Ignoring Report To Justice Department, O'Reilly Claims Planned Parenthood Employees Are “Not Interested” In Reporting Abuse

Watters Claims Video Shows Planned Parenthood Employees “Covering Up Underaged Sex Trafficking.” From The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Factor Follow-Up segment tonight. As you may know, a pro-life group named Live Action is doing a number of undercover stings on Planned Parenthood. The first tape in New Jersey showed a Planned Parenthood employee advising undercover people how to get around child sex laws. That employee you see right there -- she was fired. Now there's a new tape recorded in the Bronx, New York, that shows a Planned Parenthood employee doing almost the same thing.

[...]

O'REILLY: Now, the state of New York mandates that organizations report suspected child abuse or mistreatment, period. And that includes statutory rape. Now, we contacted Planned Parenthood, but they refused to come on the Factor. So we sent Jesse Watters out to see spokesman Stuart Schear.

[begin video clip]

WATTERS: You condone the behavior on the tape of one of your employees in the Bronx excusing and covering up underaged sex trafficking? You're OK with that?

SCHEAR: We firmly believe that the edited -- that the tape from the Bronx is doctored.

WATTERS: But you haven't seen the tape, have you?

SCHEAR: I can -- I will take -- I would like to --

WATTERS: Have you have seen the tape?

SCHEAR: I actually have not seen the full tape yet.

WATTERS: So you don't know whether it was doctored or not, do you?

SCHEAR: The tape -- there is --

WATTERS: You're talking about a tape that you're claiming is doctored, and you haven't seen it. Isn't that correct?

SCHEAR: That is not correct. I would like to actually take you through -- let me take you through the audio and the visual tape and show you how they were changed --

[end video clip] [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/8/11]

O'Reilly Claims Videos Show Planned Parenthood Employees Are “Not Interested” In Reporting “Statutory Rape.” From The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: One more thing: Planned Parenthood gets about 360 million taxpayer dollars every year.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, who is leading the movement to defund Planned Parenthood.

Well, just like ACORN, these tapes should tell the tale here, and I don't believe they were doctored. I mean, they're edited tapes because this thing went on and on and on. But this woman said what she said.

In the state of New York and every other state, you have to report statutory rape. Obviously, they were not -- the Planned Parenthood in New York and in New Jersey, those employees not interested in doing that.

So, I don't think there should be any funding at all, and -- but you're going to run into trouble in the Senate, aren't you? [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/8/11]

Planned Parenthood Reported Potential Sex Trafficking To Justice Department

Planned Parenthood Wrote Letter To Justice Department Reporting Potential Sex Trafficking. From a January 18 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, signed by Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America:

January 18, 2011

Hon. Eric Holder

Attorney General of the United States

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear General Holder,

I write to call to your attention to recent incidents at several health centers operated by affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. These incidents suggest that an individual or multiple individuals are engaged in activities that violate several federal criminal statutes relating to sex trafficking involving minors. We believe these incidents should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and, if appropriate following that investigation, prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

These incidents occurred at Planned Parenthood health centers in Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In each, a man has sought information about services relating to testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, and services for minors. In conversations with our staff, he has disclosed that he is involved in the sex trade, that some of the women involved are minors, and that some are in the United States illegally.

Members of our staff have made it clear to this man that Planned Parenthood's first priority is the welfare of our patients, including minors seeking medical testing and treatment, and that we are obligated to comply and will comply with applicable state laws relating to reporting of suspected instances of conduct that endangers the welfare of minors.

These multi-state visits from men claiming to be engaged in sex trafficking of minors may be a hoax. In the past, Planned Parenthood affiliates have been approached by a small, organized group of people, opposed to our mission, who have misrepresented their circumstances to gain access to our health centers. Once inside, these people have recorded “undercover” videos of their conversations with our clinic staff and then selectively and maliciously edited the videos in an attempt to cast Planned Parenthood in a negative light. This may be happening once again. If so, this kind of activity should be firmly condemned.

However, if the representations made by this man are true, we believe that they indicate possible violations of at least the following federal criminal statutes: 18 USC 1591 (sex trafficking of children in interstate commerce), 18 USC 2421 (transporting an individual in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution), 18 USC 2422 (inducing an individual to travel in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution), and 18 USC 2423 (transporting a minor in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution). [Planned Parenthood, 1/18/11]

AP: Planned Parenthood “Has Notified The FBI” Of Visits To At Least 12 Health Centers “By A Man Purporting To Be A Sex Trafficker.” From a January 24 Associated Press article:

Planned Parenthood, a perennial protest target because of its role in providing abortions, has notified the FBI that at least 12 of its health centers were visited recently by a man purporting to be a sex trafficker but who may instead be part of an attempted ruse to entrap clinic employees.

In each case, according to Planned Parenthood, the man sought to speak privately with a clinic employee and then requested information about health services for sex workers, including some who he said were minors and in the U.S. illegally.

Planned Parenthood's vice president for communications, Stuart Schear, said the organization has requested an FBI probe of the man's claims and has already fielded some initial FBI inquiries. However, Schear said Planned Parenthood's own investigation indicates that the man has links with Live Action, an anti-abortion group that has conducted previous undercover projects aimed at discrediting the nation's leading abortion provider. [Associated Press, 1/24/11]

Planned Parenthood Says Of New York City Video: “Our Staff Responded Professionally To Questions, Discussed These Encounters With Management, And Provided A Report To The FBI.” From a Planned Parenthood press release on Live Action's video of employees in the New York clinic:

“This morning Live Action, an organization opposed to legal abortion, released the latest of its secretly recorded videos, this time from Planned Parenthood health centers in New York City.

”Planned Parenthood of New York City has reviewed this video carefully, and it is clear that the video cannot be trusted. The conversation as portrayed on this doctored videotape is not accurate.

“These tapes are clearly doctored and cannot be trusted.

”In an interview with the FBI, the two health center workers featured in the video said that they did not hear the words 'sex work' or 'sex worker,' uttered by the actors on camera who were hired by Live Action to play the role of a 'pimp' on the videotape in an effort to undermine the credibility of Planned Parenthood staff in Live Action's coordinated lobbying effort to support legislation that would bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds.

“In addition, it is clear from the edited tape that there are two or more video sources, as well as an additional audio source, increasing the opportunity for manipulation and selective editing.

”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. [Planned Parenthood, 2/8/11, emphasis original]

O'Reilly Did Not Mention Planned Parenthood's Contact With Authorities, Provided Only Ambush Video For Balance

No Mention Of Contact With Justice Dept. In Two Teases Of Segment Or During Segment Itself. During his February 8 program, O'Reilly never mentioned Planned Parenthood's letter to the attorney general or any response from Planned Parenthood beyond the clip he aired from Watters' ambush interview of Schear. Nor did O'Reilly quote from any report mentioning Planned Parenthood's contact with authorities. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/8/11]

O'Reilly Falsely Claims Planned Parenthood Profits From Performing Abortions

O'Reilly: Planned Parenthood “Makes Profits From Abortions.” From The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: OK, but it also -- these tapes raise the bar into a criminal area because of statutory rape.

PENCE: That's right.

O'REILLY: And we went through this in Kansas and a whole bunch of other places where you go into these abortion mills -- and Planned Parenthood does provides birth control and all of that, but it also makes money from abortions. It makes profits from abortions. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/8/11]

Planned Parenthood Is Classified By The IRS As A Not-For-Profit Organization

Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Is Classified By The IRS As A 501(c)3 Organization. From Planned Parenthood's 2008 tax return:

[Planned Parenthood, accessed 2/8/11]

O'Reilly Suggests Wrongdoing In Advising On Abortion For 13-Year-Old

O'Reilly: “You Have These People Saying, 'Look, I Don't Care If The Girl's 13. We'll Get Around It. She'll Come In, She'll Get The Abortion, Nobody'll Know About It.' ” From The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: And then you have these people saying, “Look, I don't care if the girl's 13. We'll get around it. She'll come in, she'll get the abortion, nobody'll know about it.” And, I mean, you're asking American taxpayers to foot the bill for that? I mean, it's outra-- it's beyond politics. It's just -- it's outrageous. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/8/11]

New York State Has No Major Restrictions On Abortion -- Including Parental Consent

Guttmacher Institute: New York Has No Major Abortion Restrictions. According to a fact sheet on New York State abortion laws compiled by the Guttmacher Institute:

New York does not have any of the major types of abortion restrictions -- such as waiting periods, mandated parental involvement or limitations on publicly funded abortions -- often found in other states. [“State Facts About Abortion: New York,” Guttmacher Institute, accessed 2/8/11]