Undercover Student Video Shows Planned Parenthood in Alabama 'Bending The Rules'...

Undercover Student Video Shows Planned Parenthood in Alabama 'Bending The
Rules' of Mandatory Reporting for Sexual Abuse

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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.

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, then Planned Parenthood is directly responsible for ensuring that
statutory rapists can continue their abuse of young girls," Rose says.

The video can be viewed online at liveaction.org/alabama

SOURCE Live Action

Lila Rose of Live Action, lilarose@liveaction.org, +1-408-497-3982