus on reaching African American and Latino/Hispanic youth aged 15-19 years. A communitywide model is an intervention implemented in defined communities (specified geographic area) applying a common approach with different strategies. Communitywide approaches will be tailored to the specified community, and will include broad-based strategies that reach a majority of youth in the community (i.e., through communication strategies and media campaigns); and intensive strategies reaching youth most in need of prevention programming (i.e., through implementation of evidence-based programs and improved links to services).

The Daily Caller also attacked the CDC by manufacturing outrage over the fact that the organization does not differentiate between “births” and “pregnancies.” But using both terms when discussing teen pregnancy is a common practice widely used across their own literature outside of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative in order to analyze and discuss teen pregnancy rates and outcomes, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' literature on teen pregnancy