AP Fact Check failed to act in response to Zebra Fact Check’s correction request noting the former’s fallacy of equivocation in an abortion fact check. Accordingly, we sent a complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network noting AP Fact Check’s failure to scrupulously follow an open and honest corrections policy.
Note: The embedded document differs from the one sent to the IFCN in that the third paragraph contains a “[sic]” to show we recognized our use of “live” where “life” was intended.
Dear IFCN,
AP Fact Check’s attempt to fact check the claim “abortion is never medically necessary” suffers from a fallacy of equivocation. “Abortion” carries a range of meaning, including but not limited to a procedure to terminate a pregnancy and a procedure to end a pregnancy with the aim of preventing live delivery.
The original claim, for which AP Fact Check neither provided a link nor the name of its source, used “abortion” the way so-called “anti-abortion” groups typically use it: to describe a procedure aimed at preventing live delivery. I identified the source of the claim as coming from the group “Live Action” and documented the location in an article under the title “Is abortion ever medically necessary? Second-guessing AP Fact Check.”
So-called “anti-abortion” groups tend not to opposed procedures used to save a mother’s live that incidentally result in the death of the embryo or fetus. By what right does the Associated Press call them “anti-abortion” if the term in that context doesn’t mean what AP Fact Check says it means?
Self-contradiction isn’t okay in fact-checking.
I sent a correction request to AP Fact Check on July 14, 2022. As of Aug. 2, 2022, AP Fact Check had made no apparent effort to correct its fallacy of equivocation and likewise no apparent effort to defend its work. AP Fact Check also offered no response when I attempted to follow its policy on error-reporting by trying to contact the writer and a supervisor before submitting a correction request. It’s worth noting that AP Fact Check instructs the complainant to contact the writer and a supervisor while failing to provide contact information for its staff. My attempt to obtain individual contact information through the main email address failed to bear fruit.
I submit this case to the International Fact-Checking Network as AP Fact Check’s failure to scrupulously adhere to an open and honest policy on corrections.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.