Planned Parenthood Caught Misleading on Birth Control Pills

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 31, 2011   |   5:06PM   |   Jackson, MS

The Planned Parenthood abortion business has been caught misleading Mississippi residents about the availability of the birth control pill should state residents approve Amendment 26 this November. The ballot proposal has the state of Mississippi defining the beginning of human life as at conception.

The pro-life group Live Action responded to public claims from Planned Parenthood attacking the “personhood amendment,” which will appear on the November 8 ballot asking state residents: “Should the term ‘person’ be defined to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof?”

A Salon story several days ago claims, “By its own logic, the initiative would almost certainly ban common forms of birth control like the IUD and the morning-after pill, call into question the legality of the common birth-control pill, and even open the door to investigating women who have suffered miscarriages.”

Kay Scott, CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast has said, “It’s so extreme it could even ban common methods of birth control like the pill.”

But the activists at Live Action released audio and transcripts of calls to Planned Parenthood, legitimate health care providers and local pharmacies asking if the birth control pill would still be available after November’s vote — even if Mississippi residents approve Amendment 26.

“So far as we know, birth control will still be available,” a Planned Parenthood official in Hattiesburg told the caller.

“That’s not true. It’s always accessible,” a health department official told the group.

“No. The Amendment 26, it’s to end abortion. A birth control pill is to prevent pregnancy,” a staffer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center added.

And a Vicksburg, Mississippi pharmacy told the callers from Live Action, “That’s funny. No, I wouldn’t worry about anything like that. There’s some crazy people out there trying to scare people, I guess.”

The video also exposes the group Mississippians for Healthy Families and features images of tax returns showing most of the funding comes from Planned Parenthood abortion businesses located outside the state of Mississippi.

The full text of the amendment reads: “Be it enacted by the People of the State of Mississippi: SECTION 1: Article III of the constitution of the state of Mississippi is hereby amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION TO READ: SECTION 33: Person defined. As used in this Article III of the state constitution, “The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”