Mike Johnson remarks on abortion's impact on workforce misrepresented | Fact check

The claim: Mike Johnson said women have ‘a duty’ to give birth to ‘at least one able-bodied worker’

An Oct. 25 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) attributes a provocative statement to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican.

“Every American woman has a duty to birth at least one able-bodied worker,” the post quotes Johnson as saying.

The post was shared more than 30 times in two weeks. Similar claims were shared on X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

Johnson never said the line presented as a quote in this post. The purported quote is a misleading paraphrase of Johnson discussing the economic impact of legal abortion during a congressional hearing.

Johnson doesn't say women have a 'duty' to have children

Johnson, a staunchly pro-life conservative, has spoken against abortion many times in and out of Congress, but there is no record of him saying women had a “duty” to have children to bolster the workforce.

“He never said anything of the kind,” said Corinne Day, a spokesperson for Johnson.

The claim in question is a mischaracterization of remarks Johnson made about abortion and the economy during a May 11, 2022, House Judiciary hearing.

Johnson’s YouTube account includes a clip of his remarks in context. He discussed the number of abortions in the decades since the Roe v. Wade decision came down from the Supreme Court and offered different ways to put it in perspective. One of his points looked at the impact 63 million abortions may have had on the workforce.

Fact check: Image of acting House speaker McHenry standing on crate is altered

“You think about the implications of that on the economy,” Johnson said during the hearing. “We're all struggling here to cover the bases of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest.  If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy, we wouldn't be going upside down and toppling over like this.”

Johnson didn't make any reference to women's duties.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources:

• Corinne Day, Nov. 8, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Mike Johnson (YouTube), May 11, 2022, Congressman Johnson on Overturning Roe v. Wade: “I will not yield.”

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