State senate considers mandatory screening test for a virus in newborns ⁠8%

By Stephanie Brown⁠34% Lynn Jolicoeur⁠3%

7/22/2026, 7:03:57 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 4 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Anecdotal, and Availability Heuristic, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 15.8% saturation with 15 hits. Analysis detected 55 faulty-reasoning hits from 95 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24.6% and a BS Rank of ⁠8% (20,202 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.30% of the article peer group.

A bill before a state Senate committee would require a new screening test for all newborns in Massachusetts. 
The test is for congenital cytomegalovirus, a common viral infection that passes from mother to fetus during pregnancy. 
It affects about one in 200 babies in the U.S. 
If it isn't treated early, it can cause hearing loss, vision problems and even death. 
Sara Holcomb's son August was diagnosed with the virus when he was 2 years old. 
Holcomb joins WBUR's All Things Considered to discuss. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.8%Cognoscenti: 2.4%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.7%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 10.5%Stephanie Brown: 1.8%Cognoscenti: 2.3%Availability Heuristic10.5%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 2.3%Cognoscenti: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.6%Cognoscenti: 1.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 4.3%Cognoscenti: 3.9%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.8%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 5.4%Cognoscenti: 3.4%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 2.0%Cognoscenti: 0.7%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 15.8%Stephanie Brown: 4.0%Cognoscenti: 5.0%Negativity Bias15.8%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.4%Cognoscenti: 1.1%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.7%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.8%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.0%Cognoscenti: 2.0%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.7%Cognoscenti: 0.9%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.7%Cognoscenti: 0.4%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.5%Cognoscenti: 2.6%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.2%Cognoscenti: 1.7%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 4.0%Cognoscenti: 3.5%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.8%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.8%Cognoscenti: 0.6%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 15.8%Stephanie Brown: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 5.4%Appeal to Emotion15.8%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 3.4%Cognoscenti: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.3%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 15.8%Stephanie Brown: 5.3%Cognoscenti: 2.3%Anecdotal15.8%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.6%Cognoscenti: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.3%Cognoscenti: 0.7%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.7%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.1%Cognoscenti: 0.9%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.3%Cognoscenti: 0.6%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 1.0%Cognoscenti: 3.0%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 1.4%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.8%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stephanie Brown: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 1.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

95 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers24%attributed speech72writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageSara Holcomb • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWBUR • 8 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Sara Holcomb

100%flagged-word coverage
15 attributed words65% of attributed speech35% writer coverage

No manipulation-pattern hits were found in this speaker's attributed words or the writer's voice.

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.