LIFE DIGEST: Planned Parenthood caught again
- Apr 20, 2009 -
Planned Parenthood has been caught again seeking to circumvent the law – this time at a Memphis, Tenn., affiliate.
Live Action, a California-based organization led by college students, secretly video taped a Planned Parenthood counselor attempting to cover up alleged child sexual abuse. It marked the sixth clinic in which Live Action has filmed with a hidden camera such a cover-up effort. Such practices by Planned Parenthood employees also were recorded at affiliates in Arizona, California and Indiana.
Also in this edition: Indiana House OKs requirements for abortion doctors and Oklahoma Senate bans sex-selection abortions
Lila Rose, a 20-year-old UCLA student and Live Action’s president, posed as a pregnant 14- year old at the Memphis clinic, telling the counselor the father of her child was a 31 year old. The counselor told Rose she would not tell anyone the age of the boyfriend and advised her to lie about his age. She counseled Rose on obtaining a judicial bypass of the state’s parental consent law for an abortion. Tennessee law requires health-care workers to report suspected cases of sexual abuse of minors to authorities.
“Planned Parenthood’s abortion-first mentality makes it operate as an advocate for terrible crimes against children,” Rose said in a written statement when the video was released April 20. “What more do authorities need to see before holding this organization accountable for its institutionalized indifference to statutory rape and sexual abuse of children?”
The latest video is another part of a multi-state, hidden-camera investigation by Live Action at Planned Parenthood clinics last summer.
In a different undercover investigation by Live Action revealed in 2008, Planned Parenthood workers in seven states were caught on audio tape agreeing to receive donations designated for abortions of African-American babies.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the country’s No. 1 abortion provider. Its affiliates performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available. Its revenue reached $1.04 billion for the 2007-08 financial year, with $349.6 million of that in government grants and contracts.
Indiana House OKs requirements for abortion doctors
The Indiana House of Representatives passed April 15 a bill to require any doctor who performs abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital.
The House voted 73-20 for the measure, which also would mandate that a doctor inform a woman her unborn child may feel pain during an abortion, according to The Indianapolis Star.
The legislation will return to the Senate, which approved the bill previously 44-6 but will need to approve the new version containing House-approved amendments, according to LifeNews.com.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana said only one of the seven doctors in the state who perform abortions has admitting privileges, The Star reported.
Supporters of the bill said it was needed in order to protect women who have problems after abortions.
“This bill is about patient safety,” said Rep. Matthew Bell, R.-Avila. “I think it’s the right statement to make when we care about the quality of care received by the patients.”
Oklahoma Senate bans sex-selection abortions
The Oklahoma Senate has approved legislation that would ban sex-selection abortions and require women seeking abortions to fill out a questionnaire.
Senators voted 34-10 for the bill April 15. The measure will go to a conference committee made up of members of both houses. The House of Representatives has passed a different version of the legislation.
The goal of the bill is to collect accurate information about abortions performed in the state, including the reasons women are seeking the procedure, said Sen. Todd Lamb, R.-Edmond, majority floor leader and the measure’s sponsor, according to The Daily Oklahoman.
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