O'Reilly declared that "secular-progressives" want "out-of-wedlock birth in the USA" to be "at record highs"

On the November 27 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, The Radio Factor, host Bill O'Reilly highlighted an upcoming segment of the program on "wins" and "losses" in the "culture war" by claiming "out-of-wedlock birth in the USA [is] at record highs, which the S-Ps [secular-progressives] want."

Media Matters for America has documented numerous examples of O'Reilly's attacks on what he calls "secular-progressives," as well as dubious claims about who qualifies as such. For example, on the November 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during a discussion about immigration, O'Reilly declared that the Vatican has a "secular-progressive[]" philosophy, stating, "I think it is a one-world philosophy that a lot of secular-progressives ... really believe, that no country has a right to ban anybody or stop anybody from doing anything." Also, on the October 18 edition of The Radio Factor during a segment about former President Jimmy Carter, O'Reilly claimed that "secular-progressives become dangerous when they start to talk about the terror war," and immediately added that Carter "isn't really a secular-progressive because he's a man of faith" but then claimed that Carter's foreign policy "is a secular-progressive foreign policy." In an October 18 interview with President Bush, O'Reilly stated: "The secular-progressives don't like you because you're a man of faith. ... They think you are some kind of evangelical, who -- God tells you what to do, and you go out and do it. And they hate that."

Additionally, during the December 19, 2005, broadcast of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly warned of "a concentrated effort by the secular-progressive movement to diminish any kind of spirituality in the public marketplace," a movement he has previously claimed is behind the so-called "war on Christmas." O'Reilly feels this "war" is part of a broader agenda to enact "secular-progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage." He further asserted that "secular-progressives made great inroads over the past five years" and "if you don't believe that ... you're a moron."

As Media Matters documented in its review of O'Reilly's book Culture Warrior (Broadway Books, September 2006), O'Reilly purports to "expose the secular-progressive movement in our country for exactly what it is, to explain why it is so harmful for America, and to identify the movement's top leaders." O'Reilly wrote on Page 64 of Culture Warrior that he refuses to host most "S-Ps" on his show because "it is hard to imagine a more loathsome group," as Media Matters noted.

In addition to dubious assertions about "secular-progressives," O'Reilly has also propagated misinformation regarding pregnancy and the American Civil Liberties Union's position on abortion. For example, on the October 11 edition of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly falsely claimed that it "is never the case" that a "mother's life is in danger" during the course of a pregnancy. In fact, several complications can threaten the life of a pregnant woman. Also, on the April 19, 2005, edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly attacked the ACLU by claiming it is "behind all abortion on demand, euthanasia, and coming soon perhaps, infanticide for impaired babies."

From the November 27 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: A couple of wins in the culture war, but there's also a couple of losses too. A couple of things happened that are very disturbing, including out-of-wedlock birth in the USA at record highs, which the S-Ps want. You gotta understand the thinking here. We're gonna get into that as well.

—K.D.