'Human Sacrifice': Tucker Carlson Says Abortion Causes Unusual Hurricanes

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Monday that he believes climate change is caused by abortion, not the burning of fossil fuels.

In a podcast with former Trump campaign strategist and Trump ally Stephen Bannon, who was just released from prison, Carlson disputed the scientific consensus that fossil fuel use is responsible for global warming and that this in turn drives hurricanes like them have recently struck the American Southeast. With a religious twist, Carlson attributed the ever-rising temperatures to the perceived moral failings of American women.

“Actually, it’s probably an abortion,” Carlson said, later describing the practice as “human sacrifice.” After acknowledging that he would be “attacked” for his opinion, Carlson added, “I really believe it.”

Although hurricanes are a natural phenomenon, they have become more frequent and more severe over the years. Scientists have provided compelling evidence that the dynamic behind this is an increase in greenhouse gases from human industry that trap heat and push the oceans to extreme levels that lead to greater evaporation. Additionally, the increase in CO2 causes more vapor to form in the air. This intensifies these tropical storms – and obviously has nothing to do with health care or reproductive rights.

Carlson's comments are part of a broader trend of spreading misinformation about both climate change and the two recent hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck millions of Americans. A recent report from the London-based think tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that during the October hurricanes, social media accounts linked to Russian state media spread misinformation that promoted right-wing themes. They falsely claimed that relief agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were incompetent or actively trying to harm ordinary Americans. Many hurricane victims were told that FEMA would only pay them up to $750 or that accepting relief money could result in their land being confiscated. Trump spread some of this misinformation himself, particularly regarding the relief effort.

At one point, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti shared an AI-generated image of Florida's Disney World supposedly destroyed by Hurricane Milton, which quickly went viral on Elon Musk's social media platform X. Some of the conspiracy theories claimed that the hurricanes caused it was founded by Jews to help Vice President Kamala Harris win the upcoming election.

“This type of content is particularly prominent on X (formerly Twitter), consistent with other moderation errors recently identified by ISD,” the authors write. Her views are shared by other scientists who specialize in climate change denial. Speaking to Salon in April, climatologist Dr. Michael E. Mann of the University of Pennsylvania: “Twitter has become a cesspool for promoting misinformation and disinformation; Elon Musk is not an honest actor. In some ways he has exhibited criminal behavior and I think it's pretty clear that he needs to be curbed and we're going to need much tougher regulatory measures.”