Undercover Video Shows Planned Parenthood Staff Lying to Woman About Abortion

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 9, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Undercover Video Shows Planned Parenthood Staff Lying to Woman About Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 9
, 2009

Appleton, WI (LifeNews.com) — A new undercover video released by the group that exposed Planned Parenthood staffers turning a deaf ear to potential cases of sexual abuse finds staff at a Wisconsin Planned Parenthood abortion center lying to women in abortion counseling about the development of their unborn child.

The undercover footage released by Live Action also shows abortion center staff, including the abortion practitioner, encouraging the one who is pregnant to obtain an abortion because "women die having babies."

In the undercover video, two women posing as potential abortion customers ask a Planned Parenthood counselor if the pregnant woman’s 10-week-old unborn child has a heartbeat.

The counselor emphasizes "heart tones," and answers, "Heart beat is when the fetus is active in the uterus–can survive–which is about seventeen or eighteen weeks."

However, biology textbooks and embryologists point out that the heart of an unborn child begins beating at around three weeks into the pregnancy, before most women realize they are pregnant.

The Planned Parenthood counselor then says, "A fetus is what’s in the uterus right now. That is not a baby."

Dr. Polhaska, the abortion practitioner, insists "It’s not a baby at this stage or anything like that."

He goes on to say that having an abortion will be "much safer than having a baby," warning, "You know, women die having babies."

While Wisconsin informed consent law requires that women receive medically accurate information before undergoing an abortion, Lila Rose, the 21-year-old UCLA student and Live Action president, says the Planned parenthood center is clearly deceiving women.

She told LifeNews.com today that medical lies and manipulative counseling are routine at Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business.

"They will do or say anything in order to sell more abortions to more women, whether it is covering up sexual abuse or lying to women about medical facts," says Rose. "Our team has visited dozens of Planned Parenthood clinics undercover. Planned Parenthood, while claiming to support patient self-determination, operates with an ‘abortion-first mentality.’"

The video is the first in Live Action’s new a multi-state undercover audit documenting Planned Parenthood’s abortion counseling that is illegal, unethical or not factual.

Planned Parenthood has come under fire recently after Live Action’s investigations found them willing to conceal sexual abuse and accept donations targeted to abort African-Americans only.

Videos of abuse cover-up prompted state investigations of Planned Parenthood and diversion of the abortion giant’s public subsidies.

"Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar organization with nearly $350 million of government funding, and stands to gain hundreds of millions more from national health care," says Rose. "Do we really want to subsidize an organization that gives women in need atrocious misinformation and predatory abortion practices?"

The video comes one month after the widely reported resignation of Planned Parenthood center director Abby Johnson.

She said during a recent interview, "Planned Parenthood really tries to instill in their employees and the women that are coming in for abortions that this is not a baby."

In another interview, she noted, "They don’t want to talk about when your baby has a heartbeat," because "they don’t want to give the woman information that could give her a connection with her baby."

Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com

Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report
Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.