Hector Tobar

A couple of weeks ago, we challenged claims published by Los Angeles Times staffer Héctor Tobar and his paper. (NB, 11/6/07: "LAT Propagates Mexico Abortion Falsehoods") Before first-trimester abortions were made legal for the first time in Mexico City last April, they claimed that up to "one million women" each year had sought illegal abortions in Mexico. But by applying Tobar's own recent reporting, we demonstrated that the one million figure appeared to be grossly inflated, that the number was a flagrant exaggeration dispersed by abortion proponents.

Now Mr. Tobar has posted an item at the "La Plaza" blog at the Times that attests that NewsBusters reporting was right-on. Tobar admits "the 1-million figure appears too high." He acknowledges that there is an "obvious inconsistency" between the reported number of legal abortions currently being performed in Mexico City and that 1 million figure that was so widely propagated.

As unrestricted first-trimester abortions were being made legal in Mexico City for the first time this past April, the Los Angeles Times reported claims that "up to 1 million Mexican women seek abortions every year" and "thousands of poor women die every year" from illegal abortions. However, recent reporting reveals that the capital's public hospitals are now on pace to perform less than one percent of one million abortions in the first year of legalization.

By grossly inflating the number of illegal abortions and the deaths they caused, the Times has propagated abortion falsehoods yet again.