Throughout 2019, Fox News asserted that its opinion programs exist separate from the network’s so-called straight “news” division. Yet over the course of the year, the network continually allowed figures on both types of shows to flagrantly lie about abortion -- enabling them to promote sensationalized rhetoric and dangerous anti-abortion misinformation on the network. Here are five of the guests who appeared repeatedly on Fox News in 2019, and the outrageous anti-abortion lies the network allowed them to spread.
Five of the most outrageous guests Fox News let lie about abortion in 2019
Written by Chenay Arberry
Published
1. Robert Jeffress (Fox News contributor)
Fox News continually hosted conservative anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion pastor Robert Jeffress in segments on both opinion and “news”-side programs -- allowing him to amplify outright lies about abortion. In fact, Jeffress was an apparent favorite among the network's so-called “straight” news programs, appearing on Fox News @ Night with host Shannon Bream numerous times in 2019 to spread anti-abortion lies.
For example, in one appearance Jeffress stated that Democrats should not be allowed to call out racism because Planned Parenthood's founder was supposedly “racist.” This allegation has appeared often on Fox's opinion programming and is a common talking point among right-wing media even after numerous abortion advocates have debunked this falsehood.
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From the October 28, 2019, edition of Fox News' Fox News @ Night
SHANNON BREAM (ANCHOR): Pastor, I'll start with you. What do you make of that statement by Joe Biden? A lot of people are likening it to Hillary Clinton's deplorable statement.
ROBERT JEFFRESS: Well, it's similar. And look, I've known President Trump for four years -- there's not one scintilla of evidence that he's a racist. In fact, anybody who knows the president knows that if you support him, he embraces you, regardless of your race. And if you oppose him, he attacks you, regardless of your race. That's the essence of what it means to be colorblind.
But Shannon, I'm not sure the Democrats want to be the ones talking about racism, when in their history, they're the ones who supported the Ku Klux Klan. They opposed the abolition of slavery, and they continue to worship at the shrine of Planned Parenthood -- an organization founded by a racist named Margaret [Sanger] who wanted to use abortion to control the Black population. Democrats have no room to be talking about racism.
BREAM: All right, Doug [Schoen], but a lot of folks out there who do support the party now don't acknowledge those roots. They don't see it that way. They see the GOP is the party that has that problem now.
2. Mollie Hemingway (Fox News commentator and editor at The Federalist)
Mollie Hemingway, a Fox News contributor and editor of right-wing media outlet The Federalist, appeared on both Fox News' opinion and “news” programming in 2019. In many cases, Hemingway used her appearances to distort the realities of abortion care or access. In an appearance on Fox News' Fox & Friends, Hemingway inaccurately declared, “abortion is never medically necessary in the third trimester.”
Fox News and right-wing media alike fiercely pushed this falsehood in 2019. In reality, abortions that occur later in pregnancy are often (although not exclusively) out of medical necessity.
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From the February 5, 2019, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): The context was Virginia was considering a bill that is very controversial about removing any limits on third trimester abortion, which even people who are pro-choice tend to disagree with, it's a very radical bill that ended up failing. And in that context, then [Governor Ralph Northam] goes further and says, you know, even if you don't have this medically necessary abortion, of course abortion is never medically necessary in the third trimester, if a baby survives, we comfort her, and then we make a decision about whether to let her live or die. These are absolutely, extraordinarily controversial comments and yet, as you point out, you're barely hearing anything about them, and they were the reason why the whole racist controversy even came to light, because it was a medical school classmate who apparently released the photo.
3. Hogan Gidley (White House deputy press secretary)
In 2019, Fox News has repeatedly hosted White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley (many times on “news” shows), allowing him to amplify sensationalized misinformation about abortion and reproductive health care.
On Fox's America's Newsroom, Gidley declared that Democrats support allowing babies to be “born and then killed outside the womb.” This sensationalized lie about abortions occurring later in pregnancy was also heavily utilized by anti-abortion activists and Fox News opinion and “news” programs across the board.
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From the March 14, 2019, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom
HOGAN GIDLEY (WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY): I sure wish the House would come together and vote on a resolution, or the bill put forth by Republicans, that would actually protect children who’ve been born from abortions after they've been removed from the mother's womb. I wish they would take time doing that to stand up for life at all phases as opposed to focusing on some phony witch hunt. I mean, this is ridiculous and it shows exactly what Democrats said they wouldn't do, they’re doing. They came in and so many of them said wanted to work with the president and get things done for infrastructure and health care. And instead they are moving on all these radical ideas. Focus on life and focus on moving this country forward in the future and that's how we succeed as a nation together.
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GIDLEY: The president stands for the American people, he’s done that the entire time. And now Democrats writ large have to answer for their new set of policies, which is making America socialist, standing for people -- those who are born and then killed outside the womb, they want that to be the norm.
4. Ben Shapiro (editor-in-chief, The Daily Wire)
Ben Shapiro, the editor-in-chief of the right-wing outlet The Daily Wire was a frequent guest on Fox News in 2019 -- and often used these appearances to spread sensationalized misinformation about abortion.
In March 2019, anchor Shannon Bream invited Shapiro onto her “news” show supposedly to discuss free speech on college campuses. Shapiro instead used the appearance to reiterate some of Fox’s favorite inaccurate claims about abortion and the alleged censorship of anti-abortion views. Despite being the anchor of a “news” program, Bream did not question or debunk Shapiro’s sensationalized claims.
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From the March 20, 2019, edition of Fox News' Fox News @ Night
SHANNON BREAM (ANCHOR): OK, they had a permit, but once the police showed up and said you can't just be taking away people's property. She said, we're picking up garbage, and then she threw the bag there and left it. What do you make of this?
BEN SHAPIRO: I mean, obviously there is a massive divide in the country, politically, right now that is resulting in people not taking into account the fact that there are people who are allowed to have other opinions. And simply because you believe that unborn babies are not in fact unborn babies, but are a cluster of cells, doesn't give you the right to take away somebody's work or somebody's symbolism or permitted activities. And obviously, look, it's bad activity and I would assume that the campus is probably going to crack down on this lady as they should.
BREAM: Well, and there was another campus, I believe it was in Miami, or maybe somewhere in Florida, that last fall this happened, and they said within three days, or within a day and a half, three times, this similar cemetery for the innocent that they had set up was torn down and vandalized, and they had to keep asking campus police and others for help. You know, is the conversation so offensive that it just can't be had?
SHAPIRO: I mean, unfortunately, that's true on a lot of college campuses. I know that when I speak on college campuses very often, the flyers are torn down. I'm not the only one that happens to. This obviously is worse in the sense that they're trying to pay tribute to unborn children who are killed in the womb, and even that is too offensive for people. The very idea that somebody disagrees means that their postings ought to be torn down.
BREAM: Well, we know that president says he's going to take action on the idea of free speech on campus, it's something I know you've run up against yourself, very frequently.
5. Lila Rose (president, Live Action)
Founder and president of anti-abortion group Live Action, Lila Rose, was a frequent guest on both Fox's so-called “news” and opinion programs in 2019.
In a segment on Fox News @ Night, Rose echoed Fox News' inaccurate allegations about Democrats supporting “infanticide.” Once again, Bream did not rebut this inaccurate anti-abortion rhetoric that is often employed by Fox and other right-wing media.
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From the October 2, 2019, edition of Fox News' Fox News @ Night
SHANNON BREAM (ANCHOR): Lila, they say it's essentially, access was under threat. They thought that people could give them a hard time about trying to build this facility. Apparently, some people working on it didn't even know what they were building, but they said they had to do it because of the threats to access.
LILA ROSE: This is not about helping women. This is about selling more abortions. Illinois, their recent abortion law that passed is worse than New York's. Abortion is legal on babies up to nine months of pregnancy, fully viable babies in the state of Illinois, and Planned Parenthood wants to capitalize on that, that is why they're building a mega facility because they want to commit as many abortions as possible and profit off of the pain of women. And quite frankly, according to their own annual reports, that's their -- that's their bottom line. That’s what they're trying to increase, and they've increased their abortion numbers in the last 10 years. They are now 40% -- nearly 40% of the nation's abortions. Their priority is abortion, it's not women, it's profiting off of abortion.
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ROSE: So, actually, the majority of Americans want abortion restriction, and that's not what's happening in Illinois, that's not what Planned Parenthood supports. Planned Parenthood again is profiting off of these abortions, and the reason they did this in secret in Illinois is because they know that most Americans don't want anything to do with the abortion industry. They don't want big abortion centers in their communities, near their schools, near their homes. They don't want women to come in and then be offered no options, which is what happens at Planned Parenthood: They are not providing prenatal care, they're not providing adoption support, they're not provide parenting classes even though they're called Planned Parenthood. They are committing abortions, and their numbers have gone up for abortions over the last 10 years.
These five guests represent only a fraction of guests and commentators Fox News allowed to spread anti-abortion misinformation on the network's “news” and opinion programming alike in 2019. In most cases these guests repeated right-wing talking points about abortion.
Although these appearances are not surprising, they epitomize the fact that despite Fox’s claims, there is no true divide between the network’s so-called “news” division and sensationalized opinion shows. At the very least, if 2019 shows viewers anything about Fox, it’s that you can’t rely on the network for accurate and unbiased coverage about abortion -- no matter what shows you tune in to see.