Taking on Goliath (20 year old working covert ops to expose abortion clinics)

Inside Catholic ^ | March 26, 2009 | Deal H. Hudson

[NYer]

 

 

If you think the pro-life movement has run out of energy and new ideas, you should meet Lila Rose. You may not know her name, but you very likely have seen the media coverage of her various sting operations at Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.

 

Rose is 20 years old, but she is already entering her fourth year of covert operation, as it were, exposing the underhanded -- and, in some cases, potentially illegal -- practices at abortion clinics run by Planned Parenthood. She has already made appearances on The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity's America.

 

Posing as an underage pregnant girl, Rose has taken concealed audio and video equipment into these clinics. First, she makes sure the clinic personnel know she is underage and that the baby's father is an older man, repeating his name clearly. By law, the clinic personnel must then notify the police that the alleged father has had sex with a minor.

 

But in every case, the counselors at Planned Parenthood have brushed aside the sexual abuse of a minor and failed to contact the police. The Arizona attorney general recently opened an investigation of a Tucson Planned Parenthood clinic based upon Rose's footage.

 

Previously released footage has already put Planned Parenthood clinics on high alert -- each clinic has a poster with Rose's picture on the wall. I asked Rose how she felt about having her picture displayed like a wanted criminal: "Well, I had to go blonde over the summer so I wouldn't be recognized. I think it's sad. They are afraid of this little girl -- at the time I was 18 -- and more concerned with looking for me than looking for the sexual abusers."

 

Rose comes from a large Evangelical family -- five brothers and two sisters -- in San Jose, California. Her father, John, is a software engineer; her mother, Antonia, a home-schooler. Rose is a junior at UCLA studying history, and she entered the Catholic Church on March 15 of this year.

 

It was as a freshman at UCLA that Rose first got the idea to record what goes on inside an abortion clinic. "When I came to UCLA there were no pregnant women on campus, so I knew they were being aborted," she told me. With help from her friend James O'Keefe, she took a concealed voice recorder into the UCLA health clinic pretending to be a pregnant co-ed. When she asked whether they would help her keep the baby, she was told, "We do abortions, but we don't support women who are pregnant at UCLA."

 

When she published the transcript of the conversation in The Advocate -- the campus paper she started as a freshman -- the story provoked a campus-wide debate among students, staff, and administrators, resulting in the creation of a parenting support network.

 

Later in that same year, 2007, Rose took both video and audio recorders into two Planned Parenthood clinics in Los Angeles. "The first time I went alone and had an audio recorder stuffed in a pocket and an old camcorder camera stuffed in my purse." I asked her if she had felt any fear. "No, I was not scared. I was eager to see what would happen. It's always been my dream to be used in the fight against abortion. I had a strong feeling I could be helpful."

 

She credits the work of Mark Crutcher at Life Dynamics for inspiring her to take this route in exposing practices inside Planned Parenthood clinics. Crutcher had once used an actor pretending to be a 13-year-old girl to call abortion clinics.

 

Perhaps even more troubling to Planned Parenthood are the phone calls Rose and O'Keefe placed to their development offices, posing as donors who were pushing a racist agenda. They told development personnel that they wanted to make a donation specifically targeting a black woman so that there would be fewer black children. Not a single Planned Parenthood staffer hung up on them, and some indicated they were in agreement.  

 

Rose and O'Keefe made videos of these phone calls and posted them on YouTube. Some of Rose's videos, such as this one from Bloomington, IN, have been viewed over 100,000 times.

 

Rose and her organization, Live Action, are presently in the midst of a multi-state investigation, from which much of the footage has not yet been released. "We have a lot of footage we are sitting on. Planned Parenthood is the world's largest abortion provider and should be held accountable. But we want to show not only the victims of sexual abuse but also the victim who is the pre-born child."

 

Rose's story is pure David and Goliath. Here is a college junior who doesn't own a car, working out of her apartment with the help of one paid staffer and friends who volunteer, taking on one of the most powerful, well-funded, and well-connected organizations in the country. Planned Parenthood has tried to silence her: After she posted the videos of her visit to the Los Angeles abortion clinics, Rose received a threatening cease-and-desist letter from Planned Parenthood's attorney.

 

"When I got the letter, I was by myself in my college dorm room. I was full of adrenaline, and I was very excited. I didn't know what to think or do, so I got on my knees and said, 'Lord, whatever you want to happen, let it be according to your will.'"

 

[NYer]

May our Lord continue to bless and protect this valorous woman!

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[NYer]

Ping!

[MudPuppy]

Prayer to the Virgin Mary

O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of us all, we turn to you today as the one who said “Yes” to Life. “You will conceive and bear a Son,” the angel told you. Despite the surprise and the uncertainty about how this could be, you said yes. “Be it done unto me according to your word.”

Mary, we pray today for all mothers who are afraid to be mothers. We pray for those who feel threatened and overwhelmed by their pregnancy. Intercede for them, that God may give them the grace to say yes and the courage to go on. May they have the grace to reject the false solution of abortion. May they say with you, “Be it done unto me according to your word.” May they experience the help of Christian people, and know the peace that comes from doing God’s will. Amen.

[verga]

I wish I had half of her courage

[philly-d-kidder]

[Salvation]

Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.

I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death
by the Resurrection of Your Son.

I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself
Never to be silent,
Never to be passive,
Never to be forgetful of the unborn.

I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen!

[Salvation]

May I copy this? It is excellent!

[annalex]

There should be a sting operation like this all over America. Why is this courageous girl the only one doing it? Why aren't all sheriff offices mounting stings? They seem to find time to catch speeders on highways, how about catching actual criminals?

she entered the Catholic Church on March 15 of this year

Welcome home, dear.

[wagglebee]

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[grellis]

Through my twenties and early thirties I could pass as a teen, even a young teen. Too bad these stings didn't start until the last year or so.

During my last pregnancy, when I was about seven months along and definitely showing, I gave in to the strangest urge. Planned Barrenhood has a clinic in a shopping center not far off the MSU campus (in MI, PP doesn't perform, just refer). I was cutting through the parking lot and my brain just switched off. I parked, went into the clinic, took a seat and began sobbing. I wasn't faking it, I really wasn't thinking anything, I certainly wasn't considering what women usually have on their minds in a clinic--to this day, I believe God was the master of my movements. So I sat and sobbed. And one at a time, the four or five young women in the waiting room got up, went out to their cars, and drove away. In less than two minutes (it could have been less than ONE minute) I was the only one sitting in reception. PP drone came hurrying out, kind of looking frantically out the window, then asked if she could help me, was I okay, yadda yadda. I asked her for some tissue, took a couple, hiccupped out a "Thanks!" and was on my way.

I've never had anything else in my life happen like that. Can't explain it.

[annalex]

You probably saved a few lives that day.

It is a very moving story.

[chiefqc]

She better be careful, she is up against the empty suits favorite charity, the murder of little innocent babies.

[philly-d-kidder]

yeah sure

[wagglebee]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

[Repeat Offender]

Amen.

[GOP_Thug_Mom]

Back in the late '80s, I was involved with an effort to expose abortions clinics and their practice of giving abortions to non-pregnant women. I volunteered with a friend to go to Dallas abortuaries (the ones in Ft. Worth already knew me). We were checked by a doctor before going, fitted with microphones, and took samples of our husbands' urine.

We went to three abortuaries. My friend was given a "positive" test, and they had her on the table for an abortion before she got out of it. Out of 12 women who went to abortuaries that morning, THREE were given positive tests and went as far as almost getting abortions.

The sad part is that I never heard another thing about the lawsuit they were supposed to be working on. :(

[Nihil Obstat]

Miracle! What joy you will have heaven when you meet those babies and their descendants.

[diamond6]

I recently rec’d a sample of Mystic Monk Coffee and was told that Starbucks, is a big time contributor to Planned Parenthood. I told her that never again would I buy that coffee.

I wish I had known this before. Is there a way of finding more companies that contribute to the culture of death so we can avoid them?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

That’s very cool.