Monday, December 12, 2005

Planned Parenthood Boasts It Covered Up an 11-Year-Old's Rape

UPDATE, 12/15, 4:52 p.m.: PLANNED PARENTHOOD GOLDEN GATE IS COVERING ITS TRACKS! The organization has removed the link to the "It Keeps Us Safe" story (described below) from its "Shared Stories" page and has removed the actual story, which used to be at this link. (As of this writing, you'll see a blank page when you click there.) To see what was originally on that page,  click here to see it via the Internet Archive.

THE AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE AND THE FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL ARE CALLING ON THE CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE TO INVESTIGATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S COVER-UP. For updates, visit ProLifeBlogs.com.

Original post follows:

The Web site for  Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, the San Francisco chapter of  Margaret Sanger's organization, features a section of  "Shared Stories,", which it describes as  "real stories" from its customers. Here is what was, at the time this post originally appeared (Dec. 12), the top story listed in the section, exactly  as it appeared on the site (before Planned Parenthood Golden Gate covered its tracks):

It Keeps Us Safe

I was raped at 11, by my 17 year old boyfriend. I chose not to tell my parents because I didn't think their involvement would help, that was the right choice for me. Planned Parethood helped me deal with the aftermath of the rape allowing me to deal and cope as best as I could in my own way. I was 14 when I decided to start having sex, the day I made that choice I made an appointment to get birth control pills. I'm 17 now, I've been with my current boyfriend for about two years. During that time i've been HIV and STD tested four times. Right now I'm sitting in the waiting room while my boyfriend gets the results for his HIV test. We love each other so we're responsible and Planned Parenthood helps us to do that.

- name withheld -
"It Keeps Us Safe"? Safe from  what? Safe from parents finding out their little girls were raped? It certainly doesn't keep children safe from rapists.

To recap: An 11-year-old girl walked into Planned Parenthood, saying she had been raped. Not just statutory rape, either; forcible rape.

Planned Parenthood assured the girl that it would not contact her parents, and it was true to its word. Likewise, it must not have contacted the authorities either, otherwise the parents would certainly have been notified.

Thanks to Planned Parenthood, the rapist remained at large, still free to attack other little girls.

(Meanwhile, the girl decided at 14 to have sex and has been on oral contraceptives ever since, thanks too to Planned Parenthood. The National Cancer Institute reports that girls who begin menstruation before age 12 and take oral contraceptives are at a higher risk for breast cancer. If Planned Parenthood's rape-victim client was pregnant when she sought treatment at age 11, she would fall into that risk group.)

Planned Parenthood is  required by law to report statutory rape and other forms of sexual abuse.

According to  a U.S. government report, "in California, all sexual activity involving minors is illegal...[T]he reporting requirements only apply to the violations of certain criminal offenses—namely, those addressing situations involving victims under 16 years of age where there is an especially large difference in the age of the two parties."

There's no doubt that in this case, the age difference between the 11-year-old victim and the 17-year-old rapist was wide enough to warrant informing the authorities. In any case, the authorities should have been notified because it was a forcible rape.

The idea that Planned Parenthood would not only flout the law by hiding the girl's rape, but then openly congratulate itself by putting the girl's story on its site, is beyond belief.

Then again, what would you expect from the Planned Parenthood branch that produced  "A Superhero for Choice"—the animation featuring a heroine who gleefully slaughtered peaceful pro-lifers?

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