Live Action says Planned Parenthood and other U.S. abortion providers are willing to assist in the termination of baby girls for pregnant women who choose abortion because they want to have baby boys. And the pro-life abortion watchdog says its video series and a new website will expose it all.
“This was a multi-state, national investigation demonstrating that this is a widespread problem across our country,” Live Action president Lila Rose told The Daily Caller in an interview Monday.
“First of all, the statistics and studies indicate that we are adding to the growing problem across the world of sex-selective targeting of unborn girls for abortion. We are going to be demonstrating — starting with this video from Texas — that the abortion industry in the United States is aiding and abetting this horrific problem.”
The first in what Live Action says is a series of videotaped incidents exposing American abortion facilities’ willingness to assist in sex-selection abortions took place at a South Austin, Texas Planned Parenthood clinic. In the footage, a Planned Parenthood counselor appears to readily assist and advise a Live Action actor who said she was trying to obtain an abortion if her baby is female.
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“In this video, what is astounding is that Rebecca, the Planned Parenthood counselor, starts arranging with the actor about how to get a late-term abortion,” Rose said. “To wait until her pregnancy is so developed that — and using Medicaid for this, using the state to pay for the ultrasound to determine the gender, and then to do a late term abortion if it was a little girl.”
Live Action would not say how many abortion providers complied with their investigators’ requests or how many they visited. The group did provide The Daily Caller with a link to its unedited video footage from the South Austin clinic.
“We want people to understand the attitude of the abortion industry towards sex-selective abortion and we want people to come to their own conclusions about the acceptability of this kind of behavior,” Rose explained. (RELATED: More on Planned Parenthood)
A poll released this month by the Lozier Institute, a research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, found that 77 percent of respondents would support a law banning sex-selective abortions. Only Illinois, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Arizona have such laws.
In late April, Planned Parenthood suspected that it was the subject of such a sting operation. At the time, the group called Live Action’s tactic a hoax and condemned sex-selection abortions.
“Planned Parenthood does not offer sex determination services; our ultrasound services are limited to medical purposes,” Planned Parenthood education vice president Leslie Kantor and Carolyn Westhoff, a senior medical adviser for Planned Parenthood, wrote. ”Gender bias is contrary to everything our organization works for daily in communities across the country. Planned Parenthood opposes racism and sexism in all forms, and we work to advance equity and human rights in the delivery of health care.”
“Planned Parenthood condemns sex selection motivated by gender bias, and urges leaders to challenge the underlying conditions that lead to these beliefs and practices, including addressing the social, legal, economic, and political conditions that promote gender bias and lead some to value one gender over the other,” the pair continued, asserting that stings such as Live Action’s are an attempt by “anti-choice” advocates to further “legislation that blocks access to basic reproductive health care, including birth control.”
In February, Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks’ legislation banning abortions sought because of a child’s sex or race, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, passed through the House Judiciary Committee. Life News reported last week that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has scheduled time for debate and a floor vote on Wednesday.
“Our innate sense of human fairness should make it abundantly clear that aborting a little baby because he or she happens to be black or because he or she has been arbitrarily deemed ‘lesser’ is fundamentally wrong, representing a betrayal of the precious truth that all men are created equal and are stamped with the Imago Dei on their souls,” Franks said in a statement after his legislation passed through the committee on a 20-13 vote.
Pro-choice advocates contend that Franks’ proposal will further restrict women’s access to reproductive health services and violate their right to privacy.
“Every woman has unique considerations and circumstances that inform her decision-making process, and she is in the best position to make the right decision for herself and her family,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan testified during a December hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee.
