Pro-Life Group Applies More Pressure on Congress to Ban Sex-Selective Abortions

By Alex Murashko, CP Contributor Thursday, June 14, 2012

The pro-life Live Action group continues to apply pressure on congressmen to ban sex-selective abortion in the U.S. by releasing more undercover video that shows workers at abortion clinics unwilling to deter women who say they want to abort their babies based on gender.

"Live Action will continue to release more footage confirming that the facilitation of sex-selective abortion at Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics is widespread," Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, told The Christian Post on Thursday.

A fourth video in the series released this week shows two Planned Parenthood staffers at clinics, one in Maui and one in Honolulu, advising a woman on how best to procure a sex-selective abortion of her baby girl because she wants a boy instead. Planned Parenthood has previously claimed to condemn sex-selective abortion but continues to provide the service, according to Live Action.

"The campaign has been extremely successful, raising widespread awareness of the brutal practice, and just this week Sen. Vitter introduced his own version of the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act (PRENDA), which would ban sex-selective abortions in the U.S., following our video campaign," Rose said. "We have learned that the abortion industry will stop at nothing to protect their business, even going so far as to break the law in Arizona."

Live Action applauded Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) for introducing PRENDA. A companion bill in the House sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) was brought to a vote in May.

The two bills were introduced amid multiple undercover videos in a series called "Gendercide" showing that the practice is growing at an alarming rate in the U.S., according to Live Action.

What Rose found most troubling about the newest undercover video release was that the Planned Parenthood workers in both clinics helped facilitate the lethal gender bias – counseling on how to identify the sex of the pre-born baby, schedule an abortion if it's a girl, and "even get the state of Hawaii to pay for the sex-selective abortion."

In a segment of the latest video, Maui Planned Parenthood counselor Leslie Watson says, "If that's, you know, if that's what you wanna base your decision on--really--it's up to you," giving the purportedly pregnant woman assurance when she explains she wants an abortion because of the sex of the baby.

Watson counsels the woman to be certain about the sex of her unborn child before going through with an abortion, telling her to seek an ultrasound from an OB/GYN and not to be concerned if they might judge a sex-selective abortion. "This is your reason and this is your situation. So they should be accommodating because this can help you determine and it's nobody's business and nobody's reason but yours," Watson says on the video.

In the portion of the video filmed at a Honolulu abortion clinic, the Planned Parenthood counselor "Rogue" tells the woman it is okay to have multiple abortions of pregnancies so long as the abortions are spaced far enough apart. The Planned Parenthood counselor suggests paying for the abortions using Hawaii's QUEST state health insurance. "So if I wanted to terminate a girl the government would pay for it?" asks the undercover woman. "They don't care," the Planned Parenthood counselor replies.

Rose said the latest video from Hawaii shows that the practice of sex-selective abortion is not isolated.

"Planned Parenthood's first priority is not the welfare of women or girls, but protecting their abortion business from any regulation," she said. "The companion bill in the House gained support from both sides of the aisle, and we hope the same will be true in the upper chamber. We urge Senator Reid and Senate leadership to take up the bill and stop this real war on women."

In response to Live Action's release of the videos earlier in their campaign, Planned Parenthood denied any wrongdoing and said the claims by Live Action were false and that the videos included "highly unusual and scripted scenarios" and "hoax patients [who] sought services related to sex selection."

The national company providing abortions is "by far" the most vocal opponent of Live Action's expose, said Rose.

"Planned Parenthood knows their lucrative abortion business and the half billion they receive in taxpayer funds is threatened when the public sees their facilitation of sex-selective abortions of pre-born girls," she said. "While it claims to support women, Planned Parenthood reveals that their first priority is abortion, not women – even when those abortions are the late-term killing of pre-born girls, just because they are girls."

The videos can be seen at ProtectOurGirls.com.