Following an expose' by LifeSiteNews, the New York Times has issued a correction for an error it made in a report about the effects of laws that make all abortions illegal in El Salvador:
An article in The Times Magazine on April 9 reported on the effects of laws that make all abortions illegal in El Salvador. One case the article described was that of Carmen Climaco, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence in El Salvador.LIfeSiteNews Responds:[snip]
A second medical report, based on an examination of the body that was found under Ms. Climaco’s bed, concluded that her child was carried to term, was born alive and died in its first minutes of life.
Five weeks after they were notified by a LifeSiteNews.com article that they had made a grave error in reporting on abortion in El Salvador, and one week after the paper's ombudsman published his corroboration of the LifeSiteNews.com evidence, the New York Times has issued a correction. On Sunday, the New York Times magazine issued an editor's note admitting at least one of the errors in an April 9 story.What is difficult, if not impossible, for the Times to retract is the predisposition that led to the error, the bias that caused the reporter and editors to publish information that was easily shown to be false. As LifeSiteNews points out, the reporter motivated a pro-abortion position through an emotional description of Climaco's incarceration:With information from contacts in El Salvador, LifeSiteNews.com pointed out in late November that the cover article in the NYT magazine of April 9 claimed falsely that some women in El Salvador were imprisoned for thirty years for illegal abortions. LifeSiteNews published the full court ruling in the case which showed that rather than being jailed for a clandestine abortion - as the Times magazine asserted - the case study cited actually concerned infanticide of a full-term baby. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07010404.html )
The emotionally laden piece published by the magazine carried a photo of a young woman in prison by the name of Carmen Climaco. The caption stated she "was given 30 years for an abortion that was ruled a homicide." Moreover, the article concluded, "She'd had a clandestine abortion at 18 weeks, not all that different from D.C.'s, something defined as absolutely legal in the United States. It's just that she'd had an abortion in El Salvador."
I kept looking at her face, incapable of seeing the innocent girl she described or the murderer the prosecutor sent to prison. The truth was certainly — well, not in the "middle" so much as somewhere else entirely. Somewhere like this: She'd had a clandestine abortion at 18 weeks, not all that different from D.C.'s, something defined as absolutely legal in the United States. It's just that she'd had an abortion in El Salvador.And yet, Climaco was convicted of strangling her newborn (full-term) baby. Apparently, the child's developed body provided ample evidence of the crime.
The Times article, and in particular the error that has now been "corrected", became a fundraising tool that was exploited by pro-abortion organizations. One group wrote to its supporters:
You may have read Carmen’s story in “Pro-Life Nation,” the April 9 New York Times Magazine article by reporter Jack Hitt. Carmen, a mother of three, says she had a miscarriage. But medical and legal authorities say that she aborted the fetus and, by the harsh standards of Salvadoran law, committed “aggravated homicide.” Carmen got a 30-year sentence in a women’s jail.The webpage has since been removed from the organization's website and Google's cache although you can view Yahoo's copy here.You can help Carmen and women like her. With your donation
I have to wonder what it will take for the New York Times to show some compassion and respect for the child that was murdered in El Salvador, and for the thousands each day who in the United States are ripped from their mother's womb in the most callous of manners.
I like this: "and died in its first minutes of life."
They omit the fact that the baby in question died because of strangulation! They make it sound like this woman was an innocent victim of circumstance when she freaking strangled her baby.