Facts Matter: Woman arrested for violence, not prayer
Social media users claimed an older woman was arrested after merely offering a prayer outside an abortion clinic.
“BREAKING! A DC judge just sentenced 75-year-old Paulette Harlow, who is in poor health, to 2 years in prison for praying outside an abortion clinic. Her husband fears she might die there,” begins a June 6 Facebook post which includes photos that appear to be an older man, an older woman and a judge.
But this post is not an accurate version of what happened, according to USA Today.
Paula "Paulette" Harlow was not charged for praying. She was charged, along with nine others, with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act.
“(Harlow) was sentenced for forcefully entering and blocking access to the abortion clinic under the FACE Act,” Harlow’s attorney Allen Orenberg told USA Today.
“The defendants used force and physical obstruction to execute a clinic blockade that was organized by the group’s leaders,” according to a Department of Justice statement.
The plan “included making a fake patient appointment to ensure the group’s entry into the clinic (and) using chains and locks to barricade the facility.” The forced entry “resulted in injury to a clinic nurse,” the statement said.
The FACE Act, passed in 1994 following an increase in violence at abortion clinics, “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services.”
However the law does not ban “expressive conduct, including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration, protected from legal prohibition by the First Amendment.”
Biden didn’t demand a seat for debate
A debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is set for Thursday, June 27, on CNN. After rules for the event were released, social media users claimed there was one that didn’t make the list.
"Breaking: The Biden campaign has demanded that Joe Biden not have to stand during the presidential debate," read a June 14 Instagram post.
But that claim is false, according to PolitiFact. It will be a standing debate that both candidates agreed to.
“It’s not accurate,” CNN spokesperson Dylan Rose Geerlings told PolitiFact.
“CNN’s proposed format was to have both candidates stand and both sides agreed to the rules when they agreed to debate.”
Other rules Biden and Trump have agreed to include no studio audience, no stage props or pre-written notes and having their microphones muted when the other candidate is speaking.
A coin toss will decide where the podiums are positioned.
Mandatory military service not on Trump’s agenda
As candidates President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump work up plans for their administrations, a social media post claimed Trump wants to require mandatory military service.
“Trump says he will require a minimum 2 years military service for all American citizens over the age of 18,” read a June 11 Facebook post that included the comment, “COMING FROM A 5X DRAFT DODGER……UNBELIEVABLE!”
That claim is false, according to Reuters. In a June 13 Washington Post article, some Trump administration officials brought up the idea of mandatory service, but there is no evidence Trump said this.
On his Truth Social platform, the former president responded to the Washington Post story, claiming the newspaper “came up with the ridiculous idea” he backs mandatory service.
“The Story is completely untrue,” Trump said. “In fact, I never even thought of that idea.”
Fences don’t block Supreme Court
A video showing 8-foot tall, black fences surrounding the Supreme Court building is making the rounds on social media.
“WARNING: INCOMING FALSE FLAG EVENT: IT’S CHAOS AT THE CAPITOL!!!, read a recent post on X. “FENCES AND BARRICADES NOW SURROUND THE US SUPREME COURT BUILDING. THE FENCES SAY ‘CHECKMATE.’”
“Supreme Court Fenced off from the public. Monday 6/17/24,” read a TikTok post.
But this is not currently happening, according to the Associated Press. There are no tall barriers around the building. The video is more than two years old.
The 20-second clip was originally posted May 5, 2022, by a Capitol Hill reporter for Washington’s WTOP News. The hard-to-climb fences were erected following protests at that time when a leaked draft opinion showed Supreme Court justices were planning to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Those fences were removed in August 2022. Shorter barricades are currently in place but they do not block public access to the building.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.