Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of sexual and reproductive health care, is once again under fire by anti-abortionists. Live Action, a pro-life advocacy organization, published a series of videos that allegedly expose Planned Parenthood’s willingness to aid underage sex trafficking.
Anti-abortion congressmen are using the tapes as ammunition to pass legislation that would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortions. Planned Parenthood’s supporters argue that Live Action’s allegations are unsubstantiated.
In January, Live Action sent out actors posing as a pimp and prostitute to visit at least seven Planned Parenthood clinics in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. The actors asked Planned Parenthood employees questions about obtaining birth control, STD testing, and abortions for underage sex workers. They videotaped these conversations with a hidden camera.
Planned Parenthood employees responded appropriately in six out of seven of these conversations – the seventh of these, a woman working at the New Jersey clinic, advised the “pimp” as to how to work the system, and was fired immediately after the videos surfaced. The other six employees simply explained the law to the pimp as demonstrated by this excerpt from the Roanoke, Virginia clinic:
Pimp: [The girls are] kind of young, like, 14, 15… how can they get help if they need, like, possibly an abortion?
PP Employee: In the state of Virginia, from the age of 12 up, for birth control, you can just come in and do that… You don’t have to have a parent.
Planned Parenthood’s policies under fire by Live Action include:
- Treating underage patients (as young as 13)
- Photo ID being the primary requirement to receive an abortion
- Confidentiality for everyone (including minors and sex workers)
- Providing insurance for patients illegally in the US
Live Action’s founder, 22-year-old Lila Rose, claims the videos prove Planned Parenthood’s willingness to “aid and abet the sexual exploitation of minors.” However, these allegations lost much of their impact when Planned Parenthood published its letter to the Department of Justice expressing concerns of either an interstate sex trafficking ring – or a possible hoax by an anti-abortion group. The letter is dated January 18th, two weeks before Live Action released the first video on February 1st.
No federal investigations on Planned Parenthood are taking place thus far. However, Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) is leading the effort to completely cut funding to Planned Parenthood and similar organizations. Current laws state that no federal funds can go directly towards abortions – therefore, Ponce’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood target its other services including cancer screenings, birth control, and STD testing.
Planned Parenthood’s doctrine emphasizes safety and confidentiality, requiring neither a minimum age nor parental consent for its services.
“If they’re involved with sexual activity, we want to see them, that’s pretty much it,” the Planned Parenthood employee at the Richmond, Virginia clinic said to the pimp. “If they’re going to be doing it, we want them to be safe about it.”
Live Action’s credibility is questionable, considering the only illegal activity in this debacle was filming Planned Parenthood employees without consent. Rose worked with James O’Keefe of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) scandal to coordinate these efforts, and like O’Keefe, Rose has been accused of doctoring the tapes.
Nonetheless, Planned Parenthood promised to re-train its 11,000 workers regarding cases of suspected abuse of minors and assert that the consequence for not reporting abuse is immediate termination.
Boston is secular yet has a large Cathloic population? what is that supposed to be a riddle? I dont know anyone who thinks boston as secular. Irish, college town maybe.just walk via harvard sq there is so many groups of all type of religions and non religions groups. also the protesters represent themselves and not any larger religion as implied, just as the same nutty, yelling and screming pro-abortion people dont represent any larger group, espically an education one.