“There [Biden] is lecturing us about Roe v. Wade, the sacred 5-4 ruling that invented the right to abortion out of nothing,” Fox News host and worst advertisement for La Jolla Day School Tucker Carlson declared.
Roe, in fact, was a 7-2 decision in 1973 and had significant conservative support–when conservatives supported privacy laws and small government. And the ruling was based in the Fourteenth Amendment, not “invented … out of nothing.”
So I thought I’d call Fox News to let them know they got it wrong.
In my first call to their office, I asked to speak directly to Tucker Carlson’s producer. I was going to give him the opportunity to have Tuck’ems correct the record. The receptionist forwarded me to a prerecorded menu for a customer service line which helpfully had a number of options on how to fix your cable TV or how you can join Fox News Insider.
I hung up and called back, when I had this exchange with another receptionist.
“Hi. I’d like to speak to a fact checker.”
“A what?”
“A fact checker. Do you have a fact checker there?”
[Pause] “No…. I don’t have that in my directory.”
Tucker went on to say the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday night on the new Texas law that allows any citizens to collect fines from people who assisted a woman get an abortion after six weeks. In fact, the ruling simply denied an emergency injunction. It made no judgement on the legitimacy of the law.
If you would like to help Fox News fact check, the phone number is (212) 301-3000.