Media

March 18th, 2009 | Contact: media@liveaction.org, 323.454.3304

PHOENIX – Two more Planned Parenthood clinics in Phoenix, AZ were caught on tape concealing statutory rape. In a developing multi-state child abuse scandal, these are the fourth and fifth Planned Parenthood clinics implicated. Employees deliberately neglect their legal obligations to report statutory rape, and instead offer secret abortions.

Lila Rose and Jackie Stollar, both college students posing as 15-year-old girls, entered two Phoenix Planned Parenthood clinics undercover and told employees at one clinic that Stollar needed an abortion because her adult “boyfriend” had impregnated her, giving his age as 27-years-old at the second clinic.

Arizona state law requires law enforcement to be contacted immediately if an adult-child relationship is revealed. Failure to report incidents of sexual abuse are punishable under this law.

After Stollar explains that her boyfriend is “a lot older than me,” a staffer at the first clinic states: “we don’t ask any questions.” At the second clinic, upon hearing that the boyfriend is 27-years-old, the employee reassures the girls that “everything is confidential.” She also tells the girls she will not intervene: “I can’t say ‘Don’t’ you know or ‘I’m gonna go and do this.’ I cannot be that way, it’s not me.”

The videos are part of the “Mona Lisa Project,” a national undercover probe of Planned Parenthood clinics conducted by Live Action, a student-led non-profit. The project documents clinic employees on video as they respond to cases of statutory rape. In December 2008, the Mona Lisa Project exposed similar cases at two Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana. As public scrutiny mounted, both clinics either fired or suspended employees, and state prosecutors launched investigations into Planned Parenthood of Indiana.

These are not the first instances in Arizona where Planned Parenthood has failed to report sexual abuse. In February, Live Action exposed a similar case in Tucson, Arizona. And in 2002, an Arizona judge found the abortion provider negligent for failing to report the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl by her 23-year-old foster brother.

“By keeping information about rapists confidential, Planned Parenthood enables sexual predators to continue violating young girls. If Arizona state authorities investigate Planned Parenthood’s statutory rape reporting practices, they can help bring an end to these crimes,” says Live Action’s president Lila Rose.

The new video can be viewed on YouTube here:

It can also be seen on Live Action’s website, www.LiveAction.org