UltraViolet Slams the GOP, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, & Washington Post for Media Coverage After Ten-Year-Old Rape Survivor Impregnated by Her Attacker Sought Abortion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 14, 2022
CONTACT: Anna Zuccaro | anna@unbendablemedia.com
UltraViolet Slams the GOP, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, & Washington Post for Media Coverage After Ten-Year-Old Rape Survivor Impregnated by Her Attacker Sought Abortion
Last week, a ten-year-old girl who became pregnant after surviving rape was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion after she was denied the procedure in her home state of Ohio.
In response, Bridget Todd, communications director of UltraViolet, a leader national gender equity advocacy organization, issued the following statement criticizing the GOP, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post for their comments on the topic:
“The GOP, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post spewed flagrantly offensive, bogus comments to millions of people about a ten-year-old girl who was raped, impregnated by her attacker, and subsequently sought an abortion in her home state of Ohio. Their remarks and the media coverage surrounding them are appalling and unacceptable from a moral and journalistic perspective.
“Because of abortion bans passed in Ohio by Republicans, a ten-year-old girl was forced to travel across state lines to access a legal medical abortion. This in itself is horrific. Fox News then reported the abortion provider’s name and showed her photo, labeled her an ‘activist’ and implied she should be arrested. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page published a full piece calling this disturbing story a ‘fanciful tale.’ The Washington Post did the GOP’s bidding, stating the story had ‘one source’ and ‘couldn’t be corroborated,’ despite confirmation the child was raped and impregnated both before and after she was provided an abortion.
“To be clear, right-wing anti-abortion extremists intentionally spread disinformation about a ten-year-old girl who was raped, impregnated by her attacker and forced out of state to access an abortion. So much of the media coverage resulting from this occurrence was heavily manipulated by the GOP to spread disinformation about lifesaving reproductive healthcare.
“The dangers of unchecked disinformation that is spun, supported, and rammed into the public sphere by Republican politicians, Fox news and legacy media is causing real, lasting damage in this country. We must find better ways to hold news editors, reporters, and media executives responsible for allowing this kind of volatile and factually inaccurate content online and on the air.”
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