Planned Parenthood Fires Manager After Undercover Video
Was the organization's response sufficient?
.The undercover Planned Parenthood exposé has claimed a scalp. On Tuesday, the anti-abortion group Live Action published a disturbing video between a couple and a Planned Parenthood manager. In the video, the couple poses as sex traffickers and ask the Planned Parenthood manager for help bending the rules pertaining to 14 and 13-year-old girls receiving abortions. The manager, identified as Amy Woodruff, doesn't seem upset that the couple is seeking advice about underage prostitutes who work for them. In fact, she advises them on how to receive abortions without setting off red flags.
"The only thing that you do have to be careful is if they are a minor we are obligated if we hear any certain information to kind of report," the manager explains. She then says the girls should lie about the age of their sexual partners so there's "not too much of an age gap." In response, Planned Parenthood has now fired the manager at the New Jersey clinic from the video.
"We were profoundly shocked when we viewed the videotape released [Tuesday] morning, which depicted an employee of one of our health centers behaving in a repugnant manner that is inconsistent with our standards of care and is completely unacceptable,'' a regional Planned Parenthood director told NewJersey.com. Should the repercussions end at this firing?
- Funding Should Be Cut, says Live Action President Lila Rose: "This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Planned Parenthood intentionally breaks state and federal laws and covers up the abuse of the young girls it claims to serve. They don't deserve a dime of the hundreds of millions they receive in federal funding from taxpayers."
- Live Action's Tactics Were Unacceptable, says Stuart Schear, a Planned Parenthood federation vice president: "If these visits are part of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign, they must be condemned. Falsely claiming sex trafficking to health professionals to advance a political agenda is an astoundingly cynical form of political activity."
- I Can't Believe Planned Parenthood's Response, writes Ed Morrissey at Hot Air: "Which is more cynical? Pretending to be a pimp and prostitute to determine whether PP abides by the law, or having clinics give seminars in how to hide the exploitation of children in sex rings? Posing as people looking for illegal abortions, or giving advice from inside the Planned Parenthood clinic on how and where to find them?"
- Let's Not Lose Focus Here, adds Schear who called the incident a "very isolated" case: “We cannot lose sight of the bigger picture that we have opponents who are in many cases opposed to birth control, honest sex education and legal abortion, and are coordinating with allies on Capitol Hill to defund Planned Parenthood.”
- Planned Parenthood Must Do More, writes Eric Seymour at In the Agora:
This [firing] is, of course, the right thing to do, but it’s not the only thing Planned Parenthood needs to do. The woman indicated on-camera that a nurse practitioner at the clinic was a stickler for the rules, called her a vulgar name, and claimed that others at the clinic hated her. Live Action’s previous investigations have found employees at other clinics undermining mandatory reporting laws. It would appear that there is a pervasive attitude of disregard for the law throughout Planned Parenthood’s clinics. This must be addressed seriously at a corporate level with more than just lip service about zero tolerance policies.