Thursday, February 3, 2011

Planned Parenthood Statement on Virginia Videotapes

Statement by Stuart Schear, Vice President for Communications, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on Virginia video tapes released by Live Action:

Today, Live Action, an anti-abortion groups led by Lila Rose, a self-described “extremist”[1], who has called for abortions to take place in public[2] and has vowed to “take down” Planned Parenthood, released videotapes secretly taped at Planned Parenthood Health Centers in Virginia.

In a recent round of secret videotaping in January 2011, at least four health centers in Virginia received visits in a short period of time from persons claiming to be involved in the sex trade, involving vulnerable minors. Local authorities, as well as federal authorities, were alerted to these visits. In this morning’s publicized tape, the Planned Parenthood staff member reacted professionally to a highly unusual person posing as a patient. After the encounter, the staff member immediately notified her supervisor, who subsequently notified members of Planned Parenthood’s national security team, who are working with the FBI, which is investigating these visits.

It is clear that Live Action is coordinating its activities to support legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, introduced by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) to defund Planned Parenthood by stripping it of Title X family planning funding, which Planned Parenthood’s local affiliates receive to provide low-income women with birth control, family planning, and preventive care, including lifesaving screenings for breast and cervical cancer.

In the past, Live Action has heavily edited tapes to create the impression that Planned Parenthood staff are not acting professionally or following the law. Planned Parenthood’s first analysis is that this new tape from Virginia is edited, and we believe the members of the press should be able to view the raw, unedited footage of any tapes that have been made public.

[1] http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/26/nation/na-abortion26/3

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piny4Ur1EEA&feature=player_embedde

No comments: