The fact-checking web site Snopes is increasingly becoming an abortion apologist and has been caught once again misleading on abortion.
This time, Snopes was caught misleading about a pro-abortion candidate in Arizona who voted to support abortions up to birth. As LifeNews reported before the midterm election, two pro-life groups announced a ground campaign to expose Rep. Kyrsten Sinema’s extreme views on abortion.
“When it comes to abortion, Rep. Sinema could not be more out of step with her pro-life constituents. She has voted repeatedly to continue sending tax dollars to the country’s biggest abortion business, Planned Parenthood. She even voted against a compassionate popular measure to stop abortion after five months, a point by which unborn babies can feel pain,” said SBA List’s National Campaign Chair Jill Stanek, who, as a nurse, witnessed late term babies being born alive during abortion procedures and then left to die.
Desperately attempting to prove LifeNews wrong, Snopes gave LifeNews a false rating. Its article claimed:
The article did not cite evidence of Sinema’s having voted specifically to allow abortion up to birth. The “measure to stop abortion after five months” which Jill Stanek referred to in her remarks was H.B. 2036, a 2012 bill that, along with several other provisions, would have made it a misdemeanor crime for any medical professional to perform an abortion on a fetus after five months in the absence of extenuating medical circumstances.
But Snopes doesn’t even get the legislation correct and the author of the so-called rebuttal article spends the entire article discussing legislation unrelated to the 2017 bill Sinema voted against that puts her on record as supporting abortions up to birth.
The LifeNews report does not refer to legislation in the Arizona State Legislature. It refers to a Congressional bill, HR 36, that Sinema voted against that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. On October 3, 2017, the House of Representatives approved a pro-life bill that bans abortions from after 20-weeks of pregnancy up to the day of birth. The vote for the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act broke down on mostly partisan lines with Republicans supporting the ban on late-term abortions and Democrats opposing it.
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The House approved the bill on a 237-189 vote — but Sinema voted against it, as Congressional records clearly show. By virtue of opposing the bill, Sinema leaves in place abortion up to birth in those states that do not ban late-term abortions, just as LifeNews correctly reported.
Snopes has made numerous false or misleading claims on abortion recently.
This year, Snopes tried and failed to debunk LifeNews’ report about Chelsea Clinton’s comments linking economic growth to 60 million unborn babies’ abortion deaths. Last year, Snopes falsely claimed pro-lifers are wrong to say Planned Parenthood lied about providing prenatal care. And Snopes has filed misleading reports defending Planned Parenthood as noting more than a “nonprofit business” despite it making millions from abortions.
Snopes should stick to debunking rumors and conspiracy theories at it clearly doesn’t understand abortion or, at worse, is little more than a mouthpiece for the abortion industry. Either way, it’s “analysis” on abortion shouldn’t be taken seriously.
