Fact Check

Congresswoman Proposes Breastfeeding Ban for Women with Large Breasts

A fake news article claimed that Rep. Debbie Riddle proposed a breastfeeding ban on busty women.

Published March 31, 2016

 (Wikipedia)
Image Via Wikipedia
Claim:
Rep. Debbie Riddle proposed a breastfeeding ban on women with large breasts.

On 28 March 2016, the entertainment web site Politicops published an article claiming that Texas Rep. Debbie Riddle had proposed a breastfeeding ban specifically on women with large breasts:

Namely, the modified bill states, among other things, that “only women who possess the breast size C-cup or smaller shall be allowed to breastfeed in public areas.” Asked to comment on the discriminatory clause in the bill, Riddle simply stated, “Nature knows what it’s doing.” She also added, “It’s for the greater good. We already have more than enough distractions when walking the streets, and we don’t need this one as well.”

Politicops is part of the Newslo network, a series of web sites that bill themselves as a hybrid of news and satire. These articles typically start with a real news item (in this case an actual bill aimed to protect a woman's right to breastfeed in public) before launching into the fictional ("satirical") portion of the article. The web site includes "show facts" and "hide facts" buttons to allow readers to see which portions of the article are factual and which portions are made up:

Screenshot 2016-03-31 at 2.08.52 PM

JUST ENOUGH NEWS… Newslo is the first hybrid News/Satire platform on the web. Readers come to us for a unique brand of entertainment and information that is enhanced by features like our fact-button, which allows readers to find what is fact and what is satire.

The Rep. Riddle portion was not part of the "factual" portion of the article.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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