Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tweeted out a false claim about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday.
The 2016 presidential candidate claimed that Kavanaugh referred to birth control pills as “abortion-inducing drugs” and warned that it was a “dog whistle to the extreme right.”
I want to be sure we’re all clear about something that Brett Kavanaugh said in his confirmation hearings last week. He referred to birth-control pills as “abortion-inducing drugs.” That set off a lot of alarm bells for me, and it should for you, too.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 12, 2018
Kavanaugh didn’t use that term because he misunderstands the basic science of birth control—the fact that birth control prevents fertilization of eggs in the first place. He used that term because it’s a dog whistle to the extreme right.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 12, 2018
When Kavanaugh called birth control “abortion-inducing drugs,” he made it clear that safe and legal abortion isn’t the only fundamental reproductive right at grave risk if he is confirmed. Access to birth control is, too.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 12, 2018
The claim that Kavanaugh called birth control “abortion-inducing” has been deemed not accurate by multiple fact-checking organizations, including PolitiFact. (RELATED: Fact Check: Did Kavanaugh Suggest That Contraceptives Are Abortion-Inducing Drugs?)
“[Kavanaugh] was citing the definition of the religious group Priests for Life” when he referred to contraceptives as “abortion-inducing,” PolitiFact explained. “He has not expressed his personal view.”
The claim originated from an edited video clip used by California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris. Harris’ clip showed Kavanaugh stating, “Filling out the form would make [Priests for Life] complicit in the provision of the abortion-inducing drugs that they were — as a religious matter, objected to.”
Kavanaugh’s full statement, however, was, “They said filling out the form would make them complicit in the provision of the abortion-inducing drugs that they were, as a religious matter, objecting to.”
Sen. Harris’ clip seemed to intentionally leave out the “they said,” which made clear that Kavanaugh was characterizing someone else’s argument rather than his own.