After a summer of scandals, Planned Parenthood will likely be sending a Thank You card to Katie Couric for her new flattering Yahoo! News report. In the video, a Planned Parenthood employee takes Couric on a tour through a new abortion clinic in Queens, N.Y. Unlike the undercover investigation produced by the Center for Medical Progress, which captured officials laughing about the selling of aborted babies' body parts and harvesting fetal organs, Couric’s report suggests abortion clinics are “safe,” welcoming environments.
The building is complete with a metal detector, bulletproof windows and round-the-clock security. In addition to medical consultants and clinicians, the facility offers social services and has a financial planner on site. Clinic director Latasha McGriff told Couric that since the facility opened on Sept. 1, clinic staffers have seen more than 1,200 men and women, representing 63 countries.
The employee explains that the metal detector at the front door is to ensure everyone is “safe” when they enter the clinic. She also shows Couric the “lovely waiting area.” Inside of one of the surgical rooms, she goes on to insist that the clinic offers women a host of services and if young women are ambivalent about having an abortion, a social worker on staff makes sure they “know what their options are.”
But, Planned Parenthood has often pressured young women to “choose” abortion. They certainly have a monetary incentive, considering abortion accounts for 86 percent of the organization’s revenue. They perform over 300,000 abortions annually.
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Of course these clinics put on a good face when they know they’re going to be on camera. How about when the camera aren’t rolling?
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway shared 39 Yelp reviews of Planned Parenthood that painted a much different scene. In that piece, users reported filthy conditions, clueless nurses and rampant disorganization. As for those “counseling” sessions, surveys among post-abortive women prove that Planned Parenthood did not provide adequate information as they were trying to make a life or death decision. For instance,
- 95% of women who had abortions at Planned Parenthood said that their Planned Parenthood counselors gave “…little or no biological information about the fetus which the abortion would destroy”(2)
Couric also granted a sit down interview with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, who lamented the attacks her organization faces because Planned Parenthood is the "only" resource many women have. She didn’t mention the thousands of pregnancy resource centers available to women across the country. Should Congress succeed in defunding Planned Parenthood, the dollars would be redistributed to those lifesaving facilities. Yet, pro-abortion activists like Richards are too busy accusing Republicans of reversing the progress women have made in terms of "reproductive rights."
She also opened up about an abortion she had when she was younger, of which she has no regrets.
I look forward to Couric’s follow up report in which she visits a pregnancy resource center.
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