Change factual premises with wanton abandon?

Does "change factual premises with wanton abandon" mean "replace factual foundations with ridiculous ideas"?

Background info:

The Internet is riddled with so-called pro-life web sites that
repeat this ridiculous story, and incidentally change factual
premises with wanton abandon. Here's another version. 'If you
knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three
of whom were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded (all
because she had syphilis), would you recommend that she have an
abortion? Then you would have killed Beethoven.' This render-
ing of the legend demotes the great composer from fifth to ninth in
the birth order, raises the number born deaf to three and the
number born blind to two, and gives syphilis to the mother instead
of the father. Most of the forty-three websites I found when search-
ing for versions of the story attribute it not to Maurice Baring but
to a certain Professor L. R. Agnew at UCLA Medical School, who
is said to have put the dilemma to his students and to have told
them, 'Congratulations, you have just murdered Beethoven.' We
might charitably give L. R. Agnew the benefit of doubting his
existence - it is amazing how these urban legends sprout. I cannot
discover whether it was Baring who originated the legend, or
whether it was invented earlier.