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NARAL's Research Team here. We've spent years tracking the anti-choice movement and right-wing extremists, like those who violently attacked the Capitol. What we saw this week was appalling, but not new or surprising if you understand their movement.
What took place at the Capitol this week was sparked by the extensive disinformation campaign waged by Trump and his cronies to undermine the 2020 election. Anti-choice leaders and news outlets were not only complicit in those efforts, they actively promoted them.
We weren’t shocked to see anti-choice leaders spreading disinformation they believed could benefit them politically—they do it all the time. What was horrific? Seeing people who regularly harass abortion providers and patients among the insurrectionists. https://bit.ly/2LfSMcL
Just days before he headed to DC to mount an attack on our country, Elijah Schaffer was reposting anti-choice disinformation. And he was far from the only anti-choice extremist who was part of the violent mob.
Clinic protester and “Baby Lives Matter” founder Tayler Hanson was caught filming inside the capitol and is now *shockingly* pushing antifa conspiracy theories. Derrick Evans, who is so militant that abortion providers had to file a restraining order, livestreamed the attack.
We *literally* wrote the book on how the anti-choice movement crafted its rhetoric and disinformation to trigger anger and stoke outrage among its audience. And what resulted? Murders, bombings, stalking, assaults—all against abortion providers trying to care for their patients.
We've long known the violence that the anti-choice movement is capable of stoking. Yet its leaders have never truly been forced to reckon with the impacts of their extreme and false rhetoric. After the events of this week, it's clear that MUST change.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, we continue to see anti-choice groups parroting the same inflammatory language as usual. Worse, many are promoting conspiracy theories about the insurrection or erroneously claiming that abortion care is to blame for the violence. This is unacceptable.
Hollow statements by anti-choice leaders "condemning" violence are not enough. It is past time that politicians, journalists, and tech companies start holding them accountable for their disinformation and rhetoric that fans the flames of extremism and endangers real people.
Frankly, the anti-choice movement has done nothing to deserve the benefit of the doubt. It knowingly spreads disinformation that fuels extremists' violent fantasies. We won't stop speaking up about it and supporting the abortion providers who feel its impacts every day.
If you want to learn more about the history of anti-choice extremism and violence, the fifth episode of our podcast, The Lie that Binds, is a great place to start. Listen here: https://apple.co/2Xq0tQh
