CNN’s Tom Foreman is an award winning fact checker, but on Thursday’s CNN Newsroom he spread some fake news about Texas’s new pro-life law, declaring that it is now a felony to provide an abortion in order save the life of the mother. In the next hour, host Poppy Harlow would contradict him while teeing up another pro-abortion segment.
Foreman’s official CNN biography states, “He leads the network’s fact checking initiative and in 2013 Foreman and the fact checking team were awarded the Walter Cronkite/Brooks Jackson Award.”
However, no amount of accolades prevented Foreman from reporting some falsehoods about the Texas law. Recapping some recent court cases about the laws, Foreman declared, “Texas had a different outcome there, it is now a punishable felony in Texas which could be life in prison if somebody performs an abortion to save the life of a pregnant person. The argument there is that this is just not a decision they're going to accept in the court.”
Under the exceptions section of HB 1280, it is clearly stated that abortions for, “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy” are not banned.
Roughly 40 minutes later, hosts Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow returned to the subject of abortion and while Harlow did not call out Foreman by name or inform viewers that he spread fake news, she did provide the correct information, “This morning abortion laws take effect in three states, Texas, Idaho, and Tennessee. Effectively banning the procedure with few exceptions. In Texas, abortions are now illegal unless the mother is at risk of death or bodily impairment. There are no exceptions in this law for rape or incest.”
While it was good Harlow provided factually correct information, it was immediately followed by a softball interview with President & CEO of Choices: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, Jennifer Pepper, where there were plenty of lamentations about how it is now very difficult to get an abortion in Tennessee.
Foreman’s fake news was sponsored by Samsung.
Here is a transcript for the August 25 show:
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
8/25/2022
9:52 AM ET
TOM FOREMAN: Texas had a different outcome there, it is now a punishable felony in Texas which could be life in prison if somebody performs an abortion to save the life of a pregnant person. The argument there is that this is just not a decision they're going to accept in the court. Now, there are concerns there because life in prison, plus a $100,000 civil fine, potentially, even some of the county attorneys general, those groups have started to say we're not sure that this really will work, or this can really be done this way. Bottom line is, it’s stepping up in all the states that are stopping abortions.
…
10:31
POPPY HARLOW: Welcome back. This morning abortion laws take effect in three states, Texas, Idaho, and Tennessee. Effectively banning the procedure with few exceptions. In Texas, abortions are now illegal unless the mother is at risk of death or bodily impairment. There are no exceptions in this law for rape or incest.
