For Immediate Release
Covering Up For Sex Trafficking
Abortion Industry's Failure to Report Sex Crimes
May Also Hide Human Trafficking
—Experts Say Victims of Sex Trafficking Are Often Forced To Abort
Springfield, IL (Jan. 19, 2009) -- As part of an ongoing effort by pro-lifers to expose abortion clinics’ abetting of sex crimes, more Planned Parenthood affiliates have been caught on tape apparently trying to cover up cases of sexual abuse and statutory rape.
Pro-life groups in California, North Carolina and Indiana have conducted undercover investigations in which women posed as minor girls and told abortion clinic staff members that they had been impregnated by adult men. The pro-lifers then secretly recorded the Planned Parenthood staff apparently either ignoring evidence of a crime or telling the girl to lie about her age in order to conceal the abusive situation.
In one case, a nurse was recorded as saying, “Okay, I didn’t hear the age [of the man]. I don’t want to hear the age.” In another case, a pro-life group in North Carolina released video footage of a Planned Parenthood staff member telling a “girl” who said she was having sex with her mother’s boyfriend that this was illegal, but then told her that the man could buy the morning-after pill for her. Students for Life of America, which recorded the conversation, says they could not find any evidence that Planned Parenthood reported the case to authorities as required by state law.
Critics say that while these newest cases are drawing attention to what happens behind closed doors—or over the phone—at abortion businesses across the country, this is not a new problem.
An undercover investigation by the pro-life group Life Dynamics in 2002 found that many abortion businesses were willing to help conceal sexual abuse. A Life Dynamics staff member called abortion businesses around the country, posing as a pregnant 13-year-old girl with a 22-year-old "boyfriend." According to transcripts of the calls published by Life Dynamics, staffers at many abortion clinics told the girl to conceal her age and details of the case or gave her tips about how to circumvent authorities in order to obtain an abortion so her parents would not have to know of the sexual relationship.
There have also been lawsuits and criminal cases in a number of states in which girls and teens were taken for abortions by older men, given abortions with no questions asked and then returned to the abusive situation.
For example, in 2002 a judge found a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Arizona negligent for failing to report a case in which a 13-year-old girl was impregnated and taken for an abortion by her 23-year-old foster brother. Planned Parenthood did not notify authorities until the girl returned six months later for a second abortion. A lawsuit alleged that the girl was subjected to repeated abuse and a second abortion because Planned Parenthood failed to notify authorities when she had her first abortion. The girl's foster brother was later imprisoned for abusing her.1
Forced to Abort: Victims of Sex Trafficking
These cases are especially troubling in light of a recent report on sex trafficking that appeared on MSNBC.com. The report said that victims of sex trafficking are often forced into abortion if they become pregnant.2
Last year, Consuelo Carretto Valencia pleaded guilty to trafficking women and girls from Mexico and forcing them to work in the sex industry. Investigators said Valencia was the head of a prostitution ring in which the victims were “compelled to perform sex acts 12 hours a day and subjected to beatings, rapes and forced abortions.”
Federal investigators said that sex trafficking in the U.S. likely generates more than $9.5 billion a year and that it goes on in “nearly ever Amercian city and town.” A State Department report released in 2008 said that most victims of human trafficking are women and girls and that 70 percent of them are trafficked for sexual purposes.
According to experts, most women and girls who are victims of sex trafficking are lured to the U.S. from other countries with the promise of good jobs, then forced into prostitution. Many speak little or no English and are afraid to go authorities or try to escape because they are victims of intimidation, brain-washing and physical violence.
All the more reason why the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy at abortion businesses needs to come to an end. The Elliot Institute’s model bill would hold abortion businesses liable for failing to screen for coercion and for performing abortions when there is evidence that the woman or girl is being forced or coerced into abortion. This could help identify women and girls who are victims of sexual predators or human trafficking and would stop providing perpetrators with an easy way to cover up and continue their crimes.
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Learn More: For more information on the Elliot Institute's model bill to stop coerced and forced abortions, click here.
Citations
1. “Planned Parenthood Found Negligent in Reporting Molested Teen's Abortion,” Pro-Life Infonet, Dec. 26, 2002.
2. Alex Johnson and Cesar Rodriquez, “Sex slavery: Living the American Nightmare,” MSNBC.com, Dec. 22. 2008. Accessed on 12/22/08.
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