FACT CHECK: Did Amy Coney Barrett Call Breastfeeding A ‘Sexual Act’?

Varun Hukeri | General Assignment & Analysis Reporter

An image shared on Facebook over 400 times claims Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said, “Making an infant suck your breast is a sexual Act and you should be in prison for CHILD MOLESTATION.”

Verdict: False

Check Your Fact found no evidence that Barrett said the quote. It appears to have originated from an anonymous Facebook comment that was recently shared on Reddit.

Fact Check:

The Facebook post includes an image of Barrett as she was sworn in during the first day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The user who shared the image referred to her as “Crazy Judge Amy Barrett.”

Here’s the full quote attributed to Barrett in the image:

I have a 6 month old that I fed breast milk from a bottle not directly from the breast if you force your child to suck your nipples, You are molesting YOUR child, Making an infant suck your breast is a sexual Act and you should be in prison for CHILD MOLESTATION.

There is, however, no record of Barrett making the statement about breastfeeding attributed to her in the post. Check Your Fact didn’t find any credible media outlets quoting her as saying such a thing. A search of Barrett’s judicial opinions and articles also turned up no information suggesting that Barrett made the remark.

Barrett has seven children but her youngest child, Benjamin, is 8 years old. The quote mentions a “6 month old” child and does not provide any indication of when Barrett purportedly made the statement or its source.

The alleged quote appears to have been first shared on the Reddit sub thread “r/insaneparents” on Oct. 4 in the form of a screen grab of a Facebook comment. The sub thread describes itself as “a weird place where you can post those crazy parents who post in those woo-woo anti-vax groups on facebook and do things harmful (directly and indirectly) to their children.”

Check Your Fact has previously addressed statements falsely attributed to Barrett following her nomination to the Supreme Court. (RELATED: Did Donald Trump Say He Nominated Amy Coney Barrett Because She Is ‘Better Looking’?)

President Donald Trump nominated Barrett on Sept. 26 to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated following the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The fourth and final day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded Thursday afternoon, according to USA Today.

Varun Hukeri

General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
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