FACT CHECK: DID KAVANAUGH SUGGEST THAT CONTRACEPTIVES ARE ‘ABORTION-INDUCING DRUGS’?

Politicians, news outlets and advocacy groups claimed that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh considers contraceptives to be “abortion-inducing drugs.”

Verdict: Unsubstantiated

Remarks by Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing Thursday were taken out of context by certain organizations that did not quote him in full.

In context, Kavanaugh was stating the argument made by a religious employer in a case on contraception access. Since he used the term “abortion-inducing drugs” uncritically in his characterization of the case, some question whether Kavanaugh himself believes that birth control causes abortion.

Fact Check:

During his third day of Senate confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh was asked about a 2015 case challenging the contraceptives mandate in Obamacare. Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion in the case that expressed sympathy for the Catholic organization Priests for Life.

“Can you tell this committee about that case and your opinion there?” asked Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

“It was a technical matter of filling out a form,” Kavanaugh responded, referring to a religious exemption to the mandate. “In that case, they said filling out the form would make them complicit in the provision of the abortion-inducing drugs that they were, as a religious matter, objected to.”

Democrats seized on Kavanaugh’s use of the term “abortion-inducing drugs” in the days following.

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