Canadian Anti-Hate Network apologizes after aiming baseless accusations at pro-life group

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) has issued a public apology to Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) after inaccurately claiming the pro-life group was behind a poll demonstrating the majority of Albertans support parental consent being required for minors to get an abortion.

As reported by the Western Standard, CAHN published a post just last week which insinuated that CLC and another pro-life group called RightNow were behind polling data released by National Public Research Canada (NPRC). The poll reportedly asked people if they think parental consent should be required by minors looking to obtain an abortion.

CLC’s director of communications Pete Baklinski responded to the accusations in a social media post on X. His statement reads in part, "As I already told the Network CLC did not commission this poll and was not involved in creating it in any way. We only learned about it after CTV broke the story about the poll on Feb. 5."

Canadian Anti-Hate Network spreads misinformation about origin of Alberta abortion Poll

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network @antihateca published a piece this afternoon by Hazel Woodrow that deliberately spreads misinformation about the recent Alberta poll on abortion.

The Network… https://t.co/dlXC7gx91o pic.twitter.com/BKXrk3ZXFe

— Pro-life Canadian Man (@PeteBaklinski) February 7, 2024

CAHN's apology reads, “A previous version of this story suggested that Campaign Life Coalition posted a report based on the parental right’s poll on or around February 1st, before it was public. We did research, but ultimately misinterpreted, how Google ascribes dates to its search results and made an error on that basis.

To be clear, we have no evidence to suggest that Campaign Life Coalition had any foreknowledge of the poll. This error appeared online for fewer than three hours. We care deeply about journalistic ethics, which is why we are addressing this quickly, comprehensively and transparently. We genuinely apologize for the mistake.”

WOAH! The Canadian Anti-Hate Network just issued a HUGE correction and apology for getting the facts wrong in a report about @CampaignLife being involved in an Alberta abortion poll when CLC had nothing to do with it. The organization has a big axe to grind against the pro-life… pic.twitter.com/9pPaRNWSu1

— Pro-life Canadian Man (@PeteBaklinski) February 7, 2024

In a statement about the results of the poll — which showed most Albertans support requiring parental consent for minors to obtain an abortion — CLC National President Jeff Gunnarson said, "While it’s only common sense that parents be involved in every major medical decision of their child, no parent knowing what an abortion is and how it harms their daughter and destroys the life of their grandchild would consent to such evil."