Third GOP presidential debate: fact-checking claims on fentanyl, abortion and China

Claims about Fentanyl

Ramaswamy: "There was enough fentanyl that was captured just on the northern border last year to kill 3 million Americans."

This needs context.

Toxicology experts have told us claims like this one assume that every American has the same chance of dying of a fentanyl overdose, which is not the case. Two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose, but lethality is affected by a person’s height and weight. To kill 3 million people would require about 13 pounds of fentanyl.

At the northern border, officials seized 14 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal 2022 and 2 pounds in fiscal 2023, which ended in September.

The vast majority of fentanyl seizures happen at official ports of entry at the southern border.

DeSantis: "If someone in the drug cartels is sneaking fentanyl across the border when I’m president, that’s going to be the last thing they do. We’re going to shoot them stone-cold dead."

Experts told us DeSantis’ proposal to send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border wouldn't lower fentanyl flow. And the use of deadly force against people trafficking fentanyl would likely violate domestic and international law.

Most fentanyl is seized at official ports of entry, CBP data shows. And in 2022, 89% of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers were U.S. citizens.

Sending troops across the U.S. southern border without Mexico’s consent would be considered an act of war, foreign policy experts told us, though they said it’s unlikely the Mexican government would declare war against the U.S.

Immigration officials may use deadly force, but "only when necessary" in situations in which someone poses "imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death" to those officials or other people. And killing people over suspicions that they are carrying drugs would be considered an extrajudicial killing, an expert told us.

Claims about Abortion

Ramaswamy: Ohio "passed a constitutional amendment that now effectively codifies a right to abortion all the way up to the time of birth without parental consent."

This is a misrepresentation. On Nov. 7, Ohioans voted yes on a ballot measure that will guarantee "every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproduction decisions," enshrining the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. The amendment allows for restrictions on abortion in pregnancy’s later weeks after a fetus is viable but requires exceptions for the mother’s life and health — a standard similar to Roe v. Wade.

Anti-abortion activists have argued that "health" left undefined could be interpreted to include a wide variety of issues, including finances. We found that claim False. An expert told us this interpretation differs from how most people, including physicians, have understood the term.

About 1% of abortions take place after 21 weeks, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show. The Ohio Department of Health reports similar numbers.

The amendment does not eliminate parental consent, as Ramaswamy said. Anti-abortion groups have argued that using the word "individual" in the bill could imperil parental consent because it does not distinguish between adults and minors. Legal analysis from the Ohio attorney general said defining "individual" would be left to the courts.

Scott: "Three out of four Americans agree with a 15-week limit" on abortion.

Survey data vary on this question.

A June 2023 poll sponsored by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an anti-abortion group, and conducted by the Tarrance Group, found that 77% of respondents said abortions should be prohibited at conception, after six weeks or after 15 weeks. But this poll was sponsored by a group with a position on the issue, and both questions told respondents that fetuses can feel pain at 15 weeks — an assertion that is not universal consensus among medical experts.

Independent polls varied on the question of an abortion ban after 15 weeks.

A July 2022 survey from Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies and the Harris Poll found that 23% of respondents said their state should ban abortion after 15 weeks, 12% said it should be banned at six weeks and 37% said it should be allowed only in cases of rape and incest. Collectively, that’s 72% who supported a ban at 15 weeks or less.

In two subsequent polls, the support for abortion at 15 weeks or less was less strong. A September 2022 Economist/YouGov poll found that 39% of respondents supported a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, and 46% opposed it. And a June 2023 Associated Press-NORC poll found that for abortion up to 15 weeks, 51% of respondents said they would allow it, and 45% said they would ban it.

Scott: States like California, New York and Illinois "allow for abortions up until the day of birth."

This is misleading.

Reproductive health experts say this rhetoric gives the impression that abortions often happen this late in a pregnancy. But this is not so, even in states with liberal abortion laws.

In California, New York and Illinois, abortion is legal up until fetal viability, or at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion in these states is also legal when the mother’s life is at risk.

About 91% of abortions in the U.S. occur in the first trimester. About 1% take place after 21 weeks, and less than 1% occur in the third trimester, according to the CDC.

Claims about China's military power

DeSantis: Haley "welcomed" China into South Carolina, "gave them land near a military base (and) wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were." 

DeSantis’s claims about the letter and the land are accurate. As South Carolina’s governor, Haley recruited multiple Chinese companies to the state, including a fiberglass company China Jushi, which has connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

China Jushi was given land in Richland County, about 5 miles from the U.S. Army’s Fort Jackson training center.

According to the contract between China Jushi, and Richland County, the company would receive nearly 200 free acres of land if it made certain investments, including creating a certain number of jobs. If the obligations weren’t met, China Jushi had to pay back part of the land’s $4.9 million value.

Haley wrote to Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai in 2014 during her governorship, according to Fox News. Fox reported that the letter said, "We consider your country a friend and are grateful for your contributions on the economic front."

Haley: A Chinese military plane manufacturer expanded two training sites at Florida airports, "one of which is 12 miles away from a naval base." 

This is accurate.

In 2022, Cirrus Aircraft — a subsidiary of China’s Aviation Industry Corp. — opened two locations in Florida, including one at the Orlando Executive Airport, around 12.7 miles from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division. The company manufactures planes, fighter jets and helicopters for the Chinese military.

The state of Florida also had other contracts with Chinese companies through its former business-recruitment agency, Enterprise Florida, which DeSantis dissolved earlier this year.

Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting DeSantis, told PolitiFact that Cirrus came to Florida "of their own accord" under an anonymous project name. The Washington Post Fact Checker reported that it found no evidence that DeSantis recruited the company or gave it any state incentives.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Third GOP debate: fact-checking claims on fentanyl, abortion, China