An anti-abortion group called Live Action released an undercover video taken in its latest endeavor to take down Planned Parenthood. In the video, the Live Action operatives, posing as a pimp and prostitute, seek sexual health assistance in the New Jersey clinic.
The video released by Live Action, a conservative and pro-life organization, depicts a clinic employee offering to give health services to prostitutes in a sex ring without notifying law enforcement. The video also shows footage of the employee suggesting some girls lie about their age when seeking sexual health service at Planned Parenthood.
The New Jersey† clinic was not the only branch targeted that week. Planned Parentood reports that sex traffickers had visited at least eleven clinics, and all visits were reported to the Justice Department. However, based on the identification of some of the visitors, it was concluded that all eleven visits were a hoax sponsored by Live Action. According to Planned Parenthood, this group has had a history of undercover videotaping and manipulative editing in slanderous take-down campaigns.
This is not the first time a liberal organization has suffered from the agenda pushing the conservatives’ video manipulation. In 2009, the Associate for Community Organizations for Reform Now was stripped of government funding because of a video created by Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe which was edited to make the it look like ACORN was assisting a pimp and his prostitute. In July 2010, Shirley Sherrod was removed from her position as United States Department of Agriculture when a video clip of her speaking at an N.A.A.C.P event was edited to make it appear as though she regularly discriminates against white people. What was edited out was Sherrod explaining how she learned from working with the farmer that all people must overcome their prejudices.
The Planned Parenthood clinic manager was depicted in the video in question has been fired. Furthermore, vice president for communications of the national federation said Planned Parenthood remains strong in their “zero tolerance” policy for unethical behavior and it is believed that the behavior filmed was very much an isolated incident.† While the legitimacy of the video is in question, the ethics of Planned Parenthood shall remain under intense scrutiny in the coming months.
I read this article thinking that it would be about Planned Parenthood in Wooster. The content, while not about Wooster, was still fascinating. However, I’m confused about the sourcing for the content. The byline suggests that Christo covered the story, including actually seeing the videos and interviewing sources to determine the legitimacy of the story. Is that true? If not, what are the sources for this story? Who, for instance, said that the ethics of Planned Parenthood will be under intense scrutiny for months? It’s very odd, and certainly misleading, to run a news story that does not identify sources and doesn’t include information gathered by the reporter through speaking with sources. I much appreciate the general topic — we need to be apprised of such activities — but I’m concerned about a story that appears to be news but then seems not to be news, ending as more of an editorial.