ARTICLES
April 2006 ARTICLES
Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Planned Parenthood Aids Statutory Rape
Evidence is On Tape
BY ROBERT KUMPEL
Christina Smith is 13, pregnant, and wants an abortion. She calls Planned Parenthood's Marengo Avenue clinic in Van Nuys and talks to Vanessa. She tells Vanessa that she wants an abortion and is worried about her age. Vanessa tells Christine that there is no age limit. Christine, worried that her parents might find out, asks if anyone has to know. She is assured that Planned Parenthood will tell no one. When Christine asks if her 22 year-old boyfriend can bring her for the abortion, Vanessa tells her that will be fine and asks her if she'd like to set up an appointment. Suddenly it hits Vanessa: "Okay. Hold on one second. How old are you?"
Christina: "I'll be 14 in March."
Vanessa: "Really?"
Christina: "Yeah."
Vanessa: "And do your -- I mean, this is just out of curiosity, but do your parents know that your boyfriend is 22?"
Christina: "Yeah. They just really don't like him."
Vanessa: "As long as you guys both are happy that's all that matters."
Christina goes on to tell Vanessa that she thinks she got pregnant in December. Vanessa tells her that the abortion will cost $290 and asks a few medical questions before setting a date for the procedure at Planned Parenthood's Van Nuys clinic. Before hanging up, Christina asks one more time if anyone will be told about the abortion. Vanessa assures her that no parental consent is needed and no one will be told without Christina's permission.
During this phone call, Vanessa and her employers have complied with a misdemeanor, since healthcare workers and social service agencies are mandated by law to report child abuse, which Christina Smith is a victim of, as her pregnancy is the result of statutory rape.
Fortunately, "Christina Smith" was the undercover alias of a caller from Life Dynamics, a non-profit pro-life agency in Denton, Texas. This call (Tape 151) and 92 others like it can be heard at http://tapes.yeson73.net. The tapes document similar inquiries made to abortion clinics throughout the state of California and provide a chilling scenario of just how little effort is required for a minor girl to get an abortion. While a few of the clinic agents warn Christina that her boyfriend will have to be reported, many do not.
J.T. Finn, 45, is the director of Pro Life America, a California agency that specializes in reaching young people, and publishes Love Matters, a magazine that focuses on celebrity testimonials supporting chastity and respect for life. Finn took over the Yes on 73 website and was responsible for posting the recordings on the website. After he discovered the tapes, he found them to be an effective tool to demonstrate what's wrong with abortion law in California. "Whenever anyone heard those tapes, they were shocked and horrified. Unfortunately, most of the people who heard them were already on our side in the first place."
The recordings are among hundreds of phone conversations placed by an employee of Life Dynamics in 2001, when she called every abortion clinic in America to document their policies on reporting the activities of young women who are victims of sexual abuse and statutory rape. Life Dynamics' founder, Mark Crutcher, is outraged by the common practice of abortion providers violating mandated reporting laws of under-aged sexual activity with adults. "The Attorney General of Kansas, Phil Kline, and the Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter have both opened investigations into abortion clinics refusal to report minors sexually abused by adults. There are other states opening investigations too, but I can't comment on those."
One source close to the parental notification initiative effort says that the tapes were only available the last couple of months of the Proposition 73 campaign and will be used more widely the next time. "They were very powerful," the source said. "When they were brought up in debates during the last campaign, there was dead silence. Planned Parenthood's complicity in pedophilia could not be countered. There was complete silence on the other side."
(See elsewhere in the Mission for petitions and where to get materials to put the Parents' Right to Know and Child Protection ballot initiative on the November, 2006 state ballot.)