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NRL News
Planned
Parenthood Employees Accept Money from “Racist” Donor As part of an investigation conducted by a pro-life student magazine at the University of California at Los Angeles, Planned Parenthood employees agreed to accept money despite the donor’s stated request that the funds be used to abort African American babies. The Advocate printed transcripts of two of these calls in its winter issue. The magazine’s advisor made the calls last summer, posing as a potential donor. “Despite his bigoted requests,” editor-in-chief Lila Rose wrote, “no Planned Parenthood employee (or director of development, in one case) declined the tainted money.” One of the transcripts detailed a call to Planned Parenthood in Ohio. The “donor” told the employee, “There’s definitely way too many Black people in Ohio, so I am just trying to do my part.” He added, “Well, Blacks especially need abortions, so that’s what I’m trying to do.” The response was direct and to the point, according to The Advocate: “For whatever reason, we’ll accept the money.” In a call to Planned Parenthood of Idaho, director of development Autumn Kersey spoke to the purported donor, The Advocate reported. The donor specified how the money was to be used: “The abortion—I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose?” He went on to further clarify that “we just think, the less black kids out there the better.” “Understandable, understandable,” Kersey responded, according to The Advocate’s transcript. She went on to reassure the caller, “Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I’ve had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I’m excited, and want to make sure I don’t leave anything out.” Planned Parenthood of Idaho suspended Kersey, the Associated Press reported, and released a statement. “A fundraising employee violated the organization’s principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation,” CEO Rebecca Poedy wrote in the statement. “This employee made a serious mistake.” Writing that the group took “swift action” to make sure its employees know that “we believe in helping all individuals, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, make informed decisions about their reproductive health care,” nevertheless the harshest criticism was leveled against the pro-life magazine itself. “It is unacceptable for opponents of abortion to use racist, deceptive tactics to smear Planned Parenthood,” Poedy wrote. “The race baiting tactics on display in this case are not news ‘exposes,’ but rather the product of the most cynical form of politicking.” Rose told the Idaho Statesman that Planned Parenthood should focus more on its employees’ actions than on the magazine’s tactics. “It is unacceptable for a nonprofit to accept donations that target specific races,” Rose said. Rose previously investigated Planned Parenthood’s procedures by posing as a pregnant 15-year-old with a 23-year-old boyfriend, according to the web magazine World on the Web. A hidden camera caught the Planned Parenthood employee telling her to change her birthdate to avoid the need to report a statutory rape, the magazine reported. “You see Christians in history going undercover with this kind of infiltration to save a life, or find a truth ... this is the kind of thing we can do bravely,” Rose told World on the Web. |