Did Live Action infiltrate abortion groups?
Huffington Post is out with an article this afternoon claiming that Live Action has attempted to infiltrate four abortion advocacy groups: EMILY’s List, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and Priorities USA.
As it has done other times it realized it had been stung, Planned Parenthood is attemptiing to get ahead of the story by reporting it itself – after the fact.
In other words, if Live Action actually did conduct an undercover investigation, it already has the evidence.
According to HuffPo:
The woman called herself “Wendy Reed,” presented a business card with that name on it, and promised to make a “substantial donation” to each organization if they agreed to meet with her and answer her questions….
The woman asked each organization a similar pattern of questions having to do with President Barack Obama’s plans for abortion policy in his second term. She asked whether the groups expected him to repeal the long-standing Hyde Amendment, which prevents the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, and whether they or the president supports late-term abortions, or so-called partial birth abortions. She also inquired about the groups’ political strategies and pressed for information about how closely the groups worked with the Obama campaign.
All of the organizations said they immediately suspected that the woman was not a legitimate donor.
Really? More from HuffPo
None of the organizations are worried that the people with whom Wilmowski met on their donor teams said anything that could be used against them, but they did express concern that Live Action would heavily edit the videos before releasing them to the public as it has done in the past….
Jen Bluestein, communications director for EMILY’s List [said]…. “[T]hese people have proven again and again that the truth is not where their commitments lie. I fully expect they’ll try to turn everything that was said against our candidates and against our president, because reporting the truth and campaigning on their own agenda to roll back women’s access to health care would not be a winning approach.”
Yadda yadda. Live Action always releases the full, unedited videotapes. Lila Rose gave me a statement via email:
If these pro-abortion groups were as “on to us” as they claim, they should have filmed the encounters themselves. And if Planned Parenthood and their pro-abortion allies stand by everything they said, they should proudly release the tapes and educate the public.
I don’t think PP is prepared for such counter-espionage. It was proud of itself for setting up a second interview with “Wendy” to get her on tape but the security camera is too far away to get a view of her face…
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I do wish that Live Action would quit editing for effect, it is in the realm of being dishonest, editing to keep it short is acceptable as long as they keep posting the unedited footage.
I say this as a Pro-Lifer.
Oh really? Sheesh.. It took me all of three minutes to find out EXACTLY who the woman in the video is. And I plan on broadcasting it wide and far. She better look at getting back into film as she’s going to have alienated a great many home buyers!
Billy and Kat- bs and bs.
Rose makes good points. If PP did their own videos, post them for the world to see.
Otherwise, we’re back to PP’s usual response of bullying, lies and obfuscation. god forbid the American people who support them find out just how big abortion is to them.
Why can’t proaborts be Proud of the abortion industry?
Oh yeah, because more and more Americans are nauseated by abortion.
Mary Ann,
Live Action has taken things out of context more than once in their videos, I say this because it is blatant. Even though the point Live Action is making is valid. Live Action does not even need to take anything out of context, but because they do it makes them look bad.
I hate having to try and defend the integrity of the Pro-Life movement in arguments because of the lack of journalistic integrity of Live Action. Everybody assumes all Pro-Lifers are being dishonest because of them.
I love their undercover work, I just wish they’d knock off the added and unneeded drama.
Billy, I’m tired of prolifers going to biased (ummmm grossly biased) news sources and not figuring out that LA releases full, unedited videos on their site for all to see.
It’s the news outlets that edit.
@Billy: LiveAction always releases the full, unedited videos for anyone who wants to see them. Whatever editing they do, anyone who wishes can see the unedited tape. It is disingenuous to accuse them of taking things out of context when they also provide whatever context is needed for anyone who wants to see what it is. Perhaps they view what is important differently than you, but they are not being dishonest.
I have to agree with Mary Ann. BS.
It took Kat three minutes to figure out who the lady is in a one minute video. Genius. Sheer and utter genius.
I never said Live Action did not provide the unedited versions, but the edited versions they actively proliferate have on occasion taken things out of context, or imply things in a way they were not meant.
I third the BS.
Moderators
Have you any record of Billy or Kat every contributing to the discussion?
Do you have any record of them having done so using another name?
When a ‘name’ that is new to me suddenly appears on the scene co-incidental to this post on Live Action and claims to be a conscientious pro-lifer concerned with the way LA’s product makes them look or how hard it makes them work, then I have to agree with the other ‘regulars’:
bovine scatualtion/Barbara Striesand/ooompah
I love Barb’s voice [and I am not a homosexual] but I cannot stand her politics.
Billy,
Please provide us with some specific examples of Live Action ”taking things out of context on more than one occasion”.
Give us the links to the video and audio.
with any due respect, in todays world ‘journalistic integrity’ is argueably an ‘oymoron’, probably an endangered species, and possibly extinct.
Live Action to my knowlege have never claimed to be journalists.
If their lack of integrity is so blatant then you should have no difficulty in providing us with a few glaring examples.
They are an advocacy group communicating their message to a mostly dis-interested, apathetic and at least under informed public in general when it to comes to abortion and in particular when it comes to the ‘dead babies r us’ mob historically marketed by the euphemistic name ‘Planned Parenthood’.
“Billy”,
If you have such trouble defending them in arguments, perhaps you should in the future begin your argument by pointing your opponent in the direction of the unedited video. It’s really not difficult. If you have such a hard time with it, perhaps Live Action doesn’t need your defense in the first place?
Kat,
FIND THE DISSENTER!! SILENCE HER!!!! SIEG HEIL!!! SEIG HEIL!!!
Whups. Typo. I meant “Digging up dirt on political enemies to try and shut them up is fun!”
The keys are like, *right* next to each other.
Are you telling me THIS video is ‘unedited and released in full form”? Because it clearly has been edited.
http://youtu.be/U2H3ZDnBtuw
Oh, and Praxedes, it took three minutes to precisely uncover who the woman is irl. Her full name, her real job, where she lives. Talk about genius…. reading comprehension skills, my friend. Utilize them.
Moderator…
I made no such claims re: “claims to be a conscientious pro-lifer concerned with the way LA’s product makes them look or how hard it makes them work”.
Maybe you should consider that many people prefer truth over fiction. Many people despise smear campaigns wrought by deceptive means and altering reality. Many people read a wide array of articles available on any given topic in order to further their understanding and ensure they aren’t reading biased/slanted views by sticking with just ONE report (unlike too many people as is evidenced in the altogether blind comments claiming Live Action releases FULL videos). And many people will take time to comment where comments are attached to an article.
With all due respect, you quite frankly have no idea what you’re talking about.
Full video and transcript is here. Took me about 15 seconds to find.
http://protectourgirls.com/transcript-of-video/
Above video doesn’t work. Full footage can be found here instead:
http://en.gloria.tv/?media=295434
And look, now “Kat” is making Billy’s previous argument for him:
Are you telling me THIS video is ‘unedited and released in full form”? Because it clearly has been edited.
Gotta be hard to keep so many personas and screen names straight. :(
Talk about genius…. reading comprehension skills, my friend. Utilize them.
You are not my friend. I’m guessing your dictionary is not either. Open it.
PP supporters showing their desperation is Totally Encouraging!
As soon as PP topples, our nation can start to face the atrocity and get to some serious healing.
I’m hoping and praying we’re in the last part of the denial stage.
Maybe you should consider that Stericycle isn’t hauling away mammogram machines in those trucks.
But I digress. I’ve sat through some of the boring versions of the LiveAction videos, so I don’t know what the complaint is or why Huffpo exhibits the journalistic integrity of …of… well, gee, they don’t exhibit ANY journalistic integrity. Meanwhile, LiveAction, which is a pro-life organization not a news outlet claiming to be unbiased, continues to expose all the charming anti-female, racist, unscientific, and dangerous practices of Margaret Sanger’s legacy.