Lila Rose Falsely Claims Planned Parenthood Is Covering Up Sex Abuse

Rose: “Across The Board” Planned Parenthood Has Been “Covering Up The Sexual Abuse Of Children.” From the February 21 edition of Fox Business Network's Follow The Money:

BOLLING: Welcome back to Follow The Money. Joining us now is Lila Rose, President of Live Action. Lila's been called the new face of the anti-abortion movement, armed with a camera. Lila's been exposing what she says is Planned Parenthood's involvement in underage abortions and other shocking things all done with taxpayer money. Welcome, Lila. We have been following the money. Give us the breakdown of the money, Lila, if you don't mind.

ROSE: Of course. Well, Planned Parenthood has about a billion-dollar budget; technically, they're a non-profit. They get a third of their billion dollar budget from, guess who, the taxpayers, and just in their last annual report they reported a $63 billion profit despite getting over 300 million from the taxpayers.

And this is an organization that's the biggest abortion chain in our country and that has been covering the sexual abuse of underage girls for years. And our latest investigation shows that they're also willing to aid and abet the trafficking of minors in our country.

BOLLING: And tell us about that, a little bit, you have some tapes, I guess, that you exposed some of this?

ROSE: Yes, in the past couple weeks we have released now seven different videos from seven different Planned Parenthood clinics. We had actors posing as traffickers of children as young as fourteen, young girls, saying that they wanted birth control and abortion and secret services for these sex slaves, and across the board the Planned Parenthood workers said they would find ways to get-- ways to do it secretly, they would find discounts, even tax-funded discounts, for these human traffickers, for this brutal pimp, and talked about ways to make sure that they would avoid detection and that no one would get-- no one would find out about their sex ring and that these little girls would come in, no questions asked, get secret abortions, secret birth control, so that the trafficker would put them back out on the street.

This is part of a three-and-a-half year investigation that our organization has been doing that shows across the board, Eric, this is an organization, this abortion chain, Planned Parenthood, has been covering up the sexual abuse of children as young as 14, 13, and they're continuing to do it even today. [Follow The Money, 2/21/11]

In Fact, Planned Parenthood Contacted the Justice Department To Report Suspected Sex Trafficking Scheme

Before Videos Were Even Released, Planned Parenthood Asked Justice Department To Investigate The Incidents. During the show, neither Bolling nor Rose mentioned that far from participating in a sex trafficking scheme, Planned Parenthood Federation of America contacted Attorney General Eric Holder to report a possible multistate sex trafficking scheme based on visits by a person stating that he was a pimp of underage girls to several Planned Parenthood clinics. From a Planned Parenthood Federation of America press release:

Last week, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) alerted federal authorities to a potential multistate sex trafficking ring. Over a five day period, visitors to Planned Parenthood health centers in six states said they were seeking information from Planned Parenthood about health services Planned Parenthood could provide to underage girls who were part of a sex trafficking ring. Subsequent to alerting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Planned Parenthood learned the identify of one of those involved and believes these visits are likely a hoax by opponents of legal abortion seeking to discredit Planned Parenthood, which delivers preventive health care and abortion services to three million women each year.

Men, sometimes accompanied by a woman, have visited at least 11 Planned Parenthood health centers in six states within a one-week time frame. During their visits, they claimed to be involved in sex trafficking of teens, some of whom are in the United States illegally. These men appeared at health centers without appointments and said that they were seeking health services for themselves, but they quickly turned the conversation to the sex ring they said they were managing.

“When Planned Parenthood learns of an operation that exploits young women, we vigilantly work with law enforcement authorities to uncover and stop this abhorrent activity,” said Stuart Schear, PPFA vice president for communications. “Planned Parenthood's top priority is the health and safety of our patients and the health and well-being of women and teens across the country, and we have been in contact with federal and local authorities to identify the persons involved in these visits.” (bolding in the original) [PlannedParenthood.org, 1/24/11]

Lila Rose Distorts Remarks By Planned Parenthood Spokesman

Rose: “Top Executives” Think The “Cover-Up Of Sexual Abuse” Is “Professional.” From the February 21 edition of Fox Business Network's Follow The Money:

ROSE: This is where -- this is the reality here. The top executives at Planned Parenthood are calling the behavior of their employees on the tapes professional. They're standing behind the cover-up of sexual abuse. They're operating under the-

BOLLING: And that is, Lila --

ROSE: --code of confidentiality and claiming that it's okay to aid and abet trafficking, that it's okay to do secret abortions--

BOLLING: That's very important --

ROSE: That's the point here.

BOLLING: -- that the management or the infrastructure, David and Andrea, I'm going to get to you guys, supports what they're doing --

ROSE: Exactly. [Fox Business Networks' Follow The Money, 2/21/11]

Schear Actually Said Employees In New York and Virginia “Responded Professionally To Questions, Discussed These Encounters With Management, And Provided A Report For The FBI.” Schear did not say that every employee at each Planned Parenthood clinic in the videos that have been released acted professionally. Rather, he stated that employees on videos from New York and Virginia acted professionally and that the encounters were reported to management and the FBI. From Schear's statement:

Unlike other publicized tapes, the hoax 'patients' in New York were not able to get beyond the reception desk for a private consultation. Like other encounters that have been recently publicized in Virginia, our staff responded professionally to questions, discussed these encounters with management, and provided a report to the FBI. [PlannedParenthood.com, 2/8/11]

Virginia Tapes Also Showed Planned Parenthood Acting Appropriately. Tapes released from Virginia do not include any advice from the Planned Parenthood employees on how the fake pimp could help his business. Furthermore, in one of the videos, an employee at a Planned Parenthood in Falls Church tells the fake pimp that clinics report incidents of suspected statutory rape. [Media Matters,2/4/11]

ABC: Worker At Virginia Clinic “Appears To Act Professionally And Appropriately.” In a report on one of the clinics referenced by Schear, ABC News reported:

The new video was shot Jan. 12 and features the same staged scenario involving a man and woman posing as sex workers and inquiring about sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing, birth control options and abortions for underage girls.

But unlike the first video, the Richmond clinic worker appears to act professionally and appropriately, informing the couple of their legal rights to privacy under the law, regardless of their backgrounds.

“We see people from, um, every walk of life,” said the clinic worker. “So, no judgment, no sharing of information, like, uh, nothing here.”

The worker also laid out legal guidelines for a minor seeking an abortion, including the requirement of parental consent or permission from a judge before one can be performed.

“Our new video shows their Richmond clinic willing to aid and abet the sexual exploitation of minors and coaching a pimp about how girls as young as 14 -- 15 could circumvent parental consent laws for secret abortions,” said Live Action founder Lila Rose, a former associate of controversial conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe.

Rose has asked state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to investigate the centers to make sure they are compliant with state law. Cuccinelli's office said it had not yet received the letter.

Many states, including Virginia, require medical professionals to report evidence of alleged sex crimes involving minors. Planned Parenthood said its Virginia clinic employee immediately did so in this case. [ABC News, 2/4/11]

Planned Parenthood Fired Person In Video Who Acted Unprofessionally. Planned Parenthood has not condoned employees who appeared willing to help the fake pimp in his purported scheme. Rather, Planned Parenthood has done precisely the opposite, firing an employee who actually appeared to give business advice to the fake pimp. [The New York Times, 2/8/11]