Q&A on the Medication Abortion Court Rulings - FactCheck.org

  • Bias Rating

    50% Moderately Conservative

  • Reliability

    90% ReliableExcellent

  • Policy Leaning

    50% Moderately Conservative

  • Politician Portrayal

    74% Negative

Bias Score Analysis

The A.I. bias rating includes policy and politician portrayal leanings based on the author’s tone found in the article using machine learning. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral.

Sentiments

Overall Sentiment

N/A

  •   Liberal
  •   Conservative
SentenceSentimentBias
"Kacsmaryk, though, wrote that [c]ompelling evidence suggests the FDA's statistics on adverse events understate the negative impact the chemical abortion regimen has on women and girls, using terminology for the two-drug regimen preferred by anti-abortion advocates."
Positive
26% Conservative
"Abortion is legal in all of those states."
Negative
-4% Liberal
"Another contributing factor, Heikinheimo said, is that abortion is a public health service in Finland, so women had a low threshold of attending medical care, without significant expenses to them and no need to travel long distances."
Negative
-8% Liberal
"Yes, in states where abortion is legal."
Negative
-8% Liberal
"There are many legal claims in this case, but David S. Cohen, a professor of law at Drexel University and an expert in legal issues concerning abortion, explained to us that there were three main claims in Kacsmaryk's April 7 ruling in the District Court: that mifepristone isn't safe, that the FDA incorrectly used a regulation in approving it, and that the FDA violated an 1873 law that would ban the mailing of the drug."
Negative
-10% Liberal
"Abortion would be harder to access, less private & more expensive."
Negative
-12% Liberal
"Cohen equated the concept to law enforcement not having the resources to pull over everyone who drives 65 miles per hour in a 55 speed-limit zone, so they have to prioritize their resources."
Negative
-14% Liberal
"Law enforcement agencies are always using enforcement discretion ... to say we're going to go after the offenses that really matter, he said in a phone interview."
Negative
-16% Liberal
"While FDA's approved mifepristone regimen requires misoprostol, misoprostol is not FDA-approved for abortion, so technically it is used off-label for that purpose."
Negative
-22% Liberal
"Moreover, other research, including the most rigorous work, has not found that abortion causes mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, or leads to drug use, as some have proposed."
Negative
-24% Liberal
"(Thirteen states have outlawed abortion, according to the New York Times' tracking of such laws.)"
Negative
-26% Liberal
"That was five months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe in a 5-4 ruling that said the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion ... and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives."
Negative
-36% Liberal
"Even if the FDA doesn't issue a statement saying it won't enforcement the pre-2016 requirements, some providers may decide that practically, the FDA is unlikely to target them under [President Joe] Biden, Donley said."
Negative
-18% Liberal
"The ruling by Rice, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, doesn't change the FDA's restrictions under REMS."
Negative
-24% Liberal
"On April 7, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, sided with the plaintiffs' arguments, ordering a stay, or suspension, of the approval and subsequent actions related to it."
Negative
-26% Liberal
"The three-judge panel -- two appointed by Trump and one by former president George W. Bush -- said the anti-abortion groups had waited too long to file suit against the FDA's 2000 approval of mifepristone, so that couldn't be suspended."
Negative
-26% Liberal

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-100%
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100%
Conservative

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

63% : Kacsmaryk, though, wrote that "[c]ompelling evidence suggests" the FDA's statistics on adverse events "understate the negative impact the chemical abortion regimen has on women and girls," using terminology for the two-drug regimen preferred by anti-abortion advocates.
48% : Abortion is legal in all of those states.
46% : Another contributing factor, Heikinheimo said, is that abortion is a public health service in Finland, so "women had a low threshold of attending medical care, without significant expenses to them and no need to travel long distances."
46% : Yes, in states where abortion is legal.
45% : There are many legal claims in this case, but David S. Cohen, a professor of law at Drexel University and an expert in legal issues concerning abortion, explained to us that there were three main claims in Kacsmaryk's April 7 ruling in the District Court: that mifepristone isn't safe, that the FDA incorrectly used a regulation in approving it, and that the FDA violated an 1873 law that would ban the mailing of the drug.
44% : Abortion would be harder to access, less private & more expensive.
43% : Cohen equated the concept to law enforcement not having the resources to pull over everyone who drives 65 miles per hour in a 55 speed-limit zone, so they have to prioritize their resources.
42% : "Law enforcement agencies are always using enforcement discretion ... to say we're going to go after the offenses that really matter," he said in a phone interview.
39% : While FDA's approved mifepristone regimen requires misoprostol, misoprostol is not FDA-approved for abortion, so technically it is used off-label for that purpose.
38% : Moreover, other research, including the most rigorous work, has not found that abortion causes mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, or leads to drug use, as some have proposed.
37% : (Thirteen states have outlawed abortion, according to the New York Times' tracking of such laws.)
32% : That was five months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe in a 5-4 ruling that said the "Constitution does not confer a right to abortion ... and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives."

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.

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