Posted on 06/04/2002 9:10:48 AM PDT by toenail
Group says clinics abide statutory rape
BY NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star
The telephone conversation with an employee at Lincoln's South Street clinic was typical of the more than 800 calls made by an anti-abortion group to family-planning clinics and other abortion clinics across the country, according to Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics, a national pro-life organization.
Most clinics indicated they would help the girl (who said she was 13 and her boyfriend was 22) get an abortion and would not report the case to police, according to Crutcher during a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.
The clinics are failing to comply with state laws requiring reporting of child abuse, in this case statutory rape, according to Life Dynamics.
A state pro-life organization, Nebraskans United for Life, is asking three agencies to investigate the possibility that family-planning clinics and abortion clinics in Nebraska are "covering up child abuse," based on Crutcher's report.
"There is documented evidence that abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation, are not reporting child abuse to the proper authorities," said Bob Blank, president of the Nebraska group, in a letter sent to the attorney general, the Health and Human Services System and the U.S. attorney's office on Thursday.
In what Crutcher said was a Feb. 21 telephone conversation with the Lincoln clinic, a woman pretending to be a young caller told the Planned Parenthood employee that she was 13 and her boyfriend was 22. The caller said she thought she was pregnant, wanted to have an abortion and didn't want her parents to know. The caller said she wanted to get birth control pills if she was not pregnant, based on the transcript read by Crutcher to a reporter.
The Planned Parenthood employee briefly explained how the girl could get an abortion without her parents' consent and encouraged the girl to make an appointment with a counselor.
The employee also cautioned that the relationship was considered statutory rape because of the ages of the teen and her boyfriend, and then encouraged the girl not to tell the counselor at the clinic that the man was the father of the child in order to avoid any problems.
"We wouldn't even know he was the father. You don't have to say, `This is my boyfriend who got me pregnant,'" the employee said. "You can say he's paying (for the abortion)," the employee said.
At one point the young caller asked, "Would you have to tell the police or anybody?"
"No, no, no. We wouldn't do anything like that unless you were being forced," replied the employee.
Chris Funk, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Lincoln, acknowledged that the two employee names used in the conversation were the same as a former and a current employee, but Funk said she would not comment on what she termed "alleged" recording. "I just can't trust the credibility of that group," she said.
The staff does not do counseling over the telephone, but tries to encourage the woman to make an appointment with a Planned Parenthood professional counselor, said Funk.
The alleged advice about not telling the counselor the age of the father and the statement that police would not be notified do not adhere to the clinic's policy, said Funk.
"We do report it (statutory rape). We have to report it," said Funk.
The Texas-based pro-life group said telephone calls were made to six Nebraska-based clinics -- the two Planned Parenthood offices in Lincoln, three Planned Parenthood offices in Omaha and the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska in Bellevue.
The conversations at all the clinics were similar, said Crutcher.
Funk said that no form asks for the age of the father, but that Planned Parenthood counselors will explore the issue if there is some evidence of child abuse.
In Nebraska it is unlawful for a minor -- 14 or younger -- to have sexual contact with someone 19 or older. It is also unlawful for someone 15 or younger to have sexual penetration with someone 19 or older. Both are considered statutory rape.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Probably. But they do abide as well.
abide:
1) To put up with; tolerate:
They certainly do tolerate statutory rape.
a.cricket
I understand that sense of abide, but it seems to me that in criminal matters, abet (generally paired with aid) is idiomatic.
This sentence indicates they are assisting the young woman on how to avoid the charge of statutory rape. Abet is the more precise word.
1 : to actively second and encourage (as an activity or plan)
2 : to assist or support in the achievement of a purpose
Opposites attract?
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