YouTube Removes New Undercover Video Exposing Planned Parenthood on Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 25, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — YouTube, the popular video sharing web site, has removed a new undercover video that exposes dishonest counseling practices at Planned Parenthood abortion centers. The new video shows a Planned Parenthood staff member telling pro-life activist Lila Rose that images of victims of abortion are "not real."
Without offering any specific explanation, YouTube removed the new video, which features footage of a Planned Parenthood facility in Tucson, Arizona.
After the staffer tells a potential abortion patient that the images of babies killed in abortions are fake, the video shows photographs of a completed abortion and documentation of their authenticity.
Lila Rose, the UCLA student who founded Live Action Advocates and whose undercover videos have exposed Planned Parenthood staff members covering up possible cases of statutory rape, told LifeNews.com that YouTube should reinstate the video.
"Since the video we posted does not violate any terms of use, we expect YouTube to re- instate it immediately," she said. YouTube’s own ‘Community Guideline Tips’ advise that intense or disturbing imaging should be ‘balanced with additional context and information,’ which is exactly what Live Action has done."
This isn’t the first time that YouTube has pulled one of Rose’s videos and not the first time it has pulled a pro-life video featuring images of babies who died in abortions.
YouTube blocked a video in September 2008 exposing the racist donations Planned Parenthood accepted. YouTube provided no advance warning, but sent an email citing "an alleged privacy violation."
At the time, YouTube had also not responded to the group’s inquiry about why the first four videos critical of Planned Parenthood were marked as "content inappropriate."
Live Action’s videos use undercover tactics to expose fraudulent practices in the abortion industry and are similar to other "sting" investigations which journalists often post on YouTube. Footage released to date has caught on hidden camera six Planned Parenthood clinics in three states ignoring their mandatory reporting responsibilities for statutory rape and protecting adult-child sexual relationships.
As LifeNews.com reported, the Tennessee state legislature recently relied on Rose’s footage to divert nearly $1 million in taxpayer subsidies from Planned Parenthood clinics.
"New media is vital to educating the public about the shocking realities of abortion practice in America," Rose emphasizes.
"Our videos show hard truths about the abortion industry that must be seen and dealt with. Lawmakers and their constituents are recognizing this, but YouTube does everyone a disservice when they cooperate with Planned Parenthood in burying the evidence of abuse," she told LifeNews.com.
YouTube has censored videos from pro-life organizations in the past. In July 2008, a short film by the pro- life Population Research Institute highlighting dishonest reporting from a pro-choice filmmaker was censored.
YouTube eventually responded to criticism and restored both videos.
Also, YouTube took down a video from Citizens for a Pro-Life Society showing an abortion center that was investigated for illegally dumping medical waste.
No sooner had the video gone up of popular Hispanic actor Eduardo Verástegui denouncing presidential candidate Barack Obama on abortion than YouTube officials took it down. The video sharing site removed the full version of the video, which showed graphic images of abortions.
ACTION: Contact YouTube with your comments at https://www.youtube.com/t/contact_us
Related web sites:
Live Action – https://www.liveactionfilms.org
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