Video captures abortion coaching

Worker ducks Indiana laws

By Victor Morton (Contact) | Friday, December 5, 2008

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Planned Parenthood of Indiana has suspended a nurse after the release of an undercover videotape showing her coaching a supposed 13-year-old on how to duck Indiana's laws about parental consent on abortion and the reporting of child sex abuse.

The videotape shows Lila Rose, the president of a university pro-life group and a brunette, posing as a blond 13-year-old girl named "Brianna" and telling the Planned Parenthood nurse at the clinic in Bloomington, Ind., that she is pregnant by a 31-year-old man.

"I am supposed to report [you] to Child Protective Services," the nurse says on the videotape, though she assures "Brianna" that she will not do so if she can tell a plausible different story.

"I didn't hear the age. I don't want to know the age," the nurse says at a later point on the tape.

The nurse, who is referred to on the video as "Diana" but whose face has been blurred, knew neither that the session was being taped nor that "Brianna" really was Miss Rose, a 20-year-old pro-life activist at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Miss Rose told The Washington Times on Thursday that this footage is only part of an ongoing project with many examples of such conduct. Her group and other student pro-lifers have released tapes of similar counseling.

Indiana is not one of 12 states that restricts or prohibits surreptitious taping.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana quickly suspended "Diana" without pay on Wednesday and vowed an investigation.

"We are deeply concerned about the content of the video. ... The apparent actions of the employee would be in violation of our strict policies and procedures," Betty Cockrum, the state chapter's president, said in a statement.

"A thorough internal investigation of this matter has begun. ... Further disciplinary action will be taken if warranted by the investigation."

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