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. (Click here
to view the video)
Lila Rose, 20-year-old UCLA student and president of the non-profit
Live Action, 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." Rose said she 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.
The new video is sixth in Live Action's "Mona Lisa Project," a
nationwide undercover investigation that documents Planned Parenthood's
repeated noncompliance with state mandatory reporting laws for sexual
abuse of minors. Alabama is the fourth state to be implicated in the
controversy, along with Arizona, Indiana, and Tennessee. Recently, the
investigation of a clinic in Memphis, TN assisted state legislators in
their effort to successfully divert nearly $1 million in taxpayer
subsidies from Planned Parenthood to law-abiding local health clinics.
"When to 'bend the rules a little' means hiding a case of statutory
rape from Child Protective Services and looking for ways around the
parental consent requirement, Planned Parenthood becomes directly
responsible for ensuring that statutory rapists can continue their
abuse of young girls," Rose says.
Click here to view
the video.
Contact: Lila Rose
Source: Live
Action
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Date: June 30, 2009
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The IFRL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in
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coordinating body for local pro-life chapters representing thousands of
Illinois citizens working to restore respect for all human life in our
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human family who are threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. Diverse though we are, we hold one common belief - that
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