Media Matters analyzed evening cable news programs on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC from March 2, 2018, through February 28, 2019, looking for segments that included a substantial conversation about abortion or reproductive rights. The resulting 526 segments were then coded for the number of accurate or inaccurate statements each speaker made about four common abortion-related topics:

• deceptive videos from the discredited anti-choice group Center for Medical Progress (CMP);
• abortion funding rules, including the Hyde Amendment (which bans the use of federal funds for abortion), and allegedly improper political spending by Planned Parenthood;
• Planned Parenthood’s role as an essential service provider that can’t be easily replaced by alternatives; and
• so-called “extreme” abortion procedures or positions -- including purported “sex-selective abortions,” “race-selective abortions,” “partial-birth abortions,” abortions after 20 weeks that risk “fetal pain,” “late-term abortions,” “abortions until the moment of birth,” “abortion on demand,” “unrestricted abortion,” abortion as “murder,” “born-alive abortions,” “dismemberment abortions,” and “infanticide.”

Based on this analysis, Media Matters found that:

• Anti-abortion misinformation is dominant on the networks collectively (83% of statements were coded as inaccurate).
• CNN and MSNBC are allowing Fox News to drive abortion-related conversations during evening cable news programs (94% of statements occurred on the network).
• Of the 526 total segments featuring a substantial discussion of abortion, Fox News aired 334 (or 63%). In comparison, MSNBC had 115 segments (22%), and CNN had only 77 (15%).
• While the other networks said little about the four abortion-related topics, Fox filled the void with misinformation (85% of its statements were inaccurate).
• Across the three networks collectively, 89% of statements made about so-called abortion “extremism” were inaccurate. On Fox, 90% of statements about this topic were inaccurate, as were 100% of the statements on CNN and 58% of the statements on MSNBC. This means that when CNN and MSNBC were talking about abortion, they were often echoing right-wing talking points.

Media Matters looked at statements about four common topics related to abortion -- the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), abortion funding rules, Planned Parenthood’s services, and so-called abortion “extremism.”

In conversations about CMP, 94% of statements were inaccurate and almost all statements occurred on Fox News. Of the 34 total statements about the CMP, 33 occurred on Fox News -- almost all of which were inaccurate (94%). CNN was the only other network that aired a statement about CMP, and that statement was incorrect.

In discussions about abortion funding rules across the three networks, 67% of statements were inaccurate. Once again, Fox News discussed the topic the most, with 124 statements -- 87 of which were inaccurate (70%). There were two total statements about abortion funding rules made on MSNBC, one of which was inaccurate (50%). CNN aired nine statements about abortion funding rules and seven were accurate (78% accurate, 22% inaccurate).

Of 79 total statements about Planned Parenthood’s services, 57% were inaccurate. Fox News dominated the discussion of Planned Parenthood’s services, airing 70 total statements about the topic, 45 of which were inaccurate (64%). MSNBC was the only other network to air statements about the topic, airing nine statements, all of which were accurate.

In discussions of so-called abortion “extremism,” 89% of statements were inaccurate. The most common statements made about abortion during the 12-month period were about allegedly “extreme” abortion procedures or positions. The vast majority -- 89% -- of these statements were inaccurate, with Fox News driving the conversation. Fox aired 606 total statements in this category, 545 of which were inaccurate (90%). CNN aired 11 statements, all of which were inaccurate (100%). MSNBC aired 19 total statements about so-called “extreme” abortion procedures or positions, 11 of which were inaccurate (58%).

Fox News dominated the conversation about the four abortion-related topics, with 833 statements. Fox News aired 833 out of the 884 total statements made about the four abortion-related topics across the three networks (94%). MSNBC aired 30 and CNN aired 21. Fox News also had the greatest percentage of misinformation across the three networks. Of Fox News’ 833 statements, 708 (85%) contained misinformation about CMP, abortion funding rules, Planned Parenthood’s services, or alleged abortion “extremism.”

MSNBC aired only 30 statements about the four abortion-related topics -- allowing Fox to dominate the conversation. MSNBC’s coverage of the four abortion-related topics came in a distant second to Fox’s, with 30 total statements aired (3% of the total). Media Matters determined that 40% of MSNBC’s statements (12 of 30) contained inaccurate information about CMP, abortion funding rules, Planned Parenthood’s services, or alleged abortion “extremism”-- making MSNBC the network that aired the lowest percent of inaccurate information about these four topics.

CNN aired the fewest statements about the four abortion-related topics, with only 21 out of 884 total statements (2%) across all networks. Notably, of these 21 statements, 14 contained misinformation about CMP, abortion funding rules, Planned Parenthood’s services, or alleged abortion “extremism” (67%).

Media Matters conducted a Nexis search of transcripts for evening cable news programming from March 1, 2018, through February 28, 2019. The following programs were included: CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett OutFront, Anderson Cooper 360, Cuomo Prime Time, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon; MSNBC’s MTP Daily, The Beat with Ari Melber, Hardball with Chris Matthews, All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, The 11th Hour with Brian Williams; Fox News’ The Five, Special Report with Bret Baier, The Story with Martha MacCallum, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, The Ingraham Angle, and Fox News @ Night.

For this study, Media Matters included only those segments where the stated topic of conversation was abortion or reproductive rights, or where “substantial discussion” of these topics occurred. We defined “substantial discussion” as that in which two or more speakers had at least one direct exchange on the topic. Host monologues were included when the speaker made two independent mentions of abortion or reproductive rights within the same segment. We did not include statements made in news or video clips in edited news packages except those made by a network correspondent. If news packages aired more than once, we coded only the first unique appearance.

The resulting 526 segments were then coded for the number of accurate or inaccurate statements each speaker made about four abortion-related topics: the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), abortion funding rules, Planned Parenthood’s services, and allegedly “extreme” abortion positions or procedures.