Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Undercover Planned Parenthood videos reveal stunning moral bankruptcy

College student Lila Rose and her group Live Action today released the sixth undercover video in their series exposing Planned Parenthood's tendency to cover up statutory rape, break the law and urge abortion in order to make a profit.

From the press release:
A Planned Parenthood counselor in Birmingham was caught on hidden camera telling an alleged 14-year-old statutory rape victim that the clinic "does sometimes bend the rules a little bit" rather than report sexual abuse to state authorities. This is the seventh Planned Parenthood clinic implicated in a multi-state child abuse scandal involving the deliberate and unlawful suppression of evidence of statutory rape.

Lila Rose, 20-year-old UCLA student and Live Action president, went undercover at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Birmingham and told a counselor that she was 14-years-old, pregnant by her 31-year-old "boyfriend," and needed a secret abortion so her parents would not find out about her sexual relationship with the older man.

After telling the counselor that her "boyfriend" is 31, Rose asks, "Is it a problem about my boyfriend?" The counselor, identified as "Tanisha" in the video, responds, "As long as you consented to having sex with him, there's nothing we can truly do about that." Rose then says that her boyfriend "said he could get in big trouble," and Tanisha acknowledges that "he could, especially if your parents find out that he's 31." She then tells Rose that the clinic manager, OB/GYN Dr. Desiree Bates, "sometimes does bend the rules a little bit" and states that "whatever you tell us stays within these walls" and "we can't disclose any information to anybody."

Alabama Code 26-14-3 requires health professionals to disclose suspected cases of sexual abuse to state officials immediately.

"The law is explicit about a healthcare provider's duty to report, yet Planned Parenthood pretends they cannot say anything," Rose notes of the investigation. "Planned Parenthood increases its business and influence by circumventing state reporting laws, but inflicts terrible harm upon the vulnerable young girls sent back to statutory rapists."

In the video, Tanisha also seems to tell Rose that a signature from an "older sister that's over the age of 18" or someone "with the same last name" could function as a substitute for parental consent so Planned Parenthood could perform an abortion on a minor. Alabama Code 26-21-3 specifies that the written permission of either a parent or legal guardian is necessary before a minor may obtain an abortion.
MCCL wrote about Live Action's video series in a 'Planned Parenthood Watch' article in the March 2009 issue of MCCL News:

In recent months, Planned Parenthood's "counseling" practices have come under fire like never before. America’s leading abortion provider has been caught on video repeatedly urging minor girls to lie about statutory rape and to bypass their states' parental involvement laws.

The investigative effort was initiated by a student pro-life group called Live Action (liveaction.org). As part of the group's "Mona Lisa Project," 20-year-old president Lila Rose—a history major at UCLA—went undercover as "Brianna" at various Planned Parenthood clinics. According to Live Action, the investigations "document how secret abortions keep young girls trapped in cycles of sexual abuse."

In Bloomington and Indianapolis, Ind., Planned Parenthood clinics, Rose pretended to be a 13-year-old who had been impregnated by a 31-year-old man—a felony under Indiana law.

In both cases, video shows that Planned Parenthood staff counseled the girl to travel across state lines in order to obtain a secret abortion, circumventing Indiana’s parental notification requirement. In both cases, the alleged child rape went unreported by the clinic (a violation of state law).

An Indianapolis clinic employee stated, "We don't really care about who, what, the age of the boyfriend." Rose was then referred to a "counselor" who said, "I don't care how old he is." When Rose told the counselor that her mother would be upset about the 31-year-old boyfriend, the counselor advised: "The surrounding states don’t have parental consent. I can’t tell you any more."

At the Bloomington clinic, a nurse warned Rose that her sexual relationship "could be reported as rape. And that's child abuse.

"I didn’t hear the age. I don’t want to know the age" of the older man, she said. Instead, the nurse instructed Rose to lie about the father’s identity: "You've seen him around, you know he's 14, he's in your grade, whatever."

"Okay, so that's that problem, solved," the nurse continued. "Now, I’m going to give you a piece of paper here. Because I cannot tell you this. But I can show you this." The nurse then circled the listing of an out-of-state abortion clinic where Rose could undergo a secret abortion.

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has agreed to investigate Planned Parenthood of Indiana; some clinic employees were fired in the wake of the scandal.

"We have more videos documenting this pattern of law-breaking within Planned Parenthood," says Rose. "There are actual cases all across the country where their failure to follow state statutes has allowed predators to continue their sexual abuse of young girls."

Undercover videos yet to be released show Planned Parenthood employees "repeatedly giving medical misinformation and engaging in manipulative counseling in order to have the girl choose abortion," Rose adds.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America kills (and profits from the death of) hundreds of thousands of unborn human beings every year. The Mona Lisa Project is revealing the disturbing and unlawful lengths the organization goes to keep it that way.

(HT: Jill Stanek)