Quick Fact: Beck repeats PolitiFact “Lie of the Year” contender: Holdren supported “forced abortions”

Written by Jeremy Holden

Published

Glenn Beck repeated his false claim that White House science and technology adviser John Holdren -- whom Beck called “our science czar” -- supported forced abortions and putting sterilants in drinking water. PolitiFact previously declared his claim “pants on fire” false and nominated it for “Lie of the Year,” stating that Holdren and his coauthors “make clear that they did not support coercive means of population control.”

From Beck's December 11 Premiere Radio Networks' show:

BECK: Look at the character of the people. John Holdren, our science czar. If there's a population explosion, I can help you reduce the population, through sterilants in drinking water and forced abortions. Now, he's said, “Well that -- that was at a time when we thought the population explosion. That was in the 70s, and it was a time of the pop” - but he's never said that it was a crazy idea. Never. He says the population thing didn't happen, not that even if the population thing did happen, we shouldn't put sterilants in drinking water. [The Glenn Beck Program, 12/11/09]

Fact: PolitiFact.com previously gave Beck's Holdren claims “pants on fire” status

PolitiFact.com: "[T]he authors make clear that they did not support coercive means of population control." Responding to Beck's July 22 claim that Holdren “proposed forced abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population,” the website PolitiFact.com concluded that “the text of the book” at the root of Becks' falsehood “clearly does not support that. We think a thorough reading shows that these were ideas presented as approaches that had been discussed. They were not posed as suggestions or proposals. In fact, the authors make clear that they did not support coercive means of population control. Certainly, nowhere in the book do the authors advocate for forced abortions.” PolitiFact gave Beck's claim “pants on fire” status. Indeed, Holdren and his co-authors advocated for noncoercive means of population control.

Falsehood under consideration for PolitiFact's “Lie of the Year.” In a December 9 post, PolitiFact stated, “You've heard of the Person of the Year and the Sportsman of the Year -- get ready for PolitiFact's Lie of the Year.” PolitiFact further stated that they are “inviting PolitiFact readers to vote on the most important lie,” from a list of 8 false claims that includes Beck's Holdren falsehood. [PolitiFact, 12/09/09]