The claim that churches pay for abortions is a knowingly false mobilizing narrative.

Evidence

This is a blatant distortion. California churches do not pay for abortions any more than they pay for Viagra or for abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings. Instead, through the Affordable Care Act, they participate in health insurance exchanges that allow employers statewide to negotiate insurance coverage for their employees—some of whom happen to be women making use of reproductive care services. Characterizing this as churches paying for abortions is like saying that motorists are compelled to transport tractor-trailers from state to state because they share the same roads. But this sham narrative has become a popular talking point for the California Family Council and is perhaps too valuable in activating the base to set aside just because it’s not true. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 381

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes ch5’s ‘New Right launched on grievances’ and ch3’s feigned-persecution dynamic — false narratives chosen for base activation. — connects to: Feigned persecution, not actual threat, drives religious voter turnout; The false eighty-percent-mosque claim circulated unchallenged across mainstream media — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 559
• SEED: Good material for fact-checking/activist-disenchantment essays: the consciously maintained sham as recruiting tool.

Broader Connections

• The false eighty-percent-mosque claim circulated unchallenged across mainstream media #exemplifies (0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 559