The first video in a new investigation conducted by pro-life group Live Action has revealed that Planned Parenthood has been grossly exaggerating its commitment to prenatal care. In reality, countless of its abortion clinics across the country provide no assistance to pregnant women who want to keep their children.
The group frequently claims to provide prenatal care, often as a justification for why it deserves federal funding for its work. In its 2014-2015 annual report, Planned Parenthood stated that it had provided upwards of 17,000 prenatal services. (Compare that to its 325,000 annual abortion procedures, over 30 percent of the nation’s abortions each year.) And, as the Live Action video shows, Planned Parenthood executives and supporters often insist that women will lose essential prenatal care if the group were to be defunded. Here’s the video:
As the video reveals, very few Planned Parenthood clinics actually offer prenatal care for pregnant women who are not seeking an abortion. Live Action investigators contacted 97 facilities across the country within 41 Planned Parenthood affiliates and found only five clinics that provided prenatal care.
Mary Alice Carter, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, told the New York Times on Tuesday that the group has never claimed that all of its clinics offer prenatal care, arguing that the video holds the organization to a standard that it never set for itself. But according to Live Action president Lila Rose, the investigation shows Planned Parenthood’s own employees admitting that abortion is the focus of their work, and she asserts that its executives are conducting a false campaign to preserve the group’s public image.
Here are some of the statements that Planned Parenthood clinic workers made on the phone when Live Action investigators called to request prenatal care:
Tempe, Ariz.: “We don’t have prenatal care here . . . Planned Parenthood offers abortions, so they don’t offer prenatal care.”
Athens, Ohio: “Unfortunately, no, we wouldn’t provide any type of prenatal services here at Planned Parenthood.”
Albany, New York: “No Planned Parenthood does prenatal care, hon.”
Farmington, New Mexico: “We don’t offer prenatal care at Planned Parenthood. . . . We specialize in abortions. You know, that’s what our ultrasounds are for, to see how far along the patient is.”
Elizabeth, New Jersey: “Planned Parenthood, we do birth control, things like that — terminations. We check for STIs, but we don’t do prenatal.”
Cornell, New York: “We tell you you’re pregnant and then we offer at Planned Parenthood to do the abortions. So we don’t do any prenatal services here.”
Merrillville, Ind.: “No, we don’t do prenatal services. I mean, it’s called Planned Parenthood, I know it’s kind of deceiving.”
Last night, the House of Representatives passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion bill, which, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, will remove Planned Parenthood’s $500 million in annual federal funding. President Trump has already stated that he would sign this bill if it is sent to his desk. In light of this effort, Live Action’s newest video investigation and others like it are all the more important, as they expose Planned Parenthood’s intense focus on abortion and reveal that the group does not actually meet the varied health-care needs of millions of American women.