5/05/2006

Youth Group to Planned Parenthood: Come Clean on Claims of Intimidation by Pro-Lifers

CHICAGO, May 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- Generations for Life, a Chicago-based pro-life youth outreach, is calling on Planned Parenthood to come clean about an inflammatory story they are circulating about a pro- life pregnancy resource center (PRC) in Indiana. The story, circulated widely via e-mail and published on numerous websites, alleges the PRC engaged in "a campaign of harassment and intimidation" against a pregnant 17-year old girl who had "unwittingly" walked into the center, which shares a parking lot with the Planned Parenthood facility.

Planned Parenthood claims an unnamed PRC in an unidentified Indiana location first passed itself off as an abortion facility, tricked the young woman into going for an appointment at its "other office" -- the real Planned Parenthood facility across the lot -- and then called the police to intercept her there, telling the police that she was a minor "being forced to have an abortion against her will."

Thereafter, the Planned Parenthood story continues, the PRC staff "proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days." The story says the PRC staff showed up at the girl's home and called her father's workplace, and even went to her school to urge classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion. The story grimly states: "Our clinic director reports that she was 'scared to death to leave her house.'"

Pro-life advocates familiar with how PRC's operate were immediately skeptical of the Planned Parenthood communiqué, noting its lack of specific details. An investigation by Generations for Life co- director John Jansen revealed that the only Planned Parenthood facility in Indiana that shares a parking lot with a PRC is A Woman's Choice in Indianapolis. "I found photos of both facilities online," Jansen remarked. "It's hard to see how anyone could mistake them."

Jansen then contacted the Indianapolis Police Department to see if they could corroborate Planned Parenthood's claims. They could not, and no police reports -- which are public records -- could be found dealing with either the Planned Parenthood center or the PRC. The official with whom Jansen spoke said that if the events described in the Planned Parenthood communiqué had taken place, police would be unlikely not to have filed a report on the incident.

"Not only is there no evidence that the police ever turned up at Planned Parenthood," Jansen said, "but it's hard to believe that nobody every contacted the police about any alleged intimidation campaign being waged by the pro-life center. This girl supposedly was 'scared to death' -- don't you think somebody would have called the police?" Jansen also searched county records and found no lawsuits of any kind against the PRC.

"Planned Parenthood's story may be great for fundraising, but it doesn't square with the facts as we know them," Jansen said. Generations for Life is calling on Planned Parenthood to either substantiate its claims with hard evidence, or admit the story is a fabrication.

Generations for Life is the youth outreach division of the Pro-Life Action League, the nation's largest grassroots pro-life activism organization, based in Chicago, IL. More information is available at www.generationsforlife.org