Rep. Michele Bachmann accuses Planned Parenthood of corruption, turning a blind eye to trafficking of young girls
Updated 5:37 p.m. Eastern Time
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on Friday accused Planned Parenthood of turning a blind eye to the trafficking of underage girls and committing unspecified crimes that she said were "so disgusting" she could not articulate them.
"We are giving money to corrupt organizations like Planned Parenthood that are committing crimes and enabling young minor girls and covering up issues I don't even want to talk about it because it is so disgusting," Bachmann said to an audience of conservatives at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington.
"This organization has by their own records performed 324,008 abortions in 2008 and 2009 and that is in addition to the trafficking of underage girls that has gone on under Planned Parenthood's nose," Bachmann added. She called for Congress to withdraw funds from the health services organization.
Asked to elaborate on Bachmann's claims, a spokesman pointed to the work of conservative activist Lila Rose. Rose's undercover videos, the spokesman said, show a Planned Parenthood employee "giving tacit endorsement of sex trafficking, and offering testing and other services to an apparent pimp's underage girls." Planned Parenthood fired the employee after the video was released.
Planned Parenthood cannot use federal money to pay for abortions, though conservatives suggest the distinction is irrelevant. It receives federal funding to provide family planning services, annual exams, cancer screenings, contraception visits and testing and treatments for sexually transmitted infections.
"The Huffington Post investigated the Live Action videos and found that a 'thorough, frame-by-frame reviews of the full-length videos show that what is posted on YouTube often bears little relation to what happened in reality, due to heavy editing that alters the meaning of conversations,'" said Planned Parenthood spokesman Tait Sye.
"The health and safety of patients is our number one priority and Planned Parenthood has a zero-tolerance policy for any staff member who does not comply with the law in reporting threats to the welfare of a minor," Sye said.