Snopes Falsely Claims Chelsea Clinton Never Said Aborting 60 Million Babies Was Good for the Economy
Micaiah Bilger Aug 21, 2018 | 11:09AM Washington, DC
The liberal fact-checking website Snopes attempted to debunk LifeNews' report this week about Chelsea Clinton's comments linking economic growth to 60 million unborn babies' abortion deaths.
Clinton herself has been trying to back away from her comment connecting Roe v. Wade to a $3.5 trillion boost in the economy. Tapping into the popular "abortion is economic justice" claims of the abortion industry, earlier this month, Clinton argued at a pro-abortion rally that American women made huge economic gains because of Roe v. Wade.
While the fact-checker Snopes said LifeNews and others correctly attributed the comments to Clinton, it split hairs about the way pro-life news outlets reported on Clinton's assertions.
Snopes came to Clinton's defense, writing, "Note that at no point did Clinton literally say that Roe v. Wade (much less tens of millions of abortions) added $3.5 trillion to the economy."
What Clinton said was this:
"It is not a disconnected fact — to address this t-shirt of 1973 — that American women entering the labor force from 1970 to 2009 added three-and-a-half trillion dollars to our economy. Right?
"The net, new entrance of women — that is not disconnected from the fact that Roe became the law of the land in January of 1973.
"So, I think, whatever it is that people say they care about, I think that you can connect to this issue. Of course, I would hope that they would care about our equal rights and dignity to make our own choices — but, if that is not sufficiently persuasive, hopefully some of these other arguments that you're hearing expressed so beautifully will be."
Snopes is being annoyingly pedantic. Clinton did not say verbatim that Roe v. Wade added $3.5 trillion to the economy, but her basic point was that the legalized killing of unborn babies was good for women and good for the economy. Twice, she said it is "not disconnected" that women's economic successes are a result of Roe v. Wade, which allowed abortions for basically any reason up to birth.
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Snopes also claims:
"Moreover, to suggest that Roe v. Wade made it possible for more women to join the workforce is not the same as saying that it was because they all had abortions. The mere fact that abortion services were accessible and provided women with an alternative to dropping out of the labor force if they became pregnant could have served as an encouragement to them, even if they never availed themselves of those services."
But this is exactly the argument that Clinton and other abortion activists make in defense of Roe. They openly claim abortion on demand is "economic justice," and women need abortions to achieve their education and career goals. Earlier this month on Twitter, Planned Parenthood even argued that abortion is "a vital pathway that affords women access to jobs, housing, education and wealth equality."
Abortion activists also champion stories of women who publicly brag that they achieved success because they chose to abort their unborn babies.
Snopes also does not give any evidence to support its claim that women feel freer to enter the workforce simply because they could have an abortion if they wanted one.
Finally, it concludes by back-stepping on its own "fact check."
"It's accurate to say that Chelsea Clinton asserted a connection between Roe v. Wade and an influx of women into the labor force that added three-and-a-half trillion dollars to the U.S. economy between 1970 and 2009," according to the fact check.
Yet, this is what LifeNews and other pro-life news outlets pointed out. Instead, Snopes should have fact checked Clinton's claim about the economic benefits of killing unborn babies. Research suggests the opposite of what Clinton claimed – that the abortion deaths of 60 million babies have hurt the American economy.