While promoting her latest smear of Planned Parenthood, Lila Rose also dissembled about the organization's reaction to one of her previous hoaxes.
Rose appeared on tonight's episode of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor to promote her latest anti-Planned Parenthood hoax video. And while guest host Laura Ingraham threw the softest of softballs at Rose -- at one point applauding her for her “genius investigative reporting” -- at least Planned Parenthood supporter Sally Kohn was on hand to inject a little reality into the segment.
When Rose once again accused Planned Parenthood of “covering up sexual abuse” and “aiding and abetting trafficking,” Kohn confronted Rose with the fact that, far from aiding and abetting sex trafficking, Planned Parenthood had actually responded to evidence of sex trafficking by contacting law enforcement.
In the past, Rose has gone on Fox to make the false accusation that Planned Parenthood had abetted sex trafficking with no one there to push back. This time, when confronted with the facts, Rose decided to tell untruths about what Planned Parenthood had done.
Here's video of Rose's and Kohn's appearance (with the relevant exchange starting around 4:35):
ROSE: This is the reality that we're facing, that this is an abortion-minded organization with a radical ideology that has -- along with a sling of other abuses -- when it comes to covering up sexual abuse, aiding and abetting trafficking, they're not good for women, ultimately. They're not actually helping women. They're most concerned with what I -- what I think is the greatest human rights abuse that our country faces, which is abortion.
KOHN: Hang on. Let's--
INGRAHAM: Sally, go ahead.
KOHN: Yeah, let's get a couple things clear. So first of all, in every instance that you just referred to, Planned Parenthood, where there were allegations of sexual abuse, of trafficking, et cetera -- They alerted the police, and they alerted the FBI and called an investigation.
ROSE: Let's set the record straight --
KOHN: Let's be clear on facts. Let's be clear on facts.
ROSE: That's not -- that's not -- that's not proved at all. Sally, that's not a fact. In fact, they could not come up with the cases where they called the police. A letter from [Planned Parenthood Federation of America president] Cecile Richards, after they found out that it was Live Action doing the investigation, alerting authorities that Live Action might be involved, is not the same as actually calling the police like you should.
Either Rose is lying or she has a terrible memory. As we've noted repeatedly, Planned Parenthood alerted the Justice Department to the visits before they learned they were being pranked by Live Action. From a Planned Parenthood press release issued during the first round of “stings”:
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. [PlannedParenthood.org, 1/24/11, emphasis added]
The letter to Holder -- which you can read here -- does raise the possibility that these visits might be a hoax, but draws no conclusions and never once mentions Live Action.
Presumably Rose has read the letter, since she saw fit to respond to it in February during a rambling interview with Big Government's Lee Stranahan. That being the case, maybe this isn't a lie or a memory lapse -- maybe Rose's reading comprehension just needs some work.