An undercover video released by Live Action, an anti-abortion activist group, may be just the push Republicans need to pass a bill through Congress that cuts public funding for family planning centers.
The video features actors posing as a pimp and an underage immigrant prostitute seeking advice from a Planned Parenthood employee.
The actors imply that they are involved in a sex trafficking ring, but the employee gives them advice on how to secure birth control, STD testing, and abortions.
The employee was fired following the release of the video.
While the video is shocking on its face, I think that the media frenzy surrounding it is uncalled for and slightly ridiculous.
The Planned Parenthood employee should not have advised the man to have the girls lie about their age to circumvent the law.
BUT, publicly funded health clinics are not supposed to deny services to individuals because of their citizenship status, income level, or careers.
Also, Planned Parenthood notified the FBI of a possible sex trafficking ring when the actors left.
To somehow spin this into an accusation that Planned Parenthood aids in sex trafficking and the exploitation of women is absurd.
I believe the employee was trying to act indiscriminately towards the man so that the women he was inquiring about could receive the health care they needed.
According to Stuart Schear of Planned Parenthood, abortions are not funded by the government and only account for 3% organization's health services.
The organization relies on public funding for preventive health services like family planning, cancer screening, and STD testing for mostly low-income women.
Despite these facts, Conservatives like Michele Bachmann (who linked the video to her facebook page) have used the video as propaganda in their war against women and their right to choose.
No comments:
Post a Comment