Since we released our new undercover video Wednesday showing counseling manipulation and medical lies, Planned Parenthood has opted to stay silent – until now. Friday afternoon they issued a convoluted statement that makes me wonder if they have no shame. Let’s begin…
Planned Parenthood: “An anti abortion organization that secretly videotapes inside health centers has made false and inflammatory claims about our services.”
It is nice to be called “anti-abortion” instead of the usual and intellectually backwards term “anti-choice”. It certainly is milder than the term “terrorist” that a Florida Planned Parenthood Director used to labeled peaceful pro-life protesters.
Planned Parenthood seems to have a hard time backing up what they say. They call our claims “false” but they don’t refute a thing we have said. Do they really expect the public to believe them when all they say is fluff? They also call our statements “inflammatory” although they don’t cite what is so outrageous. Have they never received criticism or accountability before?
Planned Parenthood: “The fact is, Planned Parenthood’s standard is to provide honest, medically accurate information. That is what the physician in this case did, in addition to accurately answering safety questions from a patient that had indicated she wanted to terminate her pregnancy.”
Planned Parenthood can talk all day about their “standards” but when they are giving this sort of counsel, nobody is going to trust a word they say.
They claim to provide “medically accurate information” although the FACTS are not on their side. In the video, they claim that the “Heart beat is when the fetus is active in the uterus – can survive – which is about 17 or 18 weeks.”
Medical science tells us that the human heart starts beating after 3 weeks and 1 day of development. From the Endowment for Human Development:
The heart begins beating 3 weeks and 1 day following fertilization.
Want more citations of this fact?
Campbell, 2004, 14; Carlson, 2004, 430; De Vries and Saunders, 1962, 96; Gardner and O’Rahilly, 1976, 583; Gilbert-Barness and Debich-Spicer, 1997, 650; Gittenger-de Groot et al., 2000, 17; van Heeswijk et al., 1990, 151; Kurjak and Chervenak, 1994, 439; Navaratnam, 1991, 147-148; O’Rahilly and Müller, 1987, 99; Wisser and Dirschedl, 1994, 108. [Carnegie Stage 10, possibly late Stage 9]
Moving on, the Planned Parenthood abortionist and nurse give conflicting statements in the video. This means that one of them is giving false information – or maybe they both are.
Planned Parenthood nurse: “A baby is what’s born at forty weeks”
Planned Parenthood abortionist answering ‘When does it become a baby’: “When you’re like seven months pregnant or so. Six, seven months pregnant.
So what gives? Two people both confidently answer the same question with different answers and we are supposed to believe that they are both right?
If this is “accuracy” from Planned Parenthood, I can’t imagine what inaccuracy is like.
Planned Parenthood: “We cannot verify the accuracy of these edited tapes, however we can reassure the public that Planned Parenthood always provides legal and accurate information to patients from our medical personnel. All patients receive the legally mandated information about fetal development as well as medically accurate answers to questions.”
Um, didn’t we just prove that you don’t give accurate information.
Planned Parenthood: “Our priority is always high quality patient care, and for that reason we have reviewed and reinforced organizational protocol regarding answers to pregnancy-related questions with staff members at this facility.”
So Planned Parenthood feels the need to “reinforced organizational protocol regarding answers to pregnancy-related questions” yet they claim they did everything correctly in the video? That makes no sense. Either Planned Parenthood gave women false counsel and needs to be investigated, or they didn’t and they don’t need a review of protocol. They can’t have it both ways. There is a growing gap between what Planned Parenthood says and the truth, and their credibility is quickly slipping away.
