This week, the academic journal JAMA Internal Medicine published a study claiming that the tens of thousands of pregnancies resulted from rape in states that enacted strong post-Dobbs pro-life laws. Specifically, the article claims that, since Dobbs, 519,981 rapes took place in states with strong pro-life laws in effect. This purportedly resulted in 64,565 children conceived in rape. This study was quickly and uncritically covered by a number of mainstream media outlets including CNN, NBC News, the Houston Chronicle, Axios, Time, and the Hufffington Post.

To call those figures an exaggeration would be an understatement. The article is frankly one of the worst and most misleading pieces of advocacy research that I have ever encountered in my years as social scientist. Furthermore, the fact that this article appeared in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal grants it legitimacy and credibility that it absolutely does not deserve.

[Be sure to read it all. Nothing about the misrepresentations of this data in the media will surprise you, but it’s worth reading in full to get a sense of the scope of the manipulation and dishonesty. — Ed]