An Instagram post misleadingly claims a young rape victim can be “thrown in prison” for receiving an abortion in Alabama. Under a new law, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, criminal charges could be brought against doctors who perform abortions, but not women receiving them.
Q: When is the human heart fully developed, and when are heartbeats audible during pregnancy?
A: A developing heart has all of its primary structures after about nine weeks of pregnancy. Some forms of ultrasound can detect cardiac activity in an embryo in the sixth week, but a heartbeat wouldn’t be audible until about 10 weeks on a Doppler fetal monitor.
Over the course of 17 hours, President Donald Trump repeated 17 false and misleading claims that we have written about since he became president.
A website known for spreading misinformation writes that a man who cited religious reasons for not paying his income taxes “has won an historic lawsuit against the IRS.” That’s misleading. One charge was dropped, but four others have yet to be determined.
In the midst of a chickenpox outbreak in his state, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said that he had not vaccinated any of his children against the disease, choosing instead to purposely expose his kids to an infected person to get the chickenpox — a practice that public health officials say is dangerous.
Republicans and Democrats traded accusations on the topic of abortion after a “born-alive” bill failed in the Senate. Democrats say the legislation was unnecessary and aimed at restricting access to legal abortion, while Republicans say it was about protecting babies. We’ll go through what the recent legislation said and what both sides are saying about it.
A viral meme claims that Girl Scout cookies support Planned Parenthood, but the organization says it has no “relationship or partnership with Planned Parenthood.”
The president strayed from the facts, mainly on immigration and the economy.
Q: Does the new New York law allow full-term abortions?
A: The law permits abortions after 24 weeks if a health care professional determines the health or life of the mother is at risk, or the fetus is not viable.
Advocates for abortion rights are concerned that Judge Brett Kavanaugh could become the deciding vote in a future case to potentially overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognized a woman’s right to an abortion. We review the specific points raised by the Democrats and the facts in each case.