Incest victim sues Planned Parenthood for rape cover-up
From Cincinnati.com, February 13:
A Warren Co. [OH] woman sued Planned Parenthood Friday, accusing its staff of ignoring training and procedures by not reporting her suspected sex abuse when she was a minor, resulting in her being sexually abused for an additional 1½ years….
The suit accused PP and 5 of its employees of ignoring obvious signs of suspected sexual abuse instead of reporting them as OH law requires….
The woman was sexually assaulted from age 13 through age 17 by her biological father, and became pregnant by him, the suit alleges.
She went to the Mount Auburn facility of PP of SW OH in November 2004 to have an abortion. When questioned by PP employees, the girl told them “that she had been forced to do things that she did not want to do,” the suit alleges.
That statement, [attorney Brian] Hurley said, should have caused Planned Parenthood employees to alert law enforcement officials about suspected sex abuse against a minor.
The father was arrested 1½ years after her PP experience, Hurley said, when the girl’s future college basketball coach became suspicious and reported suspected abuse.
The father was convicted of sexual battery and sexual touching and sentenced in 2006 to five years in prison.
Now an adult, the woman is in college where she also plays basketball….
[HT: moderator Carder]
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.
Line up the suits. Same crime as error in the priests. The first years of Priest molestation were shown to have aggressive cover ups.
Now the Catholic church is gung ho in clean up. PP will have many local units go bankrupt. Then it will become impossible to purchase insurance.
PP is like an STD. The gift that keeps on giving.
yor bro ken
Well Jill,
Regretably there is no shortage of material.
As long as PP is in existence there will be a reason for your web site.
yor bro ken
The Mormon church is strong in teaching morality.
The offshoot males that do the underage girl marriages are now an open target.
The campaign for having a girl NOT be required to get the consent of a parent will come back and bite them. 1 heavey duty lawyer and one PP and statutory rapist cover up case and there will be some insolvencies.
Medical malpractice will not pay for felony coverage. Non reporting of a felony by certain professionals is criminal.
Where are the feminists?
How sad, this girl had to go through some awful things. I’ll bet she was too terrified to tell someone her full story. And when she went into PP for that abortion they had the chance to help her. Thats like seeing someone drowning in the water and not helping, let ’em sink!
I hope she can overcome that her past abuse and become an advocate for abused children!
Where are the feminists?
Posted by: Jasper at February 19, 2009 11:27 AM
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They’re the ones who are reading it and thinking, “Wow, it’s great that abortion was available to this girl. Imagine if she’d have had to give BIRTH to a child created in incest.”
Although the abuse might have ended sooner, had she given birth and the incest discovered. She was clearly crying out for help. Instead, abortion enabled the predatory male to continue his abuse. Typical.
Where are the feminists?
Here I am! In my real job I have been involved in enforcing my state’s law requiring that any suspicion of sexual abuse of a minor be reported to law enforcement. People across the board are REALLY bad about following this law, to the point that it has given me second thoughts about mandated reporting. I have seen guidance counselors, doctors, churches galore, abortion centers, and even a state worker specializing in child neglect fail to report obvious sexual abuse! One case I saw even involved a teenager who — yes — gave birth to a baby fathered by her father after visiting a pro-life counseling center that did not report the obvious sexual abuse.
This experience has led me to believe that across-the-board mandated reporting may not be the best solution. It can interfere with girls’ relationships with clergy and with their doctors, perhaps even discouraging victims from getting help they really need. It is a complicated problem, with no easy answers.
That having been said, I would not let PP off the hook for violating any laws in existence, and even if mandated reporting laws didn’t apply, I would expect PP to urge the girl to allow them to report it.
interesting how more of these real life stories are popping up after Lila Rose’s investigations.
PP has to comply with the LAW and report suspected abuse. But they don’t want to because its bad for business.
“This experience has led me to believe that across-the-board mandated reporting may not be the best solution. It can interfere with girls’ relationships with clergy and with their doctors, perhaps even discouraging victims from getting help they really need. It is a complicated problem, with no easy answers.”
That is repulsive. memorizing the rebuttals from PP to cover this up will need to stop. PP has zero record of looking out for the safety and health of women. Killing babies is wicked and sanitizing and justifying rape, incest and child molestation by sending the rabbit trail of privacy and other justifications is garbage.
They help we need is to report the criminal.
aidding and abetting felony rape has to get stopped.
Getting rid of mandated reporting will not help. When reporting is not mandated, nurses, doctors, clergy and others are in an impossible situation where they can be sued if they report suspected abuse… as the law stands, the fact that I can say, “It is not my job to determine whether abuse actually occurred. It is my job to report any suspicions of abuse.” That protects me from liability should I be wrong.
Without that protection many people would choose not to report, leaving innocent children in possible harm.
Xppc,
Are you saying that I am parrotting rebuttals by PP? Because I am not — just thinking through the issues. If you know of PP’s responses to accusations of failing to abide by mandated reporting, I would be interested to see them.
I assume you also want priests and pro-life counseling centers to be mandated to report sexual abuse as well — even if it discourages underage victims from seeking their assistance?
Again, I have no vested interest in defending PP (though I have always thought well of them and have had positive experiences as their patient). But defending PP and defending choice are two different things.
Elisabeth,
One solution to that issue could be laws allowing reporting within the discretion of the doctor, clergyman, etc.
There are precedents for this. For example, lawyers in some states are permitted, but not required, to turn in clients who plan to commit certain kinds of crimes.
Of course, that solution may still make victims reluctant to get help due to the possibility of reporting.
I don’t pretend to have a perfect solution. I just know that it can be very difficult to make a report against the wishes of someone who came to you in confidence. My experience coming down hard on some of these people who failed to report gave me second thoughts.
Pro-choicer,
how many feminist blogs have cover the PP cover up cases?
can you show me one?
Where are the feminists?
Jasper, I would like to know, where are the social workers? Oh wait, never mind. NASW (National Assoc of Social Workers) has a pro-abort political agenda.
Jasper,
The very first feminist site I checked had a post. So what?
http://community.feministing.com/2009/02/planned-parenthood-negligence.html
it still drives me nuts that the term “feminist”- which to me means “someone who wants equal rights for women”- is thrown around like such a dirty word by Jasper and some others. Since when is “feminist” synonymous with “militant baby killing machine”?? Sounds like an unfair generalization to me…
“Jasper,
The very first feminist site I checked had a post. So what?”
Did you read the article you posted? They came down on planned parenthoods side indicating they did nothing wrong.
the right to kill ones unborn child trumps everything for the feminazis.
Elisabeth,
One solution to that issue could be laws allowing reporting within the discretion of the doctor, clergyman, etc.
Did you read ANYTHING I wrote? I don’t WANT discretion. I do not want that burden. I am glad that it is mandatory because that protects me. I am a nurse. I am not a social worker. I have a child in my care for a few hours if I’m in the ER. I have a child in my care for a few nights if I’m working the floor. Either way, I do not have enough of a chance to substantiate my concerns one way or the other.
MANDATED REPORTING SAVES LIVES. Do you understand this? Mandated reporting saves lives. It is a sad, sad thing that the workers at PP choose to look the other way when the law gives them the ability to save these girls additional years of abuse.
Fed up 1:57PM
Where are the feminists?
I still remember a doctor I worked with asking that question during the Clinton/Lewinski/Paula Jones scandal.
You will learn that feminists are highly selective in their “outrage”. The same feminists who were on Clarence Thomas like a pack of hyenas for what, some lousy pickup lines, were strangely silent when their boy Bill Clinton was accused of everything from exposing himself to rape.
The feminist are so afraid to voice any concern for girls that are being sexually abused because it might mean their love of “the right to choose to abort” would be scrutinized and restricted in any way, even if it would save children from sexual predators. It is more important that “abortion rights” and the sexual predator “rights” be protected, (no matter how many times he shows up at PP), than a child be protected, the police called and an investigation be conducted. Teachers and nurses are told they are legally REQUIRED to report suspected abuse no exceptions or they will be held liable.
Did PP rape her? nope. case closed. I feel sorry for what she had to go through, but PP performing an abortion is not correlated to her continuing to be abused. Whats next, blaming the butcher when she is sad for not telling her to “have a good day”?
Posted by: Yo La Tengo at Feb 19, 2009 11:37 PM
Tengo, PP did rape her because hey knew she had been raped and they did not report it, that allowed the rape to ccur again. And they mutilated her and tore her baby out of her womb too.
Prochoicer,
Do you think women should be shown a picture of a baby at the gestational stage of her baby as part of her abortion decision-making process? Maybe included as part of the literature that is handed out?
Truthie – Speaking as someone who has been raped – abortion is not rape. Don’t tell me what is and isn’t unless you’ve been there, bub…mmmmkay!
YLT, the nurses at PP failed to fulfill their duties as mandatory reporters. They should be stripped of their licenses.
Jasper,
I am aware that the article I linked defended Planned Parenthood. You asked a question. I answered it. Still don’t see the point of the question.
I guess you are trying to imply that feminists are hypocrites? But as I explained above mandated reporting is an issue about which feminists can disagree about what is best for the victim. And the same web site also reported and condemned a PP worker for going along with another set up involving racism: http://www.feministing.com/archives/008697.html
You also can’t expect feminists to jump on board with Lila Rose, who clearly couldn’t give a rat’s behind about mandated reporting. If THAT were her issue, then she would do her undercover counseling at other service providers, such as pro-life counseling centers.
That having been said, I expect PP to obey the law (whatever the law may require). And if PP makes mistakes, they should be fixed — but it doesn’t follow that I or other women should be punished by losing our right to choose.
Truthseeker,
You asked whether women seeking abortion should be shown pictures of the gestational age of the embryo or fetus.
It really depends on the individualized needs of the woman. If this information is important to the woman, of course she should have a chance to learn about embryonic and fetal development. If she is expressing doubt about whether to have an abortion, it would be appropriate to inquire whehter fetal development is an issue for her. If not, presumably she has already thought about the fact that she is preventing the existence of a baby from coming to term.
I question why prolifers are so eager to have women look at these pictures? Is there any evidence that such pictures would change women’s minds, rather than make them feel comfortable with the decision to abort? Most ultrasounds and pictures of early term embryos or fetuses don’t look like much.
How how how how how how HOW ON EARTH can anyone think that NOT reporting rape of a minor is in that minor’s best interests?????
Elisabeth,
I am a big believer in sexual assault prosecution — which is why I was involved in assisting with the prosecution of people who violate mandated reporting laws.
But I also know enough about the system to recognize two things:
1) Victims are often terrified of the truth coming out (and sometimes are willing participants in the sex). That doesn’t mean that their rapists shouldn’t be prosecuted — but it does mean that victims may be unlikely to seek necessary services out of fear that the sexual liaison will be reported. Even if you are against abortion, wouldn’t you want a victim to feel free to go to a counselor or, if pregnant, seek pre-natal medical care or assistance in preparing to care for a baby?
2) The prosecution of a sexual offender can also be extremely hard on the victim. Not every victim returns to the clutches of the offender, so often there is no benefit to the victim of going through with prosecution. It is hard thing when the victim’s therapist or physician or parent (who is supposed to be acting in the victim’s best interest) are required to make a report that may place the victim in the middle of a traumatic court process.
Look, I am an agnostic on mandated reporting. I didn’t mean to imply that I am totally against it. I just think there are two sides to the issue and reasonable people can differ.