IVF SHOCKER - YES, THE SUN WAS LYING

30-05-2008

After yesterday’s Sun-sational splash about a Birmingham couple who allegedly abandoned two girls born by IVF treatment India, The Stirrer posed the question – has Britain’s favourite tabloid been telling porkies again. And the answer is…..YES!

We poured water instantly on the story, having become battle hardened over recent weeks by their distorted news values, which for some reason appear to have focussed on the West Midlands.

There was the untrue tale about A soldier who contracted MRSA at Selly Oak (see link here) AND their inaccurate account of the death of a football fan after the Villa/Blues derby (http://tinyurl.com/3kuwjs).

This latest tale of an elderly couple who’d gone abroad for fertility treatment but who rejected their offspring because they weren’t boys, was similarly suspicious, not least because it quoted an anonymous “insider”.

We scotched this yarn immediately by speaking to both the NHS and Birmingham City Council who both denied that the two babies had been left to fend for themselves (see link here).

The Sun itself is admitting that the story was wrong today – without actually saying so.

They carry an interview with the girls’ 72 year old father who says he’ll bring them up “with love”, a view backed up by their half-brother who insists, “they will not be neglected” (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1225298.ece).

Needless to say, there’s no apology for the paper for its erroneous story, nor any exploration of what many people would regard as the real scandal – the choice of a woman to give birth to children at the age of 59.

SHOULD ELDERLY COUPLES HAVE KIDS? AND SHOULD THE SUN APOLOGISE? LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE STIRRER FORUM