Fact Check: Did Alito and Barrett Claim That America Needs a ‘Domestic Supply of Infants’?

There are several errors in a viral tweet making that claim.

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A viral tweet claims that Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Samuel Alito justified overturning Roe v. Wade in the leaked draft majority opinion because “the US needs a ‘domestic supply of infants.’”

In a reply to the tweet, the tweet author shared a screenshot from the opinion showing the line in question.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Thanks, Alex. I don’t envy the hate you Khaya must get for raining on both sides’ parade every other fact check.

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  2. Kathy Kattenburg

    "From the context of the footnote, it’s clear that the CDC quote appeared in the footnote only to highlight the fact that unwanted babies put up for adoption in the United States will likely find a family—not, as the tweet implies, that domestic birth rates need to increase to meet adoption demands."
    Even if the phrase "domestic supply of infants" appeared in the footnote "only to highlight the fact that unwanted babies put up for adoption will likely find a family," that doesn't change the fact that the CDC did use that phraseology, and their motive for referring to infants that way cannot be factually determined just from the text, no matter how much Alec thinks it can. Whatever the motive, it's still a horrifying phrasing, even if that horrible implication was not consciously intended.

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  3. Matt C

    Another example which shows how uncritically people analyze tweets that conform with their political opinions. Taking 20 seconds to simply read the full paragraph in the image makes it clear this is footnote/citation from the CDC, but most people retweeting simply read the tweet text, then look at the part circled in red in the image, and their analysis ends there.

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      Aylene Wright

      At least it's fairly easy to debunk this by using the actual quote, as the source was a written document.

      I can think of some other facetious quotes floating around, that the people accused of uttering are denying, but that's just met with "he's an Evil RW Republican, of course he would deny it, but so did Kevin McCarthy, he obviously DID say it to someone and is just lying now when he says he didn't"!

      And honestly I can't see how any fact checker could actually prove "Public Figure X *never* said Y" as opposed to "Public Figure X never wrote down Y in document Z".

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    Victor Clairmont

    Misinformation everywhere!

    Thank you for the fact check—-

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    Scarlette Tarte

    I commented the night this came out. I noted the language was from CDC, but said it was unfortunate Alito used the quote in his reasoning about why would should overturn Roe. His argument, among other reasons is "hey, we a have a lot of people who want to adopt! So all these unwanted babies will find homes!".

    It was unfortunate he chose to use CDC work in the context of overturning Roe.

    Now maybe give us a really interesting fact check about Sir Nathan Hale and why in heavens name did Alito think to quote this witch burner as a "favorable" argument to ending abortion.

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    1. Kathy Kattenburg

      That's a good point, that even though Alito didn't write the phrase, he did include it in the draft opinion, and that was pretty insensitive. Not that I'm surprised.

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    Pat Riot

    I thought the quote was probably specious but on the other hand it wouldn't change the meaning of the ruling either way if it was in there explicitly from one of the justices. Overturning RvW means the State has dominion over the reproductive systems of its subjects, not individuals.

    Insofar as the State now decides whether women should have babies or not, it logically follows that they should at least do it carefully and thoughtfully. You know, like China does.

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      Man-Eating Cow

      Fake, but accurate?

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        Pat Riot

        You take it seriously but not literally.

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    Mary

    Thank you! I have been trying to find where this came from because it set off my “ain’t right” meter which is generally what tells me that all the discussion was missing a ton of important information.

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    Frank Lee

    Thank you for this.

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About Alec Dent

Alec Dent is the culture editor and a staff writer for The Dispatch. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously oversaw The Dispatch's fact checking team.
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