An anti-abortion group that calls itself Live Action is circulating an edited undercover video of a scene that occurred at a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Jersey. The scene depicts actors posing as a pimp and a prostitute who ask an employee where they can find abortion services for girls under 14, and for illegal immigrants.
The Vice President of Communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Stuart Shear, made a statement to the effect that 12 of the clinics in six states had received visits in January, 2011 by people who said that they were sex traffickers. Planned Parenthood duly told the Justice Department about these visits. The organization also sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on January 18 saying that it was worried about any sort of sex trafficking. The letter also contained speculations about the visits being some kind of a hoax by Live Action. This speculation was raised because of the identification of one of the persons who visited a clinic.
Lila Rose, is the president as well as the founder of Live Action. The young woman has worked with James O’Keefe, an activist on the conservative side. In 2009 O’Keefe released a video similar to the one against Planned Parenthood, in which he and someone else also posed as a pimp and prostitute. (Apparently they are popular roles for these groups.) The target of this particular video was the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Since the appearance of that video, ACORN was forced to file for bankruptcy. ACORN works on behalf low-income people who are in need of housing services. The video was later declared to be a hoax.
In reference to these undercover videos by Live Action, the organization Credo Action called the video of the New Jersey clinic, “edited, distortion-filled.” Credo went on to say, “In the video they had the impudence to accuse Planned Parenthood of helping to cove up a sex ring trafficking in underage female prostitutes. And how utterly offensive to make up a story about child sex slaves - a real and heinous crime - in the service of their extreme political agenda.”
Sources: Ms. Magazine
Credo Action