Dan Le Batard Lies About Roe V. Wade

The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe V. Wade has led to a host of reactions, ranging from from pro-life groups celebrating the announcement, to disturbing protests at private homes, to prominent sports figures engaging in remarkable levels of hypocrisy.

But it wouldn't be a major political issue without Dan Le Batard contributing something inaccurate to the national discourse.

Le Batard recently went on his radio show and took his usual hyperbole to a new level, saying that the decision to overturn Roe means that "the fetus is now safer in the womb than it is 5 years later when it can be sent off to school - and slaughtered."

There are so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start.

First, Le Batard's rant ignores that the Supreme Court ruling did not ban abortions. It simply returned power to the states to determine their own individual rules. Nothing will be changing in abortion policy for the vast majority of states across the U.S.

But it's not just ignorance of basic government where he fails.

The data behind his claim is also completely inaccurate.

Here's a comparison of how many annual abortions were performed on average from 2015-2019 to children killed in school shootings in 2019:

It's hard to see, but the orange line indicates the amount of deaths from school shootings, while the black bar is the annual average of abortions performed across the country from 2015-2019.

In terms of actual numbers, there were 890,000 abortions performed on average each year. 2019 resulted in 8 school shooting deaths among kids.

Each one is a horrific tragedy that should not be diminished. But the two numbers are not remotely comparable. And once again, going forward the overwhelming majority of abortions will continue to take place. This ruling does not change that.

There is simply no remotely justifiable case to be made that a "fetus is now safer in the womb than it is 5 years later when it can be sent off to school - and slaughtered." It's nonsense.

Le Batard is simply doing what he always does; exaggerate and misrepresent to tell his audience what they want to hear. Progressives generally want stricter gun control and on demand abortions, so Le Batard seized an opportunity to appeal to their ideological goals.

For him and for many in his audience, facts and accuracy pale in comparison to emotional appeals.