PolitiFact used an equivocal argument in an Aug. 12, 2022 fact check rating a tweet from Libs of TikTok as “False.” Zebra Fact Check sent PolitiFact a correction request to PolitiFact on Aug. 16, 2022. PolitiFact sent its standardized reply the same minute we sent the correction request.
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
Your Aug. 12, 2022 fact check of an Aug. 11, 2022 tweet from Libs of TikTok commits a blatant fallacy of equivocation.
Where the tweet PolitiFact ostensibly fact checked refers to availability of “gender-affirming” hysterectomies for “young girls,” your fact check trades wastes no time trading that term for a different one: “children.”
It’s not apparent that they mean the same thing.
Noun 1. young girl - a girl or young woman who is unmarried child
1.
a. A person between birth and puberty.
b. A person who has not attained maturity or the age of legal majority.
The equivocation occurs in the introductory paragraphs and persists through the end of the fact check. Intro (bold emphasis added):
A viral tweet falsely claims that a pediatric hospital is offering surgical treatment for transgender children.
“Boston Children’s Hospital is now offering ‘gender-affirming hysterectomies’ for young girls,” read an Aug. 11 tweet from Libs of TikTok, a conservative Twitter account with more than 1 million followers.
Compounding the error, the Aug. 10, 2022 version of Boston Children’s Hospital’s web page says it offers gender-affirming vaginoplasty from the age of 17. Seventeen meets one of the two above definitions of “children.” That makes the first sentence of your fact check a false statement aside from the later equivocation. It also suggests Boston Children’s Hospital tried to cover up evidence it performs gender-affirming surgery on individuals under 18, as versions of the page archived on or after Aug. 12, 2022 raise the minimum age to 18.
You could properly fix the opening line by changing it to “A viral tweet correctly claims that a pediatric hospital is offering surgical treatment for transgender children.” The change would, of course, represent a challenge to the fact check’s “Truth-O-Meter” rating.
Removing the equivocation, in other words keeping “young girls” instead of illicitly changing it to “children,” leaves the claim in the tweet true. An 18-year-old girl may be considered a young girl, and hospital policy permitting gender-affirming hysterectomies for those 18 and up makes the statement true.
Please correct the error in keeping with PolitiFact’s commitment to an open and honest corrections policy.
PolitiFact should consider action to decrease the frequency of equivocal arguments in its fact checks.
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Thanks,
PolitiFact team