Joyce Arthur - The power of fake news and anti-choice lies

The power of fake news and anti-choice lies – how can pro-choice groups compete? Anti-choice groups in Canada get millions in government funding. This presentation will tell the story of how the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada exposed one major source of funding. Over 60 anti-choice groups were receiving federal “Canada Summer Jobs” grants to hire students. When it was revealed that one anti-choice group was using the funds to hire youth to display graphic images of aborted fetuses on city streets, the federal government responded by immediately cutting off funding for all anti-choice groups and changing the program’s eligibility criteria to exclude them in the future. But churches and religious groups created a huge backlash when they mistakenly thought the new criteria also made them ineligible. A media circus erupted, with most commentators repeating misinformation about the new criteria and drowning out fact-based corrections. Our successful effort to stop government funding of anti-choice groups was hijacked by churches, religious groups, and conservative politicians, who used a web of lies to mount a self-righteous martyr campaign and attack the pro-choice federal government. In the era of “fake news” and rampant right-wing propaganda, how can progressives get the facts out and their voices heard?