The story was a lie. Ginned up by one person for political effect.
The Washington Post’s fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, finally tried to fact-check the highly suspicious tale of the 10-year-old reported to have had to travel to Indiana for an abortion due to abortion restrictions in Ohio. The story first appeared in the Indianapolis Star and quickly went viral. Why did he wait so long? I had the story on July 5 in a tweet showing my research into the story that relied on one highly biased source named Dr. Caitlin Bernard.
Today is July 9, and the WaPo finally decided to weigh in.
“Patients head to Indiana for abortion services as other states restrict care,” the article was headlined. That was a benign headline. But it was the anecdotal beginning that caught the attention of other news organizations.
Kessler didn’t bother to name those “other news organizations,” which were literally me, myself, and I. After my tweet showing my research into this story that didn’t add up went viral, the only news about it linked to my research. Kessler didn’t bother to give me any credit for that. It probably hurt too much to admit that a conservative news outlet and an independent journalist smoked the Washington Post.
On the same day as my research into what I believe is a political hit job, the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin (who, unbelievably, used to work here) wrote a hysterical opinion piece on the “forced births” that furthered its spread. Kessler didn’t bother to fact-check the story at that time. He let Rubin’s piece run without question as she relied on the thin tale to spread her pro-abortion propaganda.
Two Republican governors, Kristi L. Noem of South Dakota and Tate Reeves of Mississippi, were asked on Sunday news talk shows about the case of a 10-year-old girl impregnated by her rapist. Are they really insisting that, regardless of the physical harm that giving birth could cause someone so young, the child be further tormented and forced to have the baby? Yes…The monstrous cruelty of such bills shows how little many conservatives care about the well-being of women and girls who have already experienced the unbelievable trauma of sexual violence.
It took four more days, my viral tweet, Joe Biden weighing in, and a RealClearPolitics reporter asking the White House press secretary about it for Kessler to get interested in fact-checking this story. He didn’t do a terrible job. With the headline that says “A one-source story about a 10-year-old and an abortion goes viral,” Kessler threw cold water on Dr. Bernard’s claims.
The only source cited for the anecdote was Bernard. She’s on the record, but there is no indication that the newspaper made other attempts to confirm her account. The story’s lead reporter, Shari Rudavsky, did not respond to a query asking whether additional sourcing was obtained. A Gannett spokeswoman provided a comment from Bro Krift, the newspaper’s executive editor: “The facts and sourcing about people crossing state lines into Indiana, including the 10-year-old girl, for abortions are clear. We have no additional comment at this time.”
Rudavsky never responded to me either; nor did Krift. Krift’s response to the Post is pretty revealing. He refused to answer direct questions about how the information was vetted. I can’t resist: Clearly, Bro, the info isn’t “clear,” or you wouldn’t have the WaPo, Snopes, and a hundred other outlets asking you to clarify your vetting process.