Extremist Religious Groups Spreading Abortion Lies Globally

FEATURING ISABELLA COTA SCHWARZ – While many of us are familiar with rightwing Christian evangelical efforts to undermine women’s reproductive rights here in the US, an insidious network of American-run clinics worldwide has been found to be pushing their anti-abortion message.

A new investigation by Open Democracy found that the Trump-linked organization Heartbeat International based in Ohio, operates so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers in 18 different countries. Journalists went undercover for this first-of-its kind investigation and found such centers were spreading misinformation and outright lies in order to deter women from having abortions.

Read her article ‘“Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘lie’ and ‘scare women’ across Latin America,” HERE, the full report “Exclusive: Trump-linked religious ‘extremists’ target women with disinformation worldwide,” HERE, and all the 50.50 investigation pieces, HERE.

Isabella Cota Schwarz is a journalist focused on finance and investigative reporting. She was a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg News in the United Kingdom, Costa Rica and in her native Mexico before becoming independent. She has worked with Quinto Elemento Lab and her work has been published in The Guardian, The Independent, Univision and BusinessWeek, among others. She authored a story on Open Democracy entitled, “Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘lie’ and ‘scare women’ across Latin America.” It is part of a broader story called Trump-linked religious ‘extremists’ target women with disinformation worldwide.