'Alternative facts' and the anti-abortion movement
The recent statements by President Trump's Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, and Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, have launched a national discussion about the nature of "facts."
Defending patently false statements made by the administration, Conway stated on national television last week that they were simply offering "alternative facts." It didn't take long after that for sales of George Orwell's novel 1984 to skyrocket, memes to multiply and t-shirt designs to proliferate on Etsy.
As this new administration begins, people across the country are worried - what kind of dystopian future is this?
One doesn't need to look to 1984 to imagine what an "alternative fact"- filled administration might produce.
Dangerous "alternative facts" have been the norm in anti-abortion advocacy for decades. Conway herself is a long-time opponent of abortion rights and is a featured speaker at the annual March for Life in Washington today, alongside Vice President Mike Pence.
Conway, Pence and their "alternative facts" must feel right at home. Since Roe v. Wade first guaranteed the right to abortion throughout the United States 44 years ago, opponents of abortion have been systematically working to establish their own "alternative facts" and have turned those lies into harmful laws.
In the years since Roe, states have quietly enacted more than 1,100 abortion restrictions - nearly one third of those just since 2010. This proliferation of anti-abortion laws based on lies runs the gamut from the offensive to the intrusive to the absurd.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/alternative-facts-and-the-anti-abortion-movement/ar-AAmiTJA?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp
