Virginia Planned Parenthood: Sex Trafficking Tapes a Hoax

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 4, 2011   |   6:18PM   |   Washington, DC

Stung by four tapes clearing showing its staff members assisting two people claiming to run a sex trafficking ring and wanting to get abortions for the young girls they said they were preying on, a Virginia Planned Parenthood abortion business says the video footage is a hoax.

The videos have garnered national controversy because they clearly show staff at the abortion business showing no alarm when told that the alleged sex traffickers want to arrange abortions and obtain STD testing for the girls they supposedly trafficked. The Planned Parenthood staff go out of their way to help them and go as far as showing them how to protect their activities and assure them of their confidentiality.

However, Planned Parenthood Health Systems, which runs clinics in Virginia, responded to the tapes this way:

Earlier today, secretly taped videos were released by Live Action, an organization whose mission is to close our health centers and whose efforts are being used to make false claims about our services.  This organization used a fake patient claiming to be engaged in the sex trade and managing under-aged girls in an effort to coax our staff into making damaging comments.  They [sic] hoax was perpetrated on January 11 at our Roanoke and Charlottesville health centers on January 11, 2011. 

The employees on these edited tapes in Roanoke and Charlottesville acted professionally in their interactions with the fake patient.  In both cases, they promptly reported the incidents to their supervisors.  In Roanoke, the staff immediately sought to identify the make, model and license plate number of his vehicle.  Local law enforcement and child protective services were notified.  Our medical personnel have since been interviewed by the FBI probing into possible felonious activities and sexual exploitation of vulnerable young girls. 

We treat the issue of abuse with the utmost seriousness, and firmly condemn using the issue of sexual exploitation as a political tool.

Planned Parenthood Health Systems is proud of the high quality healthcare services we provide to more than 25,000 women, men and teens each year including preventive reproductive healthcare, cancer screenings and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

Planned Parenthood Health Systems has been serving clients in Virginia for more than 40 years.  We remain committed to meeting the reproductive health and education needs of women and their families in the western half of Virginia.

That’s much different from the response of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who told the Associated Press after his viewing of the videos that he found them “very disturbing” and said he would have more to say after watching them in their entirety.

“My office has not yet received the complete and unedited video footage.  However, what I have seen so far is very disturbing,” he said in a statement. “After my staff and I review the full video and consult with our state and local regulatory and law enforcement partners, I likely will have more to say about this.  For now, we are in fact-finding mode.”

The three new videos, covering Planned Parenthood centers in Virginia, join the two other videos the group has released of a Perth Amboy, New Jersey abortion business and a Planned Parenthood center in Richmond, Virginia — both of which had staffers helping the alleged sex traffickers find information on how to obtain abortions without facing scrutiny and get STD testing for the girls.

A Planned Parenthood staffer in New Jersey has already been fired, New Jersey officials are looking into a shoddy abortion center Planned Parenthood referred to in its video, and the Virginia attorney general has received the full footage of the Richmond Planned Parenthood expose’.

The three new videos includes a Roanoke, Virginia abortion facility staffer suggesting the sex trafficker consider going to the health department instead of taking the girls he is victimizing to the Planned Parenthood — because it would be easier to hide the illegal activity.

“They’re discreet. They’re confidential. They, you know, don’t tell people what’s going on, because — frankly — it’s nobody’s business,” the female Planned Parenthood staff person is shown saying on the video. “And the thing is, see this is the thing a lot of people don’t know that. . .Right, through the Health Department.”

The videos shows giving birth control and STD testing for underage prostitutes is no problem.

“From the age of 12 up, for birth control, you can just come in and do that. You don’t have to have a parent, OK?”

Another one of the new videos depicts Planned Parenthood staff in Falls Church, Virginia telling the sex traffickers,“We don’t necessarily look at the legal status, like I said. Abortion appointments do require photo ID. It’s nothing as far as records. It’s just photo ID that’s ever going to be required.”

And a video of a Charlottesville, Virginia Planned Parenthood center conversation with the sex traffickers has the staffer assuring them that “Anybody here can help you. Everything here is confidential. We can’t give any information out” — even after being informed that illegal activities are occurring that they wish to hide via Planned Parenthood.

“It is utterly disgusting that Planned Parenthood’s response to this is that their employee reacted ‘professionally,’” said Live Action President Lila Rose. 

“The only acceptable response to encountering a self-identified sex-trafficker of underage girls is zero tolerance. The only ‘professional’ response is to immediately call law enforcement to the scene and push for an arrest. Our investigation – and  their response – continues to show that an institutional crisis has engulfed the highest levels of Planned Parenthood. If you’re a sex-trafficker of minors or young women, you have a partner in Planned Parenthood. But if you are a minor or a young woman, you are not safe at Planned Parenthood clinics,” Rose continued.

The footage shows a man who identifies himself as a pimp working with underage girls. He seeks assistance for getting abortions, STD testing and birth control for girls he “manages” as sex workers, who are from out of the country and as young as 14 to 15 years old. The investigation continues to unearth alarming evidence that Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $350 million from the American taxpayer every year, is willing to facilitate the sexual exploitation of minors and young women.

“Today, we are sending Attorney General Cuccinelli and Virginia law enforcement officials new, disturbing footage from three Virginia clinics. The footage explicitly shows Planned Parenthood staff willing to engage in activity that sexually exploits minors and young women. The evidence continues to mount, and shows a clear pattern where Planned Parenthood is willing aid and abet the sex-trafficking industry. These are abhorrent practices and it is time Planned Parenthood be held accountable,” Rose said.

See the new videos:
Falls Church Planned Parenthood
Roanoke Planned Parenthood
Charlottesville Planned Parenthood