Congressman Mike Quigley, D-Ill., sent a factually false tweet Tuesday, implying there’s been a wave of violence against abortion facilities in the past 5 years. In reality, the data he cited cover the past 39 years.
“11 murders, 26 attempted murders, 42 bombings & 185 arsons against abortion clinics & doctors since 2011,” Quigley tweeted, with a link to an article on The Establishment. The tweet was eventually deleted and replaced with a correction.
It’s unclear how Quigley (or perhaps a staff member) made the error, which his staff calls an “unfortunate drafting error.” The article says exactly what he tweeted, but with the words “since 1977” instead of “since 2011.” Nowhere does the article say anything at all about 2011.
The article was already biased enough, but Quigley’s error, whether intentional or not, would be laughable if it weren’t so sad.
Pro-life advocates will note that, even if Quigley’s claim were accurate, it’s small peanuts compared to the roughly one million abortions that take place every year.
Of course, violence against abortion facilities is completely inexcusable: The best way to advance the pro-life cause is by changing hearts and minds, not through conflict. But there hasn’t been a wave of violence against abortion facilities in recent years, and spreading misinformation about it doesn’t help anybody.
Update: This piece was updated after Quigley deleted the initial tweet and sent the corrected one.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
