During the daily segment on MSNBC’s Hardball entitled “Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know” on Tuesday, longtime British journalist and former Newsweek head Tina Brown touted the widely debunked claim that “over 100,000 women in Texas have tried to self-abort” since 2011 due to pro-life legislation.
Host Chris Matthews began the segment by gushing that Tina Brown knows “so many things I don’t know,” but gave her the floor to put that claim to the test.
Brown first complimented Matthews for being “the man who took down Trump over abortion” so she extrapolated that he’d be interested to know “a great abortion factoid” courtesy of none other than Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards.
She then continued with this dubious claim: “Since 2011 when Rick Perry, the governor began signing legislation that closed down more than half the abortion providers in the state, over 100,000 women in Texas have tried to self-abort.”
When Brown added that “sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t” but is “a terrible scary thing” regardless (and not considering the horror the child being murdered experienced), Matthews screamed: “Please don't do it! Don’t do it!”
Spoken a firm pro-choicer, Brown agreed with Matthews but lamented that such behavior is a byproduct of legislation that began under then-Republican Governor Rick Perry: “Don’t do it, but it just shows, you know, you can't say exact cause and effect but you can certainly say it's an ugly fact.”
Now, the claim about 100,000 Texas women resulting to hideous “self-abortions” surfaced in November 2015 and while the liberal media proudly touted the study, others in the media diligently exposed this falsehood.
According to a November 20, 2015 piece on The Federalist from Nicole Russell, the University of Texas at Austin team behind the statistic has had a long track record of boosting the abortion side.
Also, Russell outlined how the researchers employed a method of surveying that included participants guessing the likelihood that friends of their had ever conducted an abortion on their own.
Further, NewsBusters contributing writer Bryan Ballas penned a piece dated November 26 that comprehensively laid out the media’s infatuation with the study and how they ignored the finer details. One such article Ballas highlighted came from a discrepancy that LifeNews.com noticed:
The numbers almost certainly are a gross exaggeration. According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, there were 73,000 abortions in 2011 in Texas before the laws took effect. The study’s estimates that abortions increased up to 240,000 after the pro-life laws were passed seems extremely unlikely.
The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 12 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews
April 12, 2016
7:53 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Tina Brown, tell me something — you know so many things I don’t know, so —
TINA BROWN: Well, listen, as the man who took down Trump over abortion, I have a great abortion factoid for you from Cecile Richards, who was at Women in the [INAUDIBLE].
MATTHEWS: Yes, we know her.
BROWN: Since 2011 when Rick Perry, the governor began signing legislation that closed down more than half the abortion providers in the state, over 100,000 women in Texas have tried to self-abort.
MATTHEWS: No. To what effect?
BROWN: Well, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but you know, it’s a terrible, scary thing.
MATTHEWS: Please don't do it. Don’t do it.
BROWN: Don’t do it, but it just shows, you know, you can't say exact cause and effect but you can certainly say it's an ugly fact.
