During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump ran on many promises, one being the promise to defund Planned Parenthood.
The administration has been working towards accomplishing that goal, and recently began making large strides with the introduction of new Title X family planning rules. The new proposed rules would take away $60 million of the annual $500 million Planned Parenthood receives from taxpayer funding.
But another less-reported part of the proposed laws is that they would require all organizations that receive Title X funding to also adhere to reporting suspected child sexual abuse and rape.
Title X has required organizations to follow state-mandated laws regarding these things since 1999, but it has not been written into federal law until now.
You might be asking, why the sudden change? If those receiving money from Title X are already required to follow state laws, wouldn’t they go out of their way to protect children?
Sadly, that is not believed to be the case with Planned Parenthood. A newly released report from pro-life group Live Action details how over the past couple of years, Planned Parenthood has performed abortions on children that were sexually abused, failing to tell local authorities.
A 2014 study on sex-trafficking that was released revealed shocking facts regarding the abortion giant. Not only have they failed to report these cases, but they actually rank number two for the most-visited center for sex-trafficking victims, only falling behind hospital emergency rooms.
The organization is required to report such instances, but they have failed to do so countless times. Due to their neglect, these young women who are trapped in abusive situations are forced to return to them, where the abuse continues.
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In a recent piece for National Review, Live Action Founder and CEO Lila Rose provides specific examples cited in the latest report.
The stories are horrifying:
Rose offers another example:
“Another tragic story is that of Denise Fairbanks. Denise had been sexually abused by her father from the time she was 13. When she became pregnant at age 16, he took her to Planned Parenthood and forced her to have an abortion.
Seeing a chance to escape the abuse, Denise told the staff that she was being raped. Instead of helping her, they ignored her pleas and refused to comply with Ohio’s mandatory-reporting law and notify law enforcement. After the abortion, Denise was sent back to the same abusive situation, where she remained for another year and a half.”
These cases are not unique, Rose notes. There is a cover-up culture that embodies Planned Parenthood as a whole, and these cases are seen all across the country. There have been cases in California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio, Alabama, Pennsylvania and other states. These cases are also only the ones that were discovered, but it is impossible to know how many more similar incidents have occurred due to this negligence.
Catherine Adair, a former employee of Planned Parenthood explained how these types of abuse cases are passed over by the organization.
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“There’d be girls coming in with their abusers. Against all protocol, the abuser would be let into the counseling room. Even if I went to the manager and I said, ‘Look, there’s something going on here’ — she would say, ‘She’s better off with the abortion,’” Adair stated in an interview.
Multiple employees of Planned Parenthood have come out to address the organization’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to abortion and teenage girls. The policy is to not ask questions, that way they won’t ever have to report anything to the police.
Hopefully, these changes to Title X get made, and they force Planned Parenthood to stop letting young children suffer in abusive situations. Furthermore, it’s noteworthy that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who controls and regulates Title X, would be required to pay closer attention to organizations like Planned Parenthood, who are routinely caught covering up cases of abuse.
It is the hope of many that the changes to Title X could eventually cut off funding to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood advocates have voiced their outrage at the possible changes. Rose notes in her piece that many have already started protesting, and have more scheduled for the coming week. The organization is encouraging supporters to rally at congressional offices, in order to fight back against the proposed changes.
Planned Parenthood claims to be all about women’s health care, but time after time it has ignored cases of abuse and assault when it comes to underage children. Not only should the Trump administration enact these new Title X policies, but they should also defund the entire organization as a whole.
(H/T: National Review)