In each and every case, PP advised the girls to lie about their age and perhaps NOT have their adult impregnators show up at the "clinic."
I heard a recording where a girl called up a bunch of PPs. Every single one said they would cover up the statutory rape. The media won’t report it, and law enforcement never gets involved.
I think the girl posed as a 15 year old. I don’t think she was actually 15.
Here’s an op-ed I wrote on the clinic investigation, including what was found at the clinic that “serves” my area. Sorry, couldn’t find the original FR thread...this ran on 19 May, 2005.
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What does the recent flurry of legal activity surrounding one aspect of abortion mean, and does it have implications for Northwest Illinois?
In all 50 states, medical personnel are required to inform child welfare of evidence of child abuse, including statutory rape. Even in states like Illinois where there’s no parental notification required for an abortion, pregnancies resulting from abuse require a report. Though some underage pregnancies involve underage fathers, a pregnant 13 year old is certainly as much evidence of abuse as an unexplained bruise or fracture. That’s where the flurry comes in.
The Attorneys General of Kansas and Indiana are demanding a total of about 180 medical records from abortion clinics in their states, including every Planned Parenthood clinic in Indiana. They claim they have credible evidence that the clinics covered up the statutory rape of minor girls by adult males.
Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio is being sued over an abortion performed on a 14 year old. Though she gave her father’s name and address to the clinic, they did not notify her parents as required by law, or make a report to child welfare, even though she was brought to the clinic by her 21 year old boyfriend. After he claimed to be a “stepbrother,” he was put in the driver’s seat for her medical care; later he was put in jail for sexual battery.
An Alaskan lawsuit doesn’t involve statutory rape, but is a chilling case of an adult taking bizarre liberties with a child. Frantic parents reported their 15 year old daughter missing when she failed to come home after school. It turned out a social worker from an Anchorage hospital had taken her on an overnight trip to Washington State to obtain an abortion.
Isolated cases? A fishing expedition by “anti-choice” politicians and lawyers? Not according to a two year investigation by the pro-life group Life Dynamics. A member of the organization called over 800 clinics, claiming to be a 13 year old girl impregnated by a 22 year old man, and made the age difference very clear. In 91% of the phone calls (including 21 calls in Illinois) the clinic workers said they would not report the abuse to authorities. For example, clinic workers in Pekin and Chicago described the legal issues to her in detail, including the fact that the abuser could “got to jail.” A Peoria worker said she’d put a note in the girl’s appointment file so the clinic counselor would know not to ask her for details and they could avoid reporting the abuse.
At Rockford’s Northern Illinois Women’s Center, they were no less helpful. The clinic worker first offered to establish a line of communication that would hide the relationship from the girl’s parents. Then she and the girl decided that the best way to avoid reporting was to have the girl come alone, or omit information. The clinic worker finishes this part of the discussion by saying, “I mean, he has nothing to do with this…It has everything to do with you. We don’t require any information about him at all. I mean, we do ask who you came with, but all you have to say is ‘my boyfriend.’” See, this surgical procedure has everything to do with a girl who can’t consent to get her own ears pierced, and nothing to do with her abuser or her parents. Transcripts and MP3’s for this and other Illinois clinics can be found at http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/sectionview.asp?s=170.
How would you feel about a liquor store that helps teenagers organize keggers? A gun shop selling handguns to minors and telling them how to keep the gun hidden from Mom and Dad? A local physician willing to give steroid injections to student athletes? How about an orthopedic surgeon willing to repair abuse fractures without reporting the abuse? A surgeon doing any non-emergency procedure without parental permission? Are these “don’t ask, don’t tell” situations? Would anyone say it’s a matter of privacy, or keeping kids safe, or helping them? Would anyone even debate whether it was right or wrong?
Commenting on their efforts to stop the subpoena of medical records, Planned Parenthood of Indiana’s CEO told WTHR TV in Indianapolis, “It is very important that our patients know that when they come through our door for service that it is private, it is safe.” The question is who is made safe? Not the girl or her child, but only the abuser.
Is that a status quo we’re willing to accept?