Planned Parenthood Underage Abortion Video Corner
Wee anti-abortion activist Lila Rose, 20, has a fun undercover video project where she pretends to be a 13-year-old girl dating a 31-year-old guy who goes into a Planned Parenthood seeking abortion, set to the tune of a sweet underage abortion jam:
Well I'm a big girl now
Eyyyeeeauuughhhhh
Repeat.
In this video, shot in a Bloomington, Indiana Planned Parenthood, the clinic rep does some not-so-legal stuff to deal with this no-good very-bad situation: she doesn't report the girl's age to authorities, even as she acknowledges that it constitutes child abuse and rape; she conspiratorially puts on some after-the-fact earmuffs to pretend she didn't hear the ages involved; then she directs Rose to go over state lines to Illinois where she can have a real secret abortion without parental consent. Ha, ha, oh, this is all terrible, good thing none of it's real, right? Right? Watch it, after the jump:
Of course, though the 13-year-old here isn't real, there are girls in her situation who get roped into relationships with older dudes, get pregnant, and are forced to consider abortion. That's a sad, awful way for puberty to come a-knockin'. But as with the abortion question in general, the issue of reporting underage sex is, well, complicated. Megan at Jezebel nails it down:
It sounds good for a doctor to be forced to report abuse, but statutory rape isn't the same as sexual assault or molestation—which is why there's a whole different category for it. When young women who have chosen to be sexually active see and hear about this video, are they likely to stop having sex until they turn 14? No. They are, however, far less likely to turn to a medical provider for information about birth control, STI testing or abortion services if they know they provider is going to pick up the phone and call the cops. That's the consequence of these forced-reporting laws when it comes to statutory rape (which is, by definition, consensual but for the age of the supposed victim).
5:35 pm
I think it's more complicated than Megan describes. We don't have a good way of defining "consensual" for young girls, but it is generally accepted that a relationship in which there is a large age difference--which I would define as 3 or more years older than a 13-year old-- may include a power differential and coercion. Is it consensual if an experienced 17-year old talks an inexperienced 13 year old into having sex over the course of a week? I say no.
6:12 pm
Of course. But let's look at it another way---let's say a 13-year-old girl can never choose to have consensual sex with an older person, and that that sex always constitutes statutory rape. Does that also mean that she should be stripped of the choice of whether or not to abort the product of that rape?
I think Megan's point is that 13-year-olds deserve doctor-patient confidentiality, too. You'd hope that any girl could talk to her parents about what's going on here and they could help her make the best decision for herself. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. In a lot of families, that girl's going to have no choice but to carry the pregnancy to term. That's the problem with parental notification---she already didn't get to choose whether or not to have sex; now, she has no choice but to have the baby, too?
8:08 pm
Megan's point is definitely a good one, and I think the motive also matters in this case. I think that what Lila Rose was really interested in here was getting a "gotcha" moment that would make Planned Parenthood look bad and would make a good anti-choice talking point, not helping girls to be safer and get better healthcare.
12:30 am
I'd be interested in seeing other videos that don't end in breach of procedure---the cops are called, and Rose says, "My bad, I'm a 20-year-old 'gotcha' pro life videographer, no need to prosecute my boyfriend."
But the fact of the matter is, Rose did get them. I don't know what Rose's motives are, but it looks to me like she's doing what she feels is best for women, and as long as these laws are in place, I can't begrudge her from wanting them to be enforced. We may disagree with laws that strip doctor-patient confidentiality for young, sexually active girls. But Rose's videos---beyond "catching" Planned Parenthood---also help both sides talk practically about what actually happens at abortion clinics, and how girls are best served inside them.