Sean Hannity's Gaslighting Post-Election Abortion Claim Doesn't Fool Onlookers

Josephine Harvey
·4 min read
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In the face of resounding victories for abortion rights in Tuesday’s elections, Sean Hannity quickly started rewriting facts for Fox News viewers.

“Democrats are trying to scare women into thinking Republicans don’t want abortion legal under any circumstances,” the host said Tuesday night.

As many commenters pointed out on social media, the main reason for that perception is probably because it’s true in many cases.

Since the majority-conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, ending federal protections for abortion, Republicans in nearly two dozen states have moved to ban or heavily restrict access to abortions.

Former President Donald Trump, the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, had pledged in 2016 to appoint justices to the court that would overturn the landmark abortion case. He did.

In Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, abortion is now banned in almost all circumstances.

In Georgia and South Carolina, abortion is banned after six weeks of pregnancy. Other states have bans after 12, 15 or 18 weeks.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), who Republicans just unanimously elected House speaker, has a long anti-abortion record, and co-sponsored a bill in 2021 that would have nationally prohibited abortion past about six weeks of pregnancy, when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant yet.

Hannity said he considers himself “pro-life,” but acquiesced “that’s not where the country is,” and insisted that, based on his recent interview with Johnson, the issue would be left up to the states.

Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt followed up Hannity’s remarks with a deluge of misinformation, misleadingly claiming that Democrats support abortion up to the point of birth and “possibly beyond.” This is a frequent misrepresentation made by Republicans about abortions in the later stages of pregnancy, which are exceptionally rare and usually occur due to medical reasons or fetal anomalies.

Hannity’s remark got a swift fact-check from commentators online, including former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who pointed out the law in her state:

See some of the other reactions below.

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