All the Abortion Lies Fit to Print

Last Tuesday, November 28th, LifeSite.net, a pro-life website, nailed the New York Times for printing false information:

On April 9, New York Times reporter Jack Hitt produced what may be called a 'hit piece' against the pro-life movement in El Salvador. The piece, laden with scare tactics, culminates in his tale of woe of a woman who he says had an illegal abortion when she was 18 weeks pregnant and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. The only problem with the story is that the woman was found guilty of strangling her full-term baby shortly after her birth.

Writing in an editorial in one of the largest papers in El Salvador, Julia Cardenal, who was interviewed for the New York Times Hitt piece, excoriates the Times for false reporting. Referring to Hitt, Cardenal asks what the intention was of the NYT piece. "To cause indignation in the United States so that they will pressure us to legalize abortion?," she asks rhetorically.

Hitt described his visit to Carmen Climaco in prison. "I was there to see Carmen Climaco. She is now 26 years old, four years into her 30-year sentence," wrote Hitt. The New York Times article concludes, "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."

However, court records from the case, which have been obtained by LifeSiteNews.com, indicate that the case was actually one of infanticide rather than illegal abortion. While it was investigated on the suspicion of an illegal abortion, authorities found the dead baby hidden in a box wrapped in bags under the bed of Mrs. Climaco.

Moreover, forensic examination showed that it was a full term (38-42 weeks gestation) normal delivery, and that the child was breathing at the time of birth. The legal opinion of the cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation.

Bizzyblog's Tom Blumer notes that even the New York Times' ombudsman called out his publication for lying, but the newspaper refuses to issue a correction.

American Thinker's Thomas Lifson labels this story "New York Times' own Rathergate."

Hot Air's Michelle Malkin details this story in an episode of Vent, and notes that the main source Jack Hitt's false information was a pro-abortion group called IPAS, which profit financially from the legalization of abortion in El Salvador since it sells vacuum aspirators used for abortions. Malkin opines, "The Times’ pro-abortion poster child is a woman convicted of infanticide."

Idaho blogger Adam Graham adds, "On the bright side, the Times is quite large and can be used for stuffing cages for a lot of birds or wrapping fish, but as for news, forget it."

EyeHackerBlog's Rich is not happy: "Yet another example of how the progressive liberal media create stories and reports to promote their own values and beliefs. Forget the truth and fair reporting, what matters most to the MSM is creating the image of women in the US being imprisoned if abortion becomes illegal."

Bush Offers an Olive Branch to Democrats?

Blogs for Bush's Mark Noonan reviews President George Bush's column from today's Wall Street Journal. Even though it appears to be an attempt to reach out to the new Congressional majority, Noonan finds President Bush sticking to his conservative core.

The Club for Growth's Andrew Roth highlights two important sentences from President Bush: 1) The elections have not reversed the laws of economics. and 2) Now is not the time to raise taxes on the American people.

Can we Just End Social Security, Please?

Viking Pundit dumps a bucket of cold water the talk of the future of Social Security: "(P)ick your poison: increased payroll taxes, bare-bones benefits or a combination of both. Any of these pathways will erode the popular support for Social Security especially when Americans look to what they could have saved with their 401(k)s or just a simple savings account."

Welcome Back, Pat!

As RedState's Erick Erickson reports, Patrick Ruffini, 2004 Bush/Cheney '04 Blogger and RNC eCampaign Director, has turned the lights back on at PatrickRuffini.com. As Right Angle's Robert Bluey noted last month, Ruffini is in the mix for a number of possible '08 jobs for presidential campaigns.

Editor's Note

Have a comment, suggestion, complaint or an interesting link that I missed please email me at matthewnaugle@gmail.com.