Planned Parenthood Under Fire Over New Video

Lila Rose, President of Live Action.

/ Facebook

Updated 12:37 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday

An anti-abortion rights activist today released an edited undercover video she says exposes Planned Parenthood for "aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of underage girls" and "covering up sex abuse."

The latest release follows similar undercover video releases from young conservative activists, most notably the James O'Keefe-led ACORN videos. And like those videos, which were later revealed to have been selectively edited, this one has immediately generated controversy.

The young woman behind the Planned Parenthood video is O'Keefe associate Lila Rose, whose group Live Action last month sent fake pimps and prostitutes ostensibly involved in an underage sex trafficking ring into Planned Parenthood offices with hidden cameras. Here's how she describes her latest video, which you can watch below:

This video reveals a top-level Planned Parenthood worker, the manager of Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey's second largest clinic, making a secret deal with a pimp. Watch and listen as the Planned Parenthood manager, Amy Woodruff, advises the pimp how to make the trafficking of underage girls look "as legit as possible" (her words). Watch and listen as the manager advises the pimp how to ensure that his 14-year old victims of trafficking can still make money for him after secret abortions by performing sex acts "waist up" (her idea). Watch as she advises the pimp to instruct his girls to lie on the paper work about their ages, and identify themselves as "students" to get cheaper contraception and avoid mandatory reporting laws.

Rose is using the video to call on Congress to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood and demand a Department of Justice and FBI investigation of the group.

Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions as well as other services, told Hotsheet that it took in roughly one quarter of the $317 million in taxpayer funding offered under Title X last year. It receives federal funding to provide family planning services, annual exams, cancer screenings, contraception visits and testing and treatments for sexually transmitted infections.

As it turns out, Planned Parenthood last month reported to the FBI that it had been getting visits from men and women claiming to be involved in a sex trafficking ring. The group appeared to know it was being targeted by Live Action - multiple  clinics reported similar, suspicious visits - but reported the activity anyway, as TPM reported on January 25th. (Here's Planned Parenthood's statement on its actions, from Jan. 24th.)

"These multi-state visits from men claiming to be engaged in sex trafficking of minors may be a hoax," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. She added, however, that "if the representations made by this man are true" they run afoul of sex trafficking and other laws.

Planned Parenthood said in a statement that the action taken by the employee as portrayed in the new video "is not consistent with Planned Parenthood's practices, and is under review."

The CEO of Planned Parenthood New Jersey, Phyllis Kinsler, added that "the behavior of our employee, as portrayed on the video, if accurate, violates PPCNJ policies, as well as our core values of protecting the welfare of minors and complying with the law, and appropriate action is being taken."

UPDATE: The employee has been fired, as nj.com reports.

"We have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior, and the employee in the video was immediately suspended from her duties [Tuesday] morning and was terminated [Tuesday] evening," Kinsler said. She added the employee had been "behaving in a repugnant manner that is inconsistent with our standards of care and is completely unacceptable" in the video.

But the group also pointed to the fact that it had already notified the FBI of possible lawbreaking and said Live Action is engaged in an orchestrated attempt to bring down their organization.

"The group that has undertaken this secret taping is on the record as saying its goal is to 'take down' Planned Parenthood over the next 10 years by creating 'controversy' in the organization and making Planned Parenthood 'not feel safe,'" they said. "Planned Parenthood has delivered quality health care to American women for nearly 100 years, and we are as committed as ever to meeting the reproductive health needs of women in every community across the United States."

Seemingly in response to criticism that it may have selectively edited the video, Live Action on Tuesday afternoon made public what it says is the full video of the New Jersey Planned Parenthood sting. Part one is here and part two is here.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) has introduced a bill in the House that would ban federal funding of any kind to organizations that perform abortions. Organizations are already barred from federal funding for abortions but Pence's bill would deny groups that provide abortions (such as Planned Parenthood) federal funding for other services as well.

Planned Parenthood said the bill "would have a devastating impact on rural and women's health by denying a significant number of health centers federal funding for preventive care."

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly said on Twitter he planned to cover the video on his program this evening, a sign that it may become a major issue in the conservative media.

[itsjustridiculous]

Planned Parenthood is not just a place for abortions. It provides a lot of free healthcare for women who can not afford to go to regular doctors. I've been to PP befor and I've never had an abortion, mainly because I've never been pregnant and I credit that to PP supplying me with birth control and condoms and telling me that the best thing for me to do is practice safe sex. I do not agree with abortion and I do not think that it is right, but I know that I do not have a right nor should I have the right to tell a woman what she should do with her body. It is a choice, and the choice is none of ours to make.

[Liberal1957]

Shame on CBS news to air this edited video, which by the way has be proven to be a fraud. No wonder your ratings are down. Next time do some homework before airing a fake video.

[crazyname]

More of our tax dollars at work.....They are not protecting the girls first, they are protecting the pimp. Do these people work off of commission? Is this why the numbers climb every year. I guess you could say they are supporting business, but the pimps don't pay taxes on their income! Maybe pimps should fund this program and the government stay out of it? Planned parent hood is a failure and has been for years, maybe because if people like this girl but mainly because a large part of our population is loosing it's morals and the family structure is eroding.

[obamadinajad]

note to the person(s) above who said the acorn videos were fake... they were VIDEOS. Their editing/shortening only extracted the juicy stuff ok? it didn't change the meaning or facts of what was going on with acorn. But don't worry because they've apparently reformed under a different name and are back to their old tricks. On PP, everyone knows they are just abortion clinics. There are laws saying that taxpayers dollars will not pay for abortion that are specifically ignored in the case of PP. Above it says 'the bill/act would have a devastating effect on rural women's preventative care'. Meaning: if you take away some of our tax dollars we won't always be able to provide abortions. If lefties love PP so much let them fund the organization, I don't want any of my taxes to go for the cause of killing unborn babies. Even with the pimp video it appears there's a lot of comments here denying what's going on due to 'editing'. Again, it's a video, and it is not a fake video. So if you don't believe it means you are simply ignoring actual facts.

[jimbom121]

ummm, the editing included voice overs which made it very unlikely that the Acorn person in the video was the one actually doing the talking. That was the finding of the NY & CA attorney generals offices.

[Time_Flies]

This article could have been written by Planned Parenthood's own P.R. department it's so biased.

Anyway, let's not forget, Planned Parenthood's main function is to kill the unborn and toss them in a dumpster like garbage. God help them.

[dietotaku]

hi, maybe you can provide some medical advice to me. i have a growth of cells in my abdomen that is getting larger by the day. doctors have informed me that this growth is parasitic in nature and will have a wide array of negative effects on my health if i allow it to continue growing. moreover, in several months it will become so large that it will violently expel itself from my abdominal cavity, causing me great deals of pain and personal injury and extensive medical bills in the process. i will spend the rest of my life and hundreds of thousands of dollars dealing with the aftermath. doctors have offered me the option of having the growth removed now, and avoiding all of the unpleasantness i have described. what should i do?

[meRickard]

to dietotaku: You yourself were once just such a "parasitic growth of cells". You remained a complete drain on your parents' lives for years and years after you were violently expelled, but they never did get rid of you.
Whatever the health and financial costs, they will not last nearly as long as the trauma that millions of women suffer with the rest of their lives, many even attempting suicide. Health? Pregnancy is a natural result of sex, something is going as it should when it's happening, sex worked to its furthest extent. Terminating it is against every healthy process at that time, many studies have shown a huge link between abortion and an increased risk in breast cancer, think about how much more breast cancer we have now that abortion is so prevalent.

Money? Of the millions of couples waiting to adopt, many are ready and waiting to pay the medical expenses and after nine months all care and recovery money. The rest of a woman's life can be as close or far from her child as she wishes from there, but if she kills the unique little person within her, she will be traumatized by her choice forever, ask any woman who's had an abortion if she remains unaffected. I have, and so many have such awful pain still. Choice, not a good one.

[binkless]

CBS lecturing the rest of us about "heavily edited" video? Like, for instance, your typical 60 Minutes interview? I guess it's only good when the right cash in.

[LemmiTellia]

Would you watch an hours-long unedited interview on CBS? Just curious.

[Time_Flies]

CBS, 60 Minutes and Dan Rather, the good folks who gave us the "fake but accurate" fabricated National Guard documents to smear president Bush before an election. Is there nothing they won't do to push the democrat party agenda?

[jimbom121]

Another edited video by a right wing nut group.

[pasha128]

It's time for the fake "pimps" and "hos" to go to prison for fraud and wasting the time of law enforcement authorities.

[pasha128]

I wonder if they can be find to reimburse all government entities for the wasted efforts of hard working law enforcement officers and prosecutors distracted from other criminal activity.

[pasha128]

sorry find should be fined

[msimamaji]

The ACORN video was a fraud, so is this. We need family planning. Planned parenthood provides this service. It needs to continue.

[jimbom121]

ummm, the Acorn video was already proved to be edited.

[cprferry]

Why was the ACORN video a fraud? Because they filmed O'Keefe in a pimp costume outside but he dressed normally inside? Like no video has ever shot a theatrical lead? The dialogue was still straight from the mouths of ACORN workers! The ACORN workers are on tape supporting the pimp's illegal activities. In fact that O'Keefe wasn't dressed in an extreme caricature suggests that the ACORN workers weren't merely playing along for a obvious gag, but were honestly corrupt and fully intended to help the pimp and his ho. I hardly see how the inclusion of a theatrical lead somehow excuses the disgusting actions of ACORN displayed in the videos.

[hdc77494]

While someone may be trying to shut down Planned Parenthood, they're doing it by highlighting the unethical and illegal practices going on in Planned Parenthood offices. Telling a pimp where to take a 14 year old for an abortion to avoid legally mandated federal reporting is pretty serious even if it isn't against the law.

[LemmiTellia]

It's not Planned Parenthood policy. The hidden-camera guys on a fishing expedition had to go to a lot of PPs to get one clinic worker to say that. Meanwhile, all the PPs were reporting the "pimps" to the FBI.