Fact Check: Clarifying claims Louisiana voted 'to force a 9-year-old girl to deliver her rapist's baby'
In early June 2025, Louisiana lawmakers voted "to force a 9-year-old girl to deliver her rapist's baby."
Rating:
What's True:
In early June 2025, Louisiana lawmakers rejected a bill that would have added exceptions for rape to the state's abortion ban, specifically allowing young rape victims to terminate their pregnancies.
What's False:
The proposed bill did not reference or target any specific case of a pregnant 9-year old.
What's Undetermined:
The claim originated from Louisiana state Rep. Patricia Moore's mention of a pregnant 9-year-old girl in her district. However, she did not provide additional details, and we were unable to independently confirm the existence or circumstances of the case.
In early June 2025, a rumor spread that Louisiana lawmakers voted to deny abortion to a 9-year-old rape victim.
One X post (archived) on the topic, which as of this writing had over 958,300 views, read, "Louisiana votes to force a 9-year-old girl to deliver her rapist's baby." It also quoted Democratic state Rep. Patricia Moore allegedly saying, "I'm constantly hearing that God would take a bad situation and turn it into good," additionally claiming that Moore spoke out against the bill "even after being made aware of the pregnant 9-year-old girl living in her district."
Another Facebook post (archived) making the claim, which amassed over 25,000 reactions, read, "If a 9-year-old walked into an adoption agency with plans to be a mother, they would laugh her out of the room and explain that she's too young to become a mom. But if a 9-year-old is raped, conservatives believe he's the perfect age for motherhood."
Similar claims spread on social media platforms including Instagram (archived) and Reddit (archived).
In short, the claim was a mixture of true, false and undetermined information.
In early June 2025, for the third year in a row, Louisiana lawmakers rejected a bill that would have added exceptions for rape to the state's abortion ban. Namely, the bill would have allowed young rape victims to terminate their pregnancies. However, the proposed legislation did not reference any specific case of a pregnant 9-year-old. The claim stemmed from a statement by Moore, who said she was aware of a 9-year-old girl in her district who had become pregnant.
We were unable to independently verify the existence or circumstances of the child mentioned. We reached out to Moore to request more details about the case of the pregnant 9-year-old and will update this story if and when we hear back.
Louisiana's abortion ban took effect in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. That decision eliminated federal protections for abortion and allowed individual states to set their own laws. Under the state's law, abortion is banned except in limited cases, such as when the pregnant woman's life is at serious risk, the fetus is "medically futile" or in cases of ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage. There is currently no exception for rape or incest.
The in-question legislation was Democratic state Rep. Delisha Boyd's third attempt to create exceptions to Louisiana's abortion law. The proposed bill aimed to allow abortions for victims under 17 who became pregnant as a result of specific offenses such as rape or sexual battery that, if committed against a minor, would make an abortion legal in those cases. The bill said the victim wouldn't need to provide a police report, forensic evidence or proof that someone was being prosecuted for the crime in order to get the abortion.
Legislators discussed the bill during a House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice hearing on June 3, 2025.
As shown in the image below, the bill that "provides for exceptions to the abortion laws of this state relative to rape and certain sex offenses" received three votes in favor ("Yea") and nine votes against ("Nay"). Therefore, the law did not proceed to the House floor for further consideration.
(Louisiana House of Representatives)
You can access the full text of the in-question bill here.
A video circulating alongside the claims on Louisiana "denying abortion to 9-year-old rape victim" originated from an April 11, 2025, KLFY News 10 segment that aired before legislators voted on the bill.
Moore made the statement about the pregnant 9-year-old during the hearing at 38:57 of the video recording available via the Louisiana House of Representatives' official website. Moore stated that she was "aware of a nine year old, in [her] area, pregnant" and that she was struggling to reconcile her feelings about the case with her religious beliefs.
Moore also added that her mother was raped at the age of 13 and had her at 14. "So I do struggle with it. I know we got to protect our children, but this point right now, I cannot vote yes," she said.
Boyd, who authored the bill, also mentioned she was aware of a "Louisiana girl who was raped and gave birth at 13 years old and a 9-year-old girl who became pregnant after being sexually assaulted."
All in all, while it's true that Louisiana lawmakers rejected a bill that would have allowed abortion in cases of child rape, there was no confirmed evidence that the decision directly affected a specific 9-year-old. Moore mentioned being aware of such a case during the hearing but provided no details, and we were unable to independently verify the claim. As of this writing, Louisiana abortion law does not include an exception for rape or incest.
- YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpixLsRrfa8. Accessed 11 June 2025.
Agenda - Administration of Criminal Justice. https://legis.la.gov/legis/agenda.aspx?m=25110. Accessed 11 June 2025.
HB215. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=248142. Accessed 11 June 2025.
---. https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=248142. Accessed 11 June 2025.
LA House On-Demand Video. https://house.louisiana.gov/H_Video/VideoArchivePlayer?v=house/2025/Jun/0603_25_CJ. Accessed 11 June 2025.
Louisiana House of Representatives 24-28. https://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/members?ID=102. Accessed 11 June 2025.
"Louisiana Lawmakers Reject Adding Exceptions for Some Rape Cases to Abortion Ban." AP News, 3 June 2025, https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-abortion-rape-exception-de8097eb664362941167c92d6ad356db.
Louisiana Laws - Louisiana State Legislature. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=78689. Accessed 11 June 2025.
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Maguire also began talking more publicly about his Judaism — he added the last name Cohn after getting married in 2018 — and his support for Zionism. (One colleague said that he had no idea Maguire was Jewish until he arrived at his wedding in Israel.) He became a leading tech voice agitating on behalf of Israeli war aims. After October 7, Sequoia opened an office in Israel, and Maguire traveled there regularly, leading investments in cybersecurity and military firms. Maguire helped lead a $10 million seed round in Kela, a defense tech company founded by what he and his colleagues called "technowarriors" from elite Israeli military units. Kela produces sensors and AI systems that have been deployed in Gaza — its website touts that its technology is "battle tested" — and reflects the increased interest from American VCs in Israeli startups closely tied to the country's ongoing war with Hamas and its occupation of the West Bank. "We at Sequoia had independently formed a thesis around Israeli defense tech," Maguire and two colleagues wrote in an article on Sequoia's website. "In the long term, the ambition is to convert Israel into a defense tech hub for Western militaries — a source of strategic advantage for NATO and the US as they seek to deter their adversaries." This thesis sits uncomfortably for some who don't share Maguire's politics. The last two years have been "extremely painful and just demoralizing," said Hosam Arab, the Palestinian founder of fintech startup Tabby, who signed the open letter to Sequoia management. He said that the tech industry has essentially proscribed pro-Palestinian activism while broadly supporting Israel. "You see what's happening on the ground and you just don't get the support," he said, speaking about the predicament for startup founders working in the US. "And you're worried about speaking out." 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Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois, who has compared Masad to a Nazi, later joined the digital melee, calling Masad a Hamas supporter. Khosla Ventures is an investor in Masad's company. "If you think I'm Hamas supporter why don't you do something about it. Or are you a coward?" wrote Masad. (Masad did not respond to a request for comment.) Among its investments, Sequoia has participated in two funding rounds for nsave, which provides digital banking services to people from "distressed economies," especially in the Middle East. The company was started by two Rhodes scholars from Syria and Gaza. Nsave's Palestinian cofounder Abdullah AbuHashem didn't respond to a request for comment. While Sequoia can likely weather the media storm, Muslim tech workers, including at Sequoia portfolio companies, are beginning to organize alongside like-minded allies. "We're producing groups that advocate for Palestine in some part of the ecosystem," said Biggar, likening Tech for Palestine to a Y Combinator for activist groups. Maguire's volubility has struck some observers as out of character with a VC class that once was expected to be quantitative, measured, profit-seeking — and politically agnostic. "I genuinely thought he was a shit poster," said an executive at a Sequoia portfolio company, who learned about Maguire through his X posts. "I had no idea he was an investor until very recently. I could not believe it. I thought this had to be a podcaster of some sort." The executive, who is an Indian Hindu, said that there was a certain broad acceptance that firms like Sequoia would do business in Israel. The issue, he argued, is that a general partner at Sequoia "visibly entering the end-of-days culture wars as a pundit" indicates that Sequoia might not just be following the money. "He actually is saying out loud what is coalescing into a real capital structure." The sectors Maguire invested in — cyber, space, crypto, defense tech — are part of "this new military-industrial complex which Sequoia is very much in the middle of." People aren't defending just Maguire, the executive said. "They're defending the privatization of western defense. They are defending the privatization of global citizens data in the form of Palantir and the massive ICE budget. That's what this debate is obscuring." With more than $85 billion in assets under management, Sequoia's decisions carry great industry weight, but the firm can afford to take its time. The VP from one of Sequoia's LPs told me that while some of Sequoia's backers might disagree with the company's policies, it's hard to exert influence. As the tech industry's leading VC, Sequoia had its pick of relationships, and potential LPs were eager to give the firm its money. "The Sequoia relationship is one where they have all the power." Maguire continues to post daily about the supposed dangerous, secret Islamism of Zohran Mamdani — and his father. "I have been fighting Islamist radicals for well more than a decade," Maguire said in his recent 45-minute response to the Times' article. "I have seen true evil up close and personal. I have been trained in identifying evil and terrorists. With Zohran Mamdani's father, Mahmood Mamdani, the evidence is extremely clear." If anything, Maguire seems unbowed, emboldened by the attention afforded to him. "Btw this me at 1% throttle," he wrote after the 4th of July furor. "i wish i could show u the unconstrained version." Jacob Silverman is the author of "Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection" and co-author of "Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud," which was a New York Times Bestseller. 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- Newsweek
Rail Project Suffers Blow as Trump Cuts $327 Million Funding
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump's administration has pulled $327 million in federal funding from Massachusetts' Allston Multimodal transportation project after signing a law to end the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program. Democratic Governor Maura Healey and state officials confirmed the rescission, which left the state with only $8 million of the original award and prompted a strategic review of the multimodal infrastructure overhaul planned for Boston's Allston neighborhood. Newsweek has contacted the Allston Multimodal Project for comment via email. Why It Matters The decision followed a recent pattern of federal infrastructure funding reversals under the Trump administration. In July, the federal government revoked $4 billion previously earmarked for California's high-speed rail system. State officials and transit advocates have voiced concern that such cuts could stall or derail ambitious public transportation upgrades intended to alleviate congestion, modernize travel and fuel economic revitalization in major metropolitan regions. What To Know The $327 million grant for the Allston Multimodal Project, awarded under the now-eliminated Neighborhood Access and Equity Program, was rescinded as part of a broader federal funding shift. According to official statements from the governor's office, the project's goals include new infrastructure for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, improved connections for underserved areas and eventual redevelopment of the adjacent Beacon Park Yard. State transportation officials said they would retain $8 million and have begun a strategic review of the project's scope and cost in light of the sudden financial shortfall. An Orange Line train at Assembly Station, a rapid transit station in Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 21, 2023. An Orange Line train at Assembly Station, a rapid transit station in Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 21, 2023. Getty Images The grant, originally awarded in 2023, was intended to help realign a stretch of Interstate 90, add a new MBTA commuter rail station in Boston's West Station area, support new pedestrian and bicycle routes, and expand space for local redevelopment. The rescinded Massachusetts grant follows Trump's high-profile withdrawal of $4 billion from California's rail program, which he described as "disastrously overpriced" and a "train to nowhere." The California High-Speed Rail Authority has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that the decision to cut the funding was an "arbitrary and capricious abuse of authority." What People Are Saying Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said in a news release on July 18: "Massachusetts won this funding to support our communities and our economy—and the Trump Administration needs to restore it. "Why would any President of the United States oppose a project that will improve transportation for residents and visitors alike, create thousands of construction jobs, support local businesses and create space for new housing? We all benefit from that. The people of Massachusetts deserve better from their federal government." Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt said in the news release: "The loss of the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant does not change our commitment to the communities that are counting on this investment. We will move forward with a strategic review of the project, both analyzing the project costs and consulting with an outside engineering firm to assess the project." What Happens Next The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has launched a strategic review of the Allston Multimodal Project, evaluating new ways to achieve the project's transportation and urban planning goals within their reduced financial capacity.
