Fact Check

Dumpster Jiving

Published Aug. 26, 2015

Claim:

FACT CHECK:   Did a homeless man find a baby with seven legs in a Dumpster following a botched abortion?

Claim:   A homeless man found a baby with seven legs in a Dumpster following a botched abortion.

   FALSE

Examples:    [Collected via e-mail, August 2015]

Theres a story being spread about a homeless man finding a 7 limbed baby alive in a dumpster behind an abortion clinic. It was apparently taken to Inglewood Medical Center.

Origins:   On 26 August 2015, the web site The Racket Report published an article titled "Homeless Man Finds Baby with 7 Legs ALIVE in Clinic Trash Can, Victim of Failed Abortion" which subsequently appeared on several similar sites such as DailyMediaBuzz:

A homeless man made a gruesome discovery on Wednesday when he found a new born baby while rummaging through a dumpster behind a New Jersey abortion clinic. The baby, who had 7 legs and exposed internal organs, was found covered by boxes and trash. Thomas Wynn, a 47-year-old homeless man in the area, said he heard the muffled cries of the infant as he was approaching the trash bin.

The abortion clinic, whose name has not yet been released due to fear of angry protests from pro-lifers, has been temporarily closed during the investigation. Doctors can only assume that when the mother found out the baby had multiple limbs and exposed internal organs, she decided to opt for the abortion. At this time, they are trying to find the mother of the child to receive more information about what actually happened.

The image included with the article (shown above) did not match any recent legitimate news story; it has circulated-->circulated online since at least as far back as April 2013 (often with the claim that it depicts an Iraqi baby's birth defects).

Regardless of the picture's origins, there is no doubt that the story it accompanies is fiction, as The Racket Report is a fake news site and bears a disclaimer stating so:

The Racket Report is a news web publication with news articles, inspired by real news events. The articles and stories may or may not use real names, always a semi real and/or mostly, or substantially, fictitious ways. A few articles are for entertainment purposes only. The purpose of said stories is to entertain and amuse and not to disparage any persons, institutions, in anyway and no malice is intended towards anyone or anything, nor should any be construed from the fictional stories. That means some stories on this website are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or is intended purely as a spoof of such person and is not intended to communicate any true or factual information about that person.

Earlier articles from that site include fabricated claims that KFC planned to begin selling marijuana, that McDonald's uses french fry grease in their coffee, and that McDonald's outlets in Korea served dog meat.

Last updated:      26 August 2015

Originally published:    26 August 2015

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.