Why Does Planned Parenthood Get Away With Keeping Statutory Rape Cases Secret?

Two weeks ago, an MRCTV blog revealed that Planned Parenthood was covering up cases of child sexual abuse in its Mobile, Alabama clinic. A new investigative report from the Alliance Defending Freedom reveals other cases of Planned Parenthood also covering up sexual abuse of children in Alabama, and in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Ohio.

In 2014, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported that 48 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands list groups of individuals who are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect. New Jersey and Wyoming do not list specific groups of professionals. All the states that list the individuals who are mandated to report child abuse, include heath professionals on their lists.

In other words, if a child below the age of consent goes to a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion, that clinic is required by law to report it to the police.

Alliance Defending Freedom is reporting examples where Planned Parenthood is breaking that law. Below are some of the examples from the report:

• Last year, a Planned Parenthood facility in Tempe, Arizona was under investigation for failing to report the alleged rape of a minor. Previously, two different Planned Parenthood facilities in Arizona were caught on tape failing to report statutory rape. Another Planned Parenthood facility some years before failed to report the rape of a 13-year-old girl by her 23-year-old foster brother until the child was brought in for a second abortion just six months after Planned Parenthood performed the first abortion on the child.

• In Ohio, a Planned Parenthood facility permitted a soccer coach who had impregnated a 14-year old child to sign off on her abortion without her parents’ knowledge or consent. In another case, Planned Parenthood performed an abortion on a girl who was being sexually abused by her father and failed to report the abuse despite the young girl telling Planned Parenthood employees what was happening to her. And in yet another Ohio case, a young girl was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend and, during the extended period of sexual abuse, the girl was brought to Planned Parenthood for an abortion. Obviously no report was made to law enforcement by Planned Parenthood, or the other abortion providers, as the abuse continued for years

• (...) in California and Connecticut. In one California case, a well-known swimming coach, Andrew King, a sexual predator, impregnated a 14-year-old girl who then received an abortion at Planned Parenthood. King went on to sexually molest and abuse scores of other girls. In Connecticut, Adam Gault kept a 14-year-old missing child in his home for approximately a year, during which time he impregnated the girl who was then taken to Planned Parenthood for an abortion using a fictitious name.

• In Colorado, a civil lawsuit alleging that a Planned Parenthood facility failed to inquire about or report the suspected sexual abuse of a 13-year-old child by her stepfather that had begun when she was only six years old was recently settled. When the sexual abuse resulted in the child becoming pregnant at age thirteen, the predator took her to the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Denver where an abortion was performed without her mother’s knowledge or consent, even though parental notice was required by Colorado law. According to the lawsuit, not a single Planned Parenthood employee asked about the nature of the child’s relationship with the predator or why their last names were different or about potential abuse despite knowing that the child was only 13 years old and that sex abuse was evident. After the abortion, the Planned Parenthood facility reportedly sent the child back home with her rapist where she continued to be abused by this same predator for months. Disturbingly, publicly available court documents that have been filed on behalf of the child in that case reveal that Planned Parenthood has a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy with regard to children and pregnancies caused by sexual partners/predators.

Abortion supporters will claim that the Alliance Defending Freedom report is just an attempt to punish Planned Parenthood for being an abortion mill. But, if these people truly wanted to defend women's heath, they would agree that the first priority would be to defend those women who are the most vulnerable: under-aged girls.

The same people who are fighting the fast food restaurants that give out toys with the their kid's meals, or ban cupcakes at school birthday parties because they believe those foods are unhealthy, should rally behind an effort to defund Planned Parenthood because it refuses to report the sexual abuse of children.

This is not a matter of right-to-life; this is a matter of protecting our children.

Our representatives in Congress have been complicit in this child abuse: since the Roe vs. Wade decision, Congress has authorized over 8 billion dollars of payments to Planned Parenthood. Any member of Congress who votes against defunding Planned Parenthood - despite the child abuse - is agreeing with the organization that protecting our kids is not an important issue.