Lila Rose, The Activist Who Puts Journalists to Shame

If you have not yet heard the name Lila Rose, you should read Kathryn Jean Lopez’ article about her at National Review Online. She has become a formidable presence among pro-life activists and, more importantly, she has taught some of the old dogs of journalism a few new tricks. Several months ago, she set out to show America how far Planned Parenthood was willing to go to provide abortions to women who wanted them. Now, if you’re pro-choice, that doesn’t seem like such a scandalous thing. Planned Parenthood provides a legal service to whose women who want or (to the pro-choice way of thinking) need it. However, what Rose filmed in at least six clinics truly is a scandal — one that has only gotten cursory attention from those media outlets she has scooped. Here’s how Lopez describes the videos and some of the fallout therefrom:

Most of the videos involve a pair of investigators, posing as a pimp and one of his “girls,” who visit a Planned Parenthood clinic to ask for advice on tests, contraception, and abortions. (A video released Thursday follows a slightly different scenario, with a lone madam making similar inquiries.) The videos have resulted in the firing of one Planned Parenthood clinic worker in New Jersey and have sent Planned Parenthood and its allies into attack mode. Despite the firing and the announcement that Planned Parenthood will be retraining staff, it still employs such workers as the woman in Virginia who advised Live Action’s investigators on the ease of obtaining a judicial pass for abortions for under-age girls, and the woman in the Bronx who advised that although identification would be required for services and financial aid, the pimp himself could write a letter that would serve as proof of employment because “they don’t even call you.” The latter also said that while they counsel the girls that they really shouldn’t be engaging in sexual activity within three weeks after an abortion, “I do have girls come in like three days later, asking me for the Plan B because they just couldn’t just stop or for whatever reason they just had to.”

I believe that Rose’s work provided the evidence needed to tilt some members of the House to vote to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood. It’s one thing to give taxpayer money to a group who provides a legal medical service, but quite another to give money to a group whose workers openly give pimps advice on how to keep their under-aged whores on the streets. Thus far, Planned Parenthood has claimed innocence, the left has circled the wagons, and the President himself chimed in with the shopworn “manufactured” talking point. But with each new video, their responses ring increasingly hollow.

Once upon a time, journalists set up their own sting operations to get to the truth of a story. These days, though, we don’t see very much of that and the undercover exposés we do see are amateurish at best and horribly biased at worst. Lila Rose’s videos are what old-school investigative journalism used to be and I hope she continues her good work..

Tags: Abortion