Indiana Pro-Life Group Wants Planned Parenthood Rape Coverup Probed

From http://www.lifenews.com/state3688.html

Indiana Pro-Life Group Wants Planned Parenthood Rape Coverup Probed


by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 5, 2008
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Bloomington, IN (LifeNews.com) -- After an expose video showed a staff member at an Indiana Planned Parenthood covering up statutory rape, pro-life advocates want state and local officials to investigate it. The feature featured a college student posing as a young teen girl who had sex with a man twice her age.


The video showed the Planned Parenthood staffer telling the girl that she didn't want to know about the age of the man she had sex with and dismissed the information.
Indiana law requires health care providers and others to report any sexual activity between an adult and a girl under 14 to law enforcement or the Department of Child Protective Services.
Failure to report the crime is a misdemeanor punishable under state law by a maximum of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
As LifeNews.com has reported, Planned Parenthood of Indiana suspended the staffer in question pending an internal probe.
But, Mike Fichter, the head of Indiana Right to Life, tells LifeNews.com more should be done.
He is calling on Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter and Monroe County Prosecutor Chris Gaal to launch immediate investigations into whether Planned Parenthood is properly reporting child sexual abuse in the wake of the video.
"The state of Indiana needs to know if Planned Parenthood is following state law by properly reporting child sexual abuse and rape," he said. "The content of the video only serves to elevate suspicions that young girls may be routinely given advice by Planned Parenthood on how to circumvent state laws."


Fichter says his worries are exacerbated by the fact that Planned Parenthood was at the center of a 2005 investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorney General's office in which Planned Parenthood refused to turn over records on customers under the age of 14.
The Attorney General's office sought the records to verify whether child sexual abuse is being properly reported as required by Indiana state law.
Planned Parenthood ultimately won a lawsuit over the records and did not turn them over to the Attorney General's office.
"It is not enough to allow Planned Parenthood to police itself. That's called letting the fox guard the henhouse," Fichter said. "We need a full blown investigation to find out exactly what is going on when a girl under fourteen indicates sexual activity to Planned Parenthood."
However, a spokesman for the city of Bloomington told the Washington Times yesterday that the Bloomington City police department does not plan to investigate the abortion business or the staffer for possibly violating the statutory-rape notification law.
Instead, it is increasing security at the Planned Parenthood facility in a response to possible backlash.


Related web sites:Indiana Right to Life - http://www.protectinglife.comExpose video - http://www.metacafe.com/channels/LiveActionFilms