Bachmann backs Planned Parenthood sting video
Friday, February 04, 2011 at 10:24 am
- 16 Comments
Rep. Michele Bachmann threw her support behind an anti-abortion activist on Thursday who made undercover videos of a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Jersey. Bachmann said the video, and the fact that Planned Parenthood offers abortion as part of its services, should result in a ban on federal grants for the reproductive health chain.
“Planned Parenthood performed 324,000 abortions in 2010. That should be enough reason to ensure that it never receives another taxpayer dollar from our government,” Bachmann said. “But alarming new revelations about Planned Parenthood raise questions about whether the organization is breaking the law.”
Bachmann was referring to a video released by LiveAction, an anti-abortion group that specializes in ambushing Planned Parenthood clinics, that appears to show a Planned Parenthood staffer in New Jersey telling a pimp and his prostitute how to obtain services for girls as young as 14.
“Live Action has turned its video over to law enforcement authorities, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder,” Bachmann said in a statement. “I am calling on those authorities to fully investigate this case and to prosecute any offenders to the fullest extent of the law.”
But Planned Parenthood beat LiveAction to it. After the group, posing as a pimp and prostitute showed up at a half-dozen clinics across the country, Planned Parenthood called the FBI to report a potential sex-ring involving minors.
And, the group fired the staffer in New Jersey who provided advice on circumventing the law.
“The Planned Parenthood staff member reacted professionally to a highly unusual person posing as a patient,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement. “After the encounter, the staff member immediately notified her supervisor, who subsequently notified members of Planned Parenthood’s national security team, who are working with the FBI, which is investigating these visits.”
As the New Jersey Star Ledger editorial board pointed out, the sting in New Jersey merely found a bad employee, not rampant corruption in the organization.
At least a dozen clinics in six states were visited in January by men claiming to be involved in sex trafficking, Planned Parenthood officials said. Each time, employees notified authorities. Planned Parenthood also said it sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Jan. 18 with concerns about sex trafficking and a possible hoax.
Ambush journalism makes entertaining YouTube moments, but rarely proves a larger point. ACORN was exonerated. A video targeting the teachers union in New Jersey relied heavily on the words of one tipsy teacher. And Live Action actors found a lousy employee, that’s all.
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter16 Comments
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 11:25 am
Who you going to believe, a New Jersey newspaper or your lying eyes?
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 11:57 am
I believe what the evidence shows, that Planned Parenthood provided valuable services and every organization is going to have the occasional bad employee.
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 12:44 pm
Bachmann would be a Joke, if she wasn’t such a sad loser.
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
For a Tea Party member to be having a problem with abortions is hypocrisy, 1st isn’t there problem with taxes, what do you think pays for welfare, food stamps etc…. so if all these fetus’s, yes fetus’s not babies, went to term and were born, imagine how much we would have to fork over in taxes to cover from birth to grave????? and what about freedom??? only restricted if it refers to choice ?? Hmmmmm C’mon Michele stop talking out of two sides of your mouth. Just say it that you are ego-maniacal and seek attention, and we will leave it like that. Give up your health care package you get, donate your salary you get for life and then come talk to me, oh one more question, how many foster children do you have????? None, Cause if you did you wouldn’t have time for all your BS
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 2:24 pm
The problem is Dennis, the videos do not show what Live Action says they do. Right wing Vizinni-itis strikes again.
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 5:18 pm
we’ve already seen this movie, the sequel doesnt have legs.
Comment posted February 5, 2011 @ 7:55 am
Planned Parenthood gets $350 million dollars from the federal taxpayers. Let the baby killers pay for their own murdered children.
Comment posted February 5, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
Dennis are you for capital punishment? or are you the average extremist that is “for life” till they are born?
Comment posted February 5, 2011 @ 6:41 pm
Marie, of course I’m for capital punishment.
It’s pretty sad if you can’t differentiate between a convicted killer who is getting his just reward and an innocent unborn child who hasn’t harmed anyone.
I’ll bet you have no children.
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Comment posted February 6, 2011 @ 9:56 am
And the audio on those are doctored since they released two different versions of that same video with slightly different verbage. And they too are refusing to release the original. My bet is that she was answering an entirely different question and the doctored it with voice over. Apparently they think they are justified in lying because they don’t agree with what they do. And Dennis, taxpayer money isn’t paying for abortions at Planned Parenthood.
Comment posted February 6, 2011 @ 3:58 pm
“I’ll bet you have no children.”
The majority of women who have had an abortion are already mothers.
Comment posted February 6, 2011 @ 9:42 pm
Dennis’s world: For nine months, every sperm is sacred. After that, fuck ‘em.
Comment posted February 9, 2011 @ 5:15 am
Honesty has never been part of the Bachmann bandwagon. Her endorsement argues against the truthfulness of the video.
What are you going to trust: rational thought, or your lying “photoshop” generated by deeply biased sources?
Comment posted February 9, 2011 @ 10:53 pm
Funny piece of irony I just discovered. George W Bush’s grandfather was the first treasurer of planned parenthood. No joke. W’s grandfather was a board member when it was created!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_Bush
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