Local, National Pro-Life Leaders Call on Government to End $363 Million in Tax Funding

Contact: Kerry Brown, Susan B. Anthony List, 703-470-1926, kbrown@sba-list.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2011 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today, new undercover footage was released showing a New York City Planned Parenthood clinic supervisor and medical practitioner aiding and abetting the sexual exploitation of minors, even giving the undercover "pimp" advice on how to pose as a legal guardian and get the taxpayer funded discount for his sex workers, some as young as 13 years old. Local and national pro-life group leaders cited outrage over the steady stream of recorded violations released over the past week as evidence of a system-wide crisis within Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The Expose Planned Parenthood coalition, an alliance of pro-life groups including Live Action, Susan B. Anthony List, Manhattan Declaration, 40 Days for Life, RedState, LifeNews, Students for Life of America, Concerned Women for America, Catholic Advocate, Catholic Vote, Family Research Council, Americans United for Life Action, American Principles in Action, New York State Right to Life, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, New Jersey Right to Life, Hispanic Leadership Fund, Cornerstone, Family Foundation, Arizona Right to Life, Iowa Right to Life, Ohio Right to Life, Oregon Right to Life and Indiana Right to Life, called upon federal, state and local governments to defund Planned Parenthood of the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars it receives annually.

The Planned Parenthood annual report disclosed receiving more than $363 million in government grants and contracts, including Title X funds, between 2008 and 2009. Over the same period, Planned Parenthood reported performing 324,008 abortions, the most it has ever performed.

The new video, the latest in a series of more than a dozen previous Live Action sting operations, was unveiled today by 22-year old Lila Rose and her investigative team and shows a clinic manager and a medical practitioner conspiring with a man posing as a pimp. The staffer and clinical supervisor counsels the pimp to secretly secure STD testing, contraception and access to abortion services for his prostitutes, as young as 13 years old, under a taxpayer subsidy referred to in the video as a "family planning benefit."

Below are statements from local and national pro-life leaders:

Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List
"Planned Parenthood has now been exposed as a frequent and unapologetic ally of those who deal in the sex trafficking of minors. The repeated horrors exposed in these videos are proof that exploiting women and underage girls is a repeated and systemic occurrence in this organization's dark history. Still, the fact that Planned Parenthood has the gall to insist that it deserves continued taxpayer support is appalling. There is a time in legislative initiatives where all points converge and the door opens. For defunding Planned Parenthood, that time is now."

Lila Rose
President, Live Action
"Planned Parenthood has shown, repeatedly, for the past three years of our investigation, that they are willing to aid and abet the sexual exploitation of minors and young girls, even girls as young as 13 and here illegally, all under a sick code of 'confidentiality.' For Planned Parenthood, this 'confidentiality' supersedes a zero tolerance for sex trafficking and exploitation of minors and young women. Today, we are making full footage and transcripts available to New York law enforcement officials and we are calling upon New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to launch a formal investigation as has been done in New Jersey by Attorney General Paula Dow. This footage shows that underage girls and young women are at potentially grave risk when they walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic."

Lori Kehoe
Executive Director, New York State Right to Life
"Governor Cuomo, defund Planned Parenthood now. Planned Parenthood is killing babies, aiding sex traffickers, abandoning women and robbing taxpayers. The state is in financial crisis. Abortion is not health care, sex trafficking is illegal, and Medicaid fraud is illegal. Enough!"

Brian Burch
President, CatholicVote.org
"Planned Parenthood's charade has finally been exposed, and the abortion giant simply cannot be trusted any longer with taxpayer support. The evidence against Planned Parenthood continues to mount. The newest hidden camera investigations show Planned Parenthood staff putting pimps and abortion ahead of women and their health. Planned Parenthood leadership must be held accountable and a thorough investigation of their entire organization is needed. Big Abortion is the last place taxpayers should be investing their money."

Steven Ertelt
Editor, LifeNews.com
"These videos make it clear that elected officials at all levels of government need to push for removing any and all taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood immediately. Forcing taxpayers to fund an organization that is willing to not just look the other way at the horror of sexual trafficking but provide abortions and advice for the alleged perpetrators is an abomination. Any federal, state or local government funds directed to Planned Parenthood should be directed Catholic Vote to efforts that provide real help for women, not exploitation of them."

Kristan Hawkins
Executive Director, Students for Life of America
"The new Live Action video in New York shows that the problem with Planned Parenthood aiding and abetting sex trafficking is a widespread problem and is not an isolated issue. Young women continue to be targeted by Planned Parenthood, and we now see that this supposedly pro-woman organization is now working with pimps and prostitutes to further enslave young women trapped in sex trafficking. We must defund Planned Parenthood and ensure that no taxpayer dollars go towards an organization that protects and promotes the sexual exploitation of minors."

Dr. Charmaine Yoest
President & CEO, Americans United for Life
"The burden of proof is on Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to show that every Planned Parenthood affiliate complies with medically -- and legally -- appropriate standards of care and maintains adequate oversight of the federal and state funding it receives. Congress needs to get the American tax payer out of subsidizing the abortion business."

Wendy Wright
CEO, Concerned Women for America
"Each new tape reveals Planned Parenthood’s institutional complicity with sex abusers and human traffickers. Even their official response exposes their attitude toward sex abuse and trafficking: They call their shocking practice of aiding child sex traffickers 'professional.' Neither the Planned Parenthood agents in clinics or at their headquarters seem at all surprised or disturbed that sex traffickers would be using their services. All of Planned Parenthood's actions thus far reveal that it is business as usual for them to assist rapists and sex traffickers to continue abusing girls. Planned Parenthood, a tax-funded entity, partners with criminals against their female victims. Government officials now have a choice: will they side with child sex traffickers and their accomplice Planned Parenthood, or will they criminally investigate and end taxpayer funding of this group that openly aids and abets modern day slavery?"

Tony Perkins
President, Family Research Council
"Now that Planned Parenthood is vulnerable and almost hysterical with panic, liberals are circling the wagons, understanding that any more slip-ups could mean the end of their federal gravy train. The fact that Planned Parenthood not only left these teenagers trapped in prostitution-but encouraged it-shows an incredible lack of humanity on their part. What goes on behind the windowless offices of Planned Parenthood, as these videos show, is both saddening and shocking, but the fact it is done with taxpayer dollars is indefensible."

Fr. Frank Pavone
Priests for Life
"One who is convinced that baby-killing is justified will be able to justify anything. The revelations about Planned Parenthood illustrate a timeless principle: You can't practice vice virtuously. That's why these scandals are the norm, not the exception."

Matt Smith
Vice President, Catholic Advocate
"Planned Parenthood clearly has a problem following the law in its 800 clinics when these crimes are happening up and down the east coast. The troubling part is our tax dollars being used by Planned Parenthood are the accomplices to these crimes."

Rev. Jason J. McGuire
Executive Director, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms
"Planned Parenthood has demonstrated a complete disregard for the law. In multiple states we are seeing Planned Parenthood employees respond with the same basic disregard for children being sold into sexual slavery and abused by their pimps. From New Jersey to Virginia and now New York, it has become clear that there is a pattern of institutional corruption within the Planned Parenthood network. We can no longer stand by and allow this injustice to continue."

Abby Johnson
Former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director turned Pro-Life Advocate, Author of Unplanned
"When watching these videos, something immediately struck me. Planned Parenthood has become so concerned about not passing judgment on the women who enter their clinics that they have forgotten to protect them. Planned Parenthood is an organization that states they are dedicated to the 'protection of women's health.' However, we now see that they are not concerned about protecting females in the womb, they will cover up abortion complications, they do not protect the minority women in our country, they do not protect young women who are being abused, and now we see that they will even aid and abet in the trafficking of young women in the sex industry. So, who are these women who Planned Parenthood wants to protect? We can't be sure. We see that these incidents are not, after all, isolated. We see them repeated over and over again. We didn't need the cameras to know that Planned Parenthood was a corrupt organization. The cameras only confirmed what we already knew."

Mario Lopez
President, Hispanic Leadership Fund
"Planned Parenthood is showing an amazing and reckless disregard for the health and well-being of women and underage girls. Aiding and abetting sex trafficking, prostitution and other laws is deadly serious and there is no reason that Planned Parenthood should continue to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the pockets of American taxpayers and families."

David Bereit
National Campaign Director, 40 Days for Life
"These shocking undercover videos confirm what we have seen time and time again while holding 40-day-long, round-the-clock vigils outside of more than 100 Planned Parenthood offices over the last three years. Planned Parenthood arrogantly believes it is above the law, regularly aiding and abetting the exploitation of vulnerable, underage girls. It is time for an immediate federal investigation into Planned Parenthood’s facilitation of sex trafficking and Congress must immediately strip the organization of its $363 million in tax funding."

For further information, please contact Kerry Brown at (703) 470-1926 or kbrown@sba-list.org.