Fox News falsely and blatantly misrepresented the amount of tax payer money allocated for abortions at the low-income haven for women, Planned Parenthood. Commentators on the popular program "Fox & Friends" implied falsely on the morning broadcast of Jan. 8 that the entire budget for Planned Parenthood was available for use towards abortion. The reality is only 3% of the total operating budget is allocated for all abortion related services, including public education.
Steve Doocy, longtime Fox host, who was featured in this column previously for having admitted to lying about President Obama on the air, has been at it again with a new flub for 2013. While commenting on a the freshly released financial report from Planned Parenthood, Doocy noted that the organization's funding had risen to $542 million. He concluded that meant "a lot of abortions."
He then passed the conversation to conservative commentator Laura Ingraham who continued the false attack, claiming that abortion is a "growth industry." She went on to say that Planned Parenthood generates "$400-something million off of the abortion procedure."
The comments by Doocy and Ingraham are easily disproved, but Fox News depends on their viewing audience to believe what they are told. These talking points have been previously debunked by Ezra Klein at The Washington Post whose analysis found Planned Parenthood to only spend 3% of their operating budget on abortions. Where does Planned Parenthood's budget actually go?
- 35% STD Testing
- 35% Contraception
- 16% Cancer Screening
- 10% Misc Women's Health Services
- 3% Abortion Services
- 1% Other Services
The true number that eludes Fox News is more in the range of $15 million, not $500 million. Yet 15 does not quite have the same ominous ring as 500 does. Try harder next time, Fox News.
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