20-Year-Old Lila Rose Emerges As Anti-Abortion Crusader
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
news
12:45PM, Thursday May 28th 2009
After using clandestine tactics to investigate Planned Parenthood, Lila Rose, 20, has become known as an anti-abortion crusader. She staged her own sting at the clinics to prove her claim that the organization routinely covers up sexual abuse. She says Planned Parenthood counselors don’t report statutory rapes, as the law requires, and often encourage the girls to lie about their age or the identity of their partner. “Planned Parenthood is looking at these young girls as a plumbing problem: ‘We’ll get you that abortion and send you on your way,’” Rose told Reuters in an interview. “And that’s disrespecting two human lives. It’s destroying her pre-born child and sending her back to an abuser.” She has posted her secretly recorded videos on the website for her non-profit group, LiveAction.org, which she started at age 15.
Rose launched her investigation after she became aware that Planned Parenthood was sued by girls who said the clinics ignored their sexual abuse and then read a study that said the practice was common. In March 2007, the then-18-year-old Rose walked into two Los Angeles-area Planned Parenthood clinics with a hidden camera and told the staff she was 15 and pregnant by her 23-year-old boyfriend. At the first center, she was encouraged to lie about her age. Counselors at the second aggressively encouraged her to have an abortion.
Rose has conducted stings at six clinics since then, posing as a 13- or 14-year-old girl carrying a much older man’s baby. She says staffers at all six centers said her age wasn’t their concern, and that they wouldn’t report it and then instructed her to lie in three instances. “The laws are set up so that the children don’t have to ask for help. It’s the job of mandated reporters to be looking at this girl and figuring out her well being. Is she OK? Who is her sexual partner?” Rose said. “And it’s set up that way because these girls are dealing with shame, fear, manipulation. They can’t say, ‘Hey, he’s 21, make the report please.’”
Rose’s photo has been posted in Planned Parenthood clinics to alert workers and a U.S. News and World Report blogger has demanded to know why Rose hasn’t been arrested for fraud or trespassing. But her investigations have prompted three states to look into the matter. A grand jury in Marion County, IN, is investigating Planned Parenthood based on the videotapes. Tennessee and Arizona authorities say they are reviewing the matter.
A Planned Parenthood spokesman wouldn’t discuss the cases involving Rose, but said the organization has strict mandatory reporting policies and procedures and laws to protect minors are taken seriously. Does this alleged practice at Planned Parenthood clinics come as a surprise to you? Do you think girls would still seek help and treatment if they knew the risk to their older boyfriends or abusers? Let us know in the comments. [Reuters]
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VannaMarie
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 01:01 pm: [report]
I know that if I would have been forced to provide my significant other/partner’s information when I was a minor I would have stopped my visits to the Gyno, thus gone off of by contraceptives. Why destroy the one place/relationship with a doctor that is friendly to young women and gives them options and information without fear of the backlash?
I was dating and having sex with boys who were illegally older for me when I was a minor, but I do not regret it as an adult. I am glad that Planned Parenthood was there to provide me with safe, easily accessible health care options. I credit them with the confidence in my sexual health that I have today… Not to mention the fact that I was pregnancy-free through high school and college and am now happily married and pursuing my own dreams today.
resullins
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 01:21 pm: [report]
I have to agree… I think that the laws right now are keeping young girls out of places that would normally help them no matter what. Teen pregnancy is BCK on the rise, and it’s no wonder with people like this out there destroying the only place these girls can go. I do NOT advocate lying or statutory rape, but these girls obviously need help in a place where they’re not going to get in trouble. They’re going to stop going… and then there’s going to be a LOT of 35 year old grandparents raising their babies’ babies.
moonblossom
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 01:29 pm: [report]
I’m totally against older men taking advantage of younger women. However, I think that once a woman makes a decision to seek out medical care (of ANY kind) involving her body…that is her choice. Mandatory reporting is one of those laws that sounds all nice until you see the unintended consequences. The consequence of this law is that women are being scared away from medical care. That’s not the intent of the law. I am really suspicious of these laws that purport to know what’s best for a woman…or supposedly neutral laws that get disproportionately applied to situations involving women. Society has no right to tell me what I can or can’t do with my body…not now and not when I was 15. Realistically, when a teenager is dating a grown man…pregnancy ain’t the first sign there’s something funky going on. Medical care should not be the focus here. What about all the other social safety nets that have failed here - teachers, bus drivers, parents, friends, employers, etc?
I also think Lila Rose is an a$$hole. I love these religious freaks who focus on one single issue (like taking away a woman’s right to control her own body) but then do nothing about the rampant social ills everywhere else. What does Lila Rose do to prevent child abuse? what does she do about foster kids aging out of the system? how many homeless does she feed? how many addicts has she paid for treatment for? how much money has she raised for the poor to pay their utility bills? how much does she recycle? how many homeless animals has she adopted?
mdtobe
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 02:22 pm: [report]
As a medical professional, I am so glad to see that so many of you understand the consequences of mandatory reporting and also, parental consent laws. These laws have the best intentions and in many instances they are adhered to and have positive outcomes, but there are times when such laws interfere with a doctor’s (or nurse’s etc) ability to care for their patients. The ability to provide birth control and STD treatment to minors without having to disclose that information to parents is a key factor in getting scared teenage girls the care they need. Not everyone has a parental figure they can trust with those kinds of things and their health care provider must be someone they can turn to for help without fear of judgment. I guarantee the people this woman came in contact with at Planned Parenthood were doing the best they could for those young girls. Their first priority is ensuring that girls will continue to trust them and turn to them in these situations so that they can remain happy and healthy.
Goldfinch86
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 02:53 pm: [report]
I’m 22, I have a BFA degree from a prestigious college, I have a low paying job and have moved far away from home to NYC. I don’t have health care and I use Planned Parenthood as my place to stay healthy and get birth control. I’m not out there whoring it up, I’m in a committed relationship. If I got pregnant I could not pay to keep it, I couldn’t afford to take the baby to term even. I want a place that is safe and is looking out for me. People who are like this woman will never understand why I can’t keep it, they can talk and talk about alternatives, but sometimes there are none. Planned Parenthood was protecting these girls, it’s helping far more than hurting. Yes Honesty is good, but not at the expense of peoples privacy and lives. Reporting these things to the authorities will only ruin lives. If these girls thought they could report it they would have. There would be nothing worse in this world than closing planned parent hood. Cheap birth control, cheap visits to a clinic are essential to many girls lives. I watched a girl being helped there, she was having sex and didn’t know what intercourse or menstruating meant, where is she supposed to go, the regular doctor who is not equipt to deal with her ignorance and life style?
wouldntitbenice
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 04:01 pm: [report]
More than likely, the girls and women who would be effected by very stringent mandatory reporting practices at Planned Parenthood would view the subsequent reprucussions as a punishment.
The results of the statuatory rape reporting would inhibit them from seeking the care they need. It’s a case of what’s worse:
a woman who may be being taken advantage of by an older man (15/23 not like, 15/42)
—or—
dening her her right to make desisions (and take action!) about her body/ a pregnant teen who doesn’t seek medical care throughout the majority of her pregnancy and maybe even ends up giving birth and trashing the baby
wonder_bread
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 05:33 pm: [report]
to me its a double-edged sword.
in one case, the girls who are bing abused and need the help and protection may not be getting it. Its sad to know a young girl may have an abuser at home or wherever and can’t find the protection she needs becuz of loose law enforcing.
but then again the one’s that are just being sexually active with who ever they choose whether appropriate or not are getting the help they seek out without being bothered with the added shame they may usually get.
It sucks either way. you gain and you lose. Its like our views on alot of things. but as a whole the quailty and saftey of a person’s life is most important when the debate comes to a finish
snap
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 07:26 pm: [report]
i think the biggest problem, which no one has commented on, is aggressively pushing young girls to have abortions. regardless of where you stand on the abortion issue, it is not a decision to take lightly, and it can and WILL have huge emotional consequences. no woman should be pushed, pressured, or even firmly nudged to have an abortion. these girls should be given neutral and effective counseling before they make such a life-altering decision.
snap
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 07:27 pm: [report]
pushing abortions on girls isn’t a solution to the teen pregnancy problem. a pregnancy isn’t something you can undo with an abortion. it might just be that the emotional scars of the abortion are a far heavier burden on a girl than having a child.
landesign
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 07:56 pm: [report]
I am anti-abortion, but if I thought Planned Parenthood was ‘fair and balanced’ and gave women every option and gave each option equal weight when presenting them, I would support them.
Another aspect, one which I do not know how widespread it is, is the attitude of abortion advocates to think that certain people should not be parents.
I helped the owner of a building pick up nails in his parking lot where he rented space to an abortion clinic.
Someone had apparently thrown the nails around in some sort of misguided protest.
I was at the same building to see my doctor and recognized him from a council meeting at city hall.
I still get chills when remembering him saying to me: “Have you seen the girls that go in there? You wouldn’t want them to be a parent.”
Has anyone heard this line of reasoning or is this guy just
an anomaly?
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 08:07 pm: [report]
@landesign: Heh, you put fair and balanced in quotes. If Planned Parenthood in any way acted like the right with their high minded ideologies based upon superstition and fear we would be in a bad place.
Also, we are not advocating abortion, we stand for choice, the option should be on the table regardless. It is not right to impede anyone from seeking out medical information where ever it may come from.
landesign
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 08:31 pm: [report]
No #&@$% Sherlock. But this isn’t a debate about The Right.
PinkRanger
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 08:33 pm: [report]
@landesign: sounds like that doctor is just an elitest a-hole, I have never heard anyone pro-choice say something so callous, and I would not tolerate that.
Definitely gives pro-choicers a bad name, pro-choice is not about judging people, its about reproductive freedom.
landesign
wrote on May 28 2009 @ 08:45 pm: [report]
Thanks for answering my question Pink. I have no connection on either side but thought this attitude was
out of whack. Just putting the question out to people more involved than I.
resullins
wrote on May 29 2009 @ 07:33 am: [report]
Yeah, Pink Ranger is right. The entire point behind Pro-Choice is the non-judged freedom to do what you think is best with your body. The whole idea of a pro-choicer judging someone for her reproductive choice is hypocritical. That guy must have been a fluke.
Erin G
wrote on May 29 2009 @ 07:34 am: [report]
@um no: You are assuming too much here by saying it can and will have emotional implications. Not every girl going through those doors are left feeling scarred. I can attest to that.
Capriccio72
wrote on May 29 2009 @ 07:50 am: [report]
ErinG, I concur, not everyone going through those doors are left feeling scarred. In my personal experience, it has been the unhealthy relationships with men who left me feeling scarred, not the choice I made to not continue a pregnancy (with said unhealthy relationship).
joyy
wrote on May 29 2009 @ 08:24 am: [report]
@landesign: resullins nailed it with “The entire point behind Pro-Choice is the non-judged freedom to do what you think is best with your body.”
I would like to answer that idea that people who get abortions shouldn’t be parents isn’t in line with what a lot of pro-choicers feel. It’s about keeping abortion as a safe, legal medical procedure instead of a back-alley butcher industry. It’s really just harm reduction (i.e. abortions will always happen, have been for 1000s of years, keep it safe and legal and prevent unplanned pregnancies).