Fact Check

Did a 'Pro-Choice Activist' Set a World Record by Getting Her 27th Abortion?

A long-running junk news site used a legitimate stock photo for another one of its "satirical" stories.

Published Oct. 11, 2018

Claim:
A California "pro-choice activist" set a world record by going through her 27th abortion.

The long-running "satirical" hoax-pushers at World News Daily Report (WNDR) published an article on 9 October 2018 that was shoddy even by its own standards of creating ginned-up absurdity over abortion.

In this case, the piece centered on a "pro-choice activist" whom WNDR claimed set a world record by obtaining her 27th abortion:

CALIFORNIA: PRO-CHOICE ACTIVIST PROUDLY BREAKS WORLD RECORD BY GETTING HER 27TH ABORTION

The historic operation was performed at the Sacramento Street Health Center and required Elena Travis, 34, to visit the abortion clinic three consecutive times because she was 24 weeks pregnant.

Elena Travis, 34, a medical school student who hopes to one day perform abortions herself, believes abortion is a right and hopes to inspire other women to have it practiced on them by showing others that it is a safe and healthy procedure.

Besides manifesting an apparent lack of writing ability, the post (as is customary for WNDR) featured an unrelated photograph drawn from a legitimate source. In this case, the pictured "Elena Travis" was actually a Getty Images stock photograph labeled "Happy Patient."

WNDR includes a disclaimer stating that all of their content is fictional:

World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website -- even those based on real people -- are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.

Arturo Garcia is a former writer for Snopes.