Ohio Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Sued Over Incest Case Coverup

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 10, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Ohio Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Sued Over Incest Case Coverup Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 10
, 2007

Cincinnati, OH (LifeNews.com) — A suburban Cincinnati Planned Parenthood has been sued by a teenage girl who accuses it of covering up her sexual victimization by her father. Under Ohio law, doctors, nurses, teachers and other professionals are required to report alleged sexual abuse to authorities and the teen says that didn’t happen in her abortion case.

The unnamed girl filed the lawsuit in Warren County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday saying she told Planned Parenthood staff about the incest.

Abortion business officials told the Associated Press they hadn’t seen the lawsuit yet and couldn’t comment on it but added that someone at the facility would have contacted authorities after learning of any possible sexual abuse.

"We would call and report as required by law," Becki Brenner, Planned Parenthood’s Southwest Region president and chief executive officer, said.

Under the lawsuit, the teenager says Planned Parenthood’s failure to report the incest to police resulted in another 18 months of sexual abuse at the hands of her father.

According to AP, the girl eventually told someone else about the problems, leading to her father John Blanks Jr’s prosecution and a five year prison sentence.

The lawsuit claims Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio uses a "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy when it comes to sexual abuse but Brenner claimed "not part of the training procedure and it’s not part of our protocols."

"I am going to be very, very pleased when the facts of this case do come out in a court of law," she added.

But the teen’s Cincinnati lawyer, Brian Hurley said he’s obtained a handwritten note from Planned Parenthood that mentions the phrase, "don’t ask/don’t tell" and said the note was from a Planned Parenthood trainer, Julia Piercey.

"So, to me, their position is laughable," Hurley told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "It came from their own files, from their own trainer."

This is the second lawsuit against the Cincinnati Planned Parenthood over its treatment of teenagers.

An earlier lawsuit from neighboring Hamilton County involved a 14-year old girl who was a victim of rape and Planned Parenthood is accused of doing a secret abortion on her.

The girls’ parents filed a lawsuit against the abortion facility for violating the state’s parental notification law by not telling them of her abortion, which may have been coerced.

The girl in that case provided an incorrect phone number to Planned Parenthood officials for notification. Instead of giving the abortion center her parents’ phone, she gave the number for her 21-year-old boyfriend.
"Apparently they made no effort to confirm to whom they were speaking when they placed their call to notify the parents," Hurley told the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. "They did the minimum they could under the existing law."

Planned Parenthood appealed a judge’s decision requiring it to turn over to officials the abortion records of all women under the age of 18 to determine if there have been other cases.

Hurley got the training note as a result of his pursuit of this case and a hearing on the appeal is set for Tuesday.

This latest case is Case No. 07CU68441, filed in the Court of Common Pleas, Civil Division, Warren County, OH.

Related web sites:
Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati – https://www.cincinnatirighttolife.org