Politics

FACT CHECK: No, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Didn’t Say Pedophilia is ‘Good For The Children’

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An image shared on Facebook claims the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “Pedofilia (sic) is good for the children.”

Verdict: False

There is no record of Ginsburg making such a comment.

Fact Check:

The internet has been replete with misinformation about Ginsburg since news of her death on Sept. 18 broke. Check Your Fact has debunked numerous false claims about the late Supreme Court justice, including a claim that she supported lowering the age of consent to 12-years-old. The latest example of misinformation appears to be an image claiming Ginsburg once said, “Pedofilia (sic) is good for the children.”

There is no evidence Ginsburg ever said or wrote the statement. The Daily Caller News Foundation searched media reports, as well as a number of her legal decisions and her autobiographical book “My Own Words,” but found nothing resembling the alleged quote. Ginsburg did not have social media.

“It’s a complete fabrication,” said Irin Carmon, author of “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” in an email to the DCNF. Antonia Felix, author of “The Unstoppable Ruth Bader Ginsburg: American Icon,” agreed, telling the DCNF in an email, “This baseless post is as obscene and cowardly as the swastikas painted over some of the NYC subway posters advertising my biography of Ginsburg last year.”

The misattributed quote appears to be linked to the previously debunked claim that Ginsburg once proposed lowering the age of consent to 12. That claim was based on a misrepresentation of “Sex Bias in the U.S. Code,” a 1977 report Ginsburg co-authored that included an argument for implementing gender-neutral language in legal definitions of rape.