Politics

Buttigieg’s ‘1%’ Of Third Trimester Abortions In A Year Is Seven Times More Than All Mass Shooting Deaths Since 1966

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Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg downplayed the estimated “less than 1%” of abortions that occur each year in the third trimester during a town hall debate Sunday on Fox News.

However, the number of abortions the mayor of South Bend, Indiana was referring to represents more than seven times the combined deaths from mass shootings in America since 1966.

“Just to be clear, you’re saying that you would be okay with a woman well into third trimester deciding to abort her pregnancy?” asked Fox News host Chris Wallace during their discussion of the topic.

“These hypotheticals are usually set up in order to provoke a strong emotional [reaction],” replied Buttigieg.

“In fairness, there are 6,000 women a year who get abortions in the third trimester,” said Wallace, pressing.

“That’s right, representing less than 1% of cases,” said Buttigieg. (RELATED: 2020 Democrats Are Releasing Sweeping Plans To Expand Abortion)

The South Bend mayor was close. In reality, 1.3% of abortions happened during the third trimester in 2015, according to CDC statistics. Of the 638,169 legal induced abortions that year, 1.3% of those represents 8,296 abortions, well over the 6,000 Wallace presented.

By contrast, there were 1,153 people killed in mass shootings in the United States from August 1, 1966 to February 2019, according to The Washington Post, a fact first pointed out via Twitter by the account AG_Conservative.

The abortion numbers vary each year, but are higher than the “epidemic” of mass shooting deaths.

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