Latest Stories By Samantha Putterman

Abortion opponents are using a new argument in their efforts to restrict abortion access: the environment. The anti-abortion group Students for Life claimed that trace amounts of mifepristone — the first of two drugs taken for a medication abortion — are poisoning American wastewater. Students for Life ambassador Isabel Brown warned people “it’s probably time […]

A recent update to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance has caused some confusion. On April 18, the agency said it was revoking the emergency use authorization for the original Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech monovalent vaccines to focus on newer, bivalent vaccines. “Today, FDA amended the (Emergency Use Authorizations) of the Pfizer-BioNTech and […]

As former President Donald Trump was being arraigned April 4 in a Manhattan courtroom on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records, a California appeals court delivered a victory to Trump in another case with a familiar plaintiff. Also on April 4, the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered adult film actor Stormy Daniels […]

After weeks of speculation, former President Donald Trump was indicted — but our fact-checking of the case and related misinformation began long before the indictment. The unprecedented development involves a $130,000 hush money payment in 2016 to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in 2018 for his role in […]

Conservative politicians and pundits warning of a rise in “trans terrorism” after the Nashville, Tennessee, school shooting aren’t backed up by data, experts told PolitiFact. Police said the person who shot and killed six people at Covenant School March 27 was transgender, but there is still a lot we don’t know about the suspect or […]

After former President Donald Trump claimed his arrest in connection with a hush money case involving adult film star Stormy Daniels would be imminent, his supporters took to social media to draw comparisons with another scandal from a past president: Bill Clinton.    Although Trump’s legal team said it hadn’t received any specific notice from prosecutors, […]

As Tennessee’s governor signed into law a bill that aims to restrict some drag performances, online rhetoric muddied the known scope and impact of the legislation. The measure, signed March 2 by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, bans “adult cabaret performances” on public property or in front of children. Under state law, those performances include male […]

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on March 6 aired newly released security video from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that he said was provided to him by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.  Carlson used the footage to falsely portray the riot as a peaceful gathering and to continue pushing long-debunked claims, […]

New research suggests that COVID-19 immunity acquired from infection is as protective against severe illness and death as immunity acquired through vaccines.  Many social media users have interpreted the findings, published Feb. 16 in the Lancet medical journal, to mean that some health officials “lied” when they said vaccine-induced immunity was stronger. Others suggested that […]

Does abortion cause infertility? Can fetuses feel pain in the first term? Is it common for women to seek abortions later in pregnancy? Google any of these questions and you’ll find a range of contradictory answers. After nearly five decades of federally protected abortion access in the U.S., the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision […]

The death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis, Tennessee, police officers loomed over this year’s State of the Union address. His parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, watched the speech with other guests of first lady Jill Biden. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Democrats wore black buttons with “1870” written on […]

High-profile police killings of unarmed people like George Floyd and Tyre Nichols thrust police brutality into the center of American discourse. But there’s a central question the U.S. appears to be unequipped to answer: Are more people dying at the hands of law enforcement now than ever? One Jan. 7 story by British newspaper The […]