The San Francisco Chronicle yesterday printed a correction to two columns it had run saying the head of a popular women's fitness company had given millions of dollars from the firm to "militant anti-abortion groups," likely heading off a threatened lawsuit by the executive.

As WorldNetDaily reported Tuesday, Chronicle columnist Ruth Rosen wrote that Curves founder Gary Heavin "has given at least $5 million of his profits to some of the most militant anti-abortion groups in the country."

Wrote Rosen: "In 2003, Heavin and his wife gave away $10 million – 10 percent of their company's gross revenues – to charities. At least half of that money went to three Texas organizations to fund 'pregnancy crisis centers' supported by Operation Save America – the same organization that blamed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on God's retribution for abortions and whose purpose, as described on its website, is to 'unashamedly take up the cause of pre-born children in the name of Jesus Christ.'"

The problem is her assertions are not true, as acknowledged by the correction in the Chronicle:

Ruth Rosen's April 29 opinion-page column stated that Heavin "has given at least $5 million of his profits to some of the most militant anti-abortion groups in the country." That characterization is not accurate.

The column specified that the money went to "three Texas organizations to fund 'pregnancy crisis centers.''' Only one of the recipients, Care Net, operates pregnancy crisis centers that are designed to dissuade pregnant women from having abortions while offering other support services to encourage adoption. Heavin has pledged to give Care Net $1 million over the next five years, according to a Curves spokeswoman.

The largest of the pledges – $3.75 million over five years – goes to the Family Practice Center of McLennan County, which provides a variety of health-care services to Central Texas residents, many of whom are uninsured, according to the Curves spokeswoman. The Catholic-run center does not provide abortions but is not actively involved in the anti-abortion movement, the center's CEO said.

The other recipient of Heavin's pledge, $250,000 over five years, was the McLennan County Collaborative Abstinence Project, which promotes sexual abstinence among teens. Its director said that, as a matter of policy, its staff would not discuss abortion when making presentations.

Rosen also got the source of the donated funds wrong. Rather than coming from the company's profits, Curves confirmed to the paper that the donations came from Heavin's personal wealth.

Also, the columnist's source for a quote – which turned out to be incorrect – was wrong. Said the paper:

The column also referred to Heavin's comments in a "recent Christianity Today" article that he "is proud to support these organizations." In fact, the interview was published in the January-February issue of Today's Christian, a magazine affiliated with Christianity Today. In it, Heavin expressed his anti-abortion views but did not talk about his support for any specific organization.

The Chronicle's fact-check lapse continued with columnist Jon Carroll, who erred by repeating some of the errors from an earlier Rosen column.

Stated the correction: "[Carroll] … wrote that Heavin's recipients were allied with Operation Save America, a radical anti-abortion group. As stated in a May 4 clarification on Rosen's column, Operation Save America has praised those recipients on its website but does not provide financial support, nor does it have a formal alliance with them.

"The Chronicle regrets the errors."

Curves, which provides men-free workout environments for middle-age women across the nation, is the fastest-growing franchise in the nation with over 3 million woman members and 7,500 outlets.

The company earlier indicated it had not ruled out taking legal action against the paper.

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