- The LaBrant
Family posted a video titled "Abortion . (documentary)" on YouTube on April 9. - They have faced backlash on Twitter for citing the death toll from the Holocaust in the video.
Cole and Savannah LaBrant, who run a family YouTube channel called "The LaBrant Fam" where they have over 13 million subscribers, have faced backlash for releasing a video on April 9 labeled a "documentary" about abortion.
The couple said they wanted to send a message of being "pro-love" rather than "pro-choice" or "pro-life," but viewers have criticized the couple, suggesting they're spreading anti-abortion propaganda.
The video, titled "Abortion. (documentary)," now has 2 million views and shows Savannah describing her own experience of becoming pregnant at 19.
"I remember just being so scared. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was actually in college and I was too scared to tell my family," she said, adding that choosing to continue the pregnancy was "worth it."
It also referred to abortion as a "more deadly killer" than heart disease — the "leading cause of death" in the US, according to the CDC — saying that more than 2,000 abortions happen every day in the country. The documentary did not cite a source for this statistic. The latest available data from the CDC states that there were 625,000 abortions reported in the US in 2019, while around 659,000 people in the United States die from heart disease each year.
About one minute into the video, it shows a slideshow of the death counts from various genocides throughout history, such as the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1975-1979 Cambodian genocide.
It then showed the death toll from the Holocaust — which is believed to total around 11 million people between 1933 and 1945, according to History.com — followed by a counter titled "Abortion in the U.S." which appeared to show that there have been upward of 61 million abortions in the US. The video did not state a period of time over which these abortions occurred or where the data was pulled from.
—cori (@straightbaloney) April 9, 2022
The video also featured interviews with known anti-abortion activists Dr. Anthony Levatino and Dr. Kathi Aultman, who described in graphic detail the process of performing an abortion.
The comments section has been disabled, but on Twitter, many people have criticized the video, in particular for its reference to the Holocaust. One tweet, reading, "The LaBrant Family kind of just implied that abortion is worse than the Holocaust in their new documentary," has 18,000 likes.
A purported 2018 tweet from Cole also resurfaced on Twitter. While it seems to have been deleted, a screenshot of the message appears to show Cole saying he would "strongly encourage" his daughter to have the baby if she were to become pregnant as a result of rape.
Twitter user Danielle Jones, whose bio states she is a board-certified OBGYN, was one of many viewers who referred to the video as anti-abortion propaganda. In response to her tweet, YouTube's official Twitter account wrote that they were "looking into this."
Controversial influencer Tana Mongeau responded to the documentary by posting a TikTok on her account, which has 7.2 million followers, on April 10. In the TikTok, she highlighted the Holocaust comparison and added, "I don't think any of their fans signed up for this."
@tanamongeaulol sorry i’m in shock
♬ original sound - Tana Mongeau
The couple said in the video that they were not "trying to illegalize abortion," but to help pregnant people learn about the "main resources" available to them. According to a title card at the beginning of the video, all ad revenue will be donated to "local pregnancy centers."
Crisis pregnancy centers are controversial facilities that offer services to pregnant people, but critics say their aim is to discourage abortion, convincing people to carry pregnancies to term regardless of their preference.
Abortion rights in the US are currently protected by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade. However, a number of states have recently ratified legislation that would make accessing abortions much more difficult. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on a case about a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks this summer, and many experts believe there is a strong chance that Roe v. Wade will be overturned as a result.
Cole and Savannah LaBrant mostly post updates about raising their three children — Everleigh, Posie, and Zealand. In 2020, Australian news website Mama Mia reported that they received backlash for "clickbaiting" when they posted a video suggesting Posie was "diagnosed with cancer" when that was not the case. They have also been accused of oversharing details of their children's lives, a criticism frequently levied at family channels.
Insider reached out to the LaBrant family for comment.
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