Paper pays £10,000 each to three women whom it alleged rated their careers and figures more highly than having children

This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

The Daily Mail has paid £10,000 libel damages each to three women after it ran a story alleging they rated their careers and figures more highly than having children.

The three women, Edwina Langley, Lisa Beard-Rogers and Thema Davis, complained to the Mail, through London law firm Carter-Ruck, after the paper published an article on 5 November last year in its Femail section about them choosing to adopt rather than give birth naturally.

Its story was headlined: "For most women, giving birth is the most fulfilling event in their lives. But some are so afraid of missing out on their careers and losing their figures they refuse to go through pregnancy and choose adoption instead. Practical, or just plain selfish?"

A statement issued today by Carter-Ruck said the article contained a number of "false, defamatory and deeply offensive allegations about the three women" and that the Mail had accepted the allegations were "untrue and should never have been published".

"It would be difficult to overstate just how hurt and upset we were at the way in which the Daily Mail completely misrepresented our views on adoption," Langley said.

The Mail blamed the offending elements on an unnamed executive who controlled a rewrite of the story, the statement from Carter-Ruck said, rather than the journalists who interviewed the women.

Beard-Rogers, Davis and a fourth woman, Katharine Parker, who was also mentioned in the story, originally complained to the PCC over the article which the Mail resolved by publishing an apology in February this year and writing to each of the women.

The online apology, made to all four women, pointed out that Langley always wanted to become a mother and that neither her figure nor her career played any part in her decision to adopt.

It went on to outline how Beard-Rogers's views on adoption and pregnancy had nothing to do with her figure or her career.

"Our article did not explain that Thema Davis suffers from a disability that would make having children naturally extremely difficult," the Mail apology added.

"She did not think of pregnancy as 'hell' and it had nothing to do with her hip size."

The online apology also said Parker wanted it made clear adoption did not have a catastrophic effect on her marriage and that she did not choose adoption to protect her figure or her work.

The Daily Mail had not returned a request for comment at the time of publication.

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