Planned Parenthood Calls In The FBI After Series Of O'Keefe-Like Encounters

One story I missed in yesterday's State Of The Union hullabaloo was this item from Rachel Slajda over at TPM. It seems that in recent weeks, a bunch of Planned Parenthood clinics have been receiving visits from a man telling the same shady story:

In the course of five days this month, eight Planned Parenthood clinics in five states and D.C. reported getting the same visit: A man said he needed treatment for a sexually transmitted disease and then, once alone with a staff member, implied that he ran an interstate sex trafficking ring that involves minors and illegal immigrants.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America thinks that the visits, which happened between Jan. 11 and 15, are part of a James O'Keefe-style "sting." But the group called in the FBI anyway.

Yes. That was a very smart move, Planned Parenthood. Also smart is the fact that these remote offices seem to have prepared in advance for this sort of incident, and are communicating with each other: Planned Parenthood's national organization was in a position to recognize an emerging pattern of bizarre visits, and escalated the matter to the Department of Justice.

Is it the work of O'Keefe? The incidents bear a remarkable similarity to the modus operandi of O'Keefe's famed ACORN sting. Of course, more recently, O'Keefe's taken to attempting to stage bizarre seductions of investigative journalists on dildo-strewn sex boats, taking the trajectory of his agitprop in a direction from "conservative Michael Moore" towards "conservative Ken Russell." Still, as Slajda notes, O'Keefe's fingerprints are everywhere:

A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood would not reveal the identity of the man, or men, who visited the clinics. The group does, however, suspect he has ties to Live Action, the pro-life, anti-Planned Parenthood group run by O'Keefe associate Lila Rose.

Live Action's mission is to stop abortion, and its favored tool is undercover videos which the group says proves Planned Parenthood's "willingness to repeatedly tell medically inaccurate misinformation," "willingness to repeatedly violate mandatory reporting laws for statutory rape" and "racism."

Rose, who runs the group, worked with O'Keefe on her first series of undercover Planned Parenthood videos in 2006 after the two met at the Leadership Institute.

Here are my thoughts: if you work for an organization that primarily serves the poor, or women, or minorities, or some other underserved segment of the population, you'll probably get a visit this year from some strange individual who will, against expectation and good sense, freely start proffering information of the vast criminal operation they are running. What should you do? Well, you should humor them long enough for you to contact the police and the media. Do state laws allow you to tase people? Fine, do that too -- as far as you know, they are dangerous gangsters who peddle in human trafficking! But do not, under any circumstances, offer to do their taxes or something.

RELATED:
Is It An Underage Sex Slave Ring, Or A Hoax? Either Way, Planned Parenthood Calls The FBI [TPM Muckraker]

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Comments

[1chapelcredit]

04:36 AM on 02/03/2011

Just saw the video that Live Action released; pretty shocking stuff. PP fired the employee in the video and says that the employee acting as she did is an isolated incident. Good for PP for reporting the suspicious behavior to the authorities; and good for Live Action for exposing the office manager who was so willing to help a pimp get abortions and STD testing for his underaged sex slaves.

If Live Action thinks that their sting video is going to have any effect on PP's funding, they're very naive; every bit as naive as anyone who believes PP's claim that this office manage was the only PP employee in the country who ranks providing abortions as more important than helping girls escape sex slavery. The emergency room and the abortion clinic are the two places where young women trapped in sexual slavery are most likely to be brought into public by their captors; ER physicians and nurses are sorely lacking in training to recognize potential cases of human trafficking and sexual slavery, and I'd be willing to bet that PP employee's are too. There are more than 100,000 slaves in living in our nation, and the vast majority are women and young girls. If PP responds to this shocking video with anything other than the 'we fired that employee, end of story' rubbish they have so far, I sincerely hope that it's with a good, hard look at their training, not to mention lack of advocacy, in this area.

[grandpaMark]

05:14 AM on 01/31/2011

Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass "Go". Do not ever appear again, except on Fox Lies.

[Artemis34]

03:13 PM on 01/27/2011

Breitbart told Wired magazine that they truth of a story doesn't matter, only the usefulness. This is the statement of a propagandist. Breitbart's crony, O'Keefe, is no different. 

They are inventing enemies / scapegoating organizations so we're distracted from the actual culpability of the right-wing. 

The attack on Planned Parenthood supports both point 3 and point 5 on their 14 point plan:  http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

[Coyotemike]

10:24 AM on 01/27/2011

Might be worthwhile to have an undercover cop at a PP office. Then, when someone says they are part of an illegal whatever ring, they can be arrested for that immediatly. Then, they can try to weasel their way out, which is also a hallmark of O'keefe.

[AbstractImp]

08:58 AM on 01/27/2011

Always a creepy scenario with this guy.

[Pennsanic]

07:38 AM on 01/27/2011

Seems like they should hire away the heads of Planned Parenthood and put them in charge of the FBI and CIA.

[TeamLeader]

07:08 AM on 01/27/2011

As much s I know the reason not to have them at PP Offices. Security cameras of some knind may be best for the safty of all. At least outside front doors.

[MaeScott]

06:00 AM on 01/27/2011

Sounds like another Breitbart/O'Keefe creation.

[Cunningham]

04:54 AM on 01/27/2011

Please, consider a donation to Planned Parenthood. Fight back.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

[Ampoliros]

06:26 PM on 01/27/2011

Good idea, reminds me of the story about the High School (sic?) that had people donate to AIDS research for every minute that WBC protested outside their school.

[kylesgrandma]

04:16 AM on 01/27/2011

I believe anything it takes to bring this ciminal to justice is appropriate. Planned
Parenthood clinics are needed for women who might not seek care elsewhere. Abortions
are not the only services PP provides. They also provide free birth control, sex education,
aids testing, etc. Above all, clients are assured their information will be kept private,
encouraging those who might not seek treatment otherwise.

[Americatheteenager]

05:19 AM on 01/27/2011

I think you make a great point. PP is all about education and that's what bothers the cons... Can't have women make their own decisions...

[Ampoliros]

06:28 PM on 01/27/2011

Interesting....I wonder if an invasion of privacy statute might assist in prosecuting the people perpetrating this fraud.

Possession of video containing anyone that isn't a PP employee could be a breech of this.

[kylesgrandma]

08:07 PM on 01/27/2011

That is a very interesting thought. I hope that these clinics take that into consideration.
Planned Parenthood does make sure that their clients privacy is enforced.

[Artemis34]

03:42 AM on 01/27/2011

Young Turks on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzasonAtKYQ

[Melanie226]

02:53 AM on 01/27/2011

Better safe than sorry, just Tase. You can ask questions later, and if you find a hidden camera, tape recorder, and a "Choose The Right" ring, keep Tasing!

[medicontheedge]

02:07 AM on 01/27/2011

I personally like the Taser option.

[Littlewords]

02:00 AM on 01/27/2011

Whether or not O;Keefe is involved, it was dissappointing to see him skate without any jail time for his attempt to tap the phone for a standing US Senator.

[freegeg]

09:24 AM on 01/27/2011

He never tried to tap the phones they didn't even have the equipment to do that. They were trying to record the congresswoman not answering the phones. Do you know how to read? Do you know what Google is? My goodness, do some research before you type. Ignorance kills!!!

[Littlewords]

02:45 PM on 01/27/2011

Sorry, listen and record her rather than tap her phone. The story was reported in varying ways with dispute on the details.

However, his actions were illegal and felonious and he should have been sentenced.

[Eris23Skidoo]

08:27 PM on 01/27/2011

Listening in on someone's telephone and recording it is the DEFINITION of tapping their phone. He had phone repair equipment on his person, as he was engaged in an espionage mission in which he depicted himself as being someone other than who he was. Congressmen don't answer their own phones. They have staff for that. You can't "record" someone not answering their phone, that is ridiculous. Not when they don't even answer the phone to begin with. Name me ONE congressman that answers his own phone. There isn't one. They don't do that. O'Keefe was engaged in espionage. If he'd been anyone other than a right-wing press darling he'd be in prison. If he'd have been a liberal, pulling a stunt like that when Bush was in charge, he'd have disappeared to Gitmo and we'd never have heard anything about it.

[freegeg]

09:24 AM on 01/27/2011

He never tried to tap the phones they didn't even have the equipment to do that. They were trying to record the congresswo­man not answering the phones. Do you know how to read? Do you know what Google is? My goodness, do some research before you type. Ignorance is not bliss!!

[Artemis34]

03:06 PM on 01/27/2011

And you think this kind of action is commendable? 

You were probably cheering the Watergate burglars and saying Nixon should not have resigned.

[Eris23Skidoo]

08:29 PM on 01/27/2011

He was engaged in espionage, which is a criminal offense punishable as treason. Just because he got his wrist slapped does not make him a hero, or any less treasonous.

[MarsAmbassador]

01:57 AM on 01/27/2011

That ACORN sting wasn't what it was cracked up to be. A lot of edited video made up that so-called story.

[mp146]

04:02 AM on 01/27/2011

Yes, but it put Acorn out of business, so they try to pull something like that on PP

[Pennsanic]

07:39 AM on 01/27/2011

You cannot convince a Foxbot of that. Amazing.