Sometimes we come across potential fact checks that are so easily reviewed that it hardly seems worth the trouble. But at the same time, it’s important to set the record straight.
In this case, we have a matched pair of Four-Pinocchio claims on abortion made by lawmakers, one by a Democrat and the other by a Republican. In both cases, the spokesperson for the lawmaker refused to respond to our questions — usually a good sign that the lawmaker messed up.
“ ‘The extreme left is taking over’ WHERE. In Texas, Republicans passed a law allowing rapists to sue their victims for getting an abortion. Can anyone name a ‘far left’ policy that extreme implemented anywhere? We can’t even get our party to import cheaper RXs from Canada. foh.”
This tweet, like much of Ocasio-Cortez’s social media, quickly went viral, earning about 35,000 retweets and more than 200,000 likes. It’s mostly a gripe about how she thinks the right is more extreme than the left, but at its core the tweet makes a claim that is false — that a Texas law passed in 2021 allows rapists to sue victims for getting an abortion.
We checked the law, which has a near-total ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and empowers citizens to sue abortion providers and people who assist with abortions. It says: “Notwithstanding any other law, a civil action under this section may not be brought by a person who impregnated the abortion patient through an act of rape, sexual assault, incest, or any other act prohibited...
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