Has the media been caught in Planned Parenthood’s web of lies? (Part one)

A new report released by Live Action shows that many media outlets have been caught up in Planned Parenthood’s web of lies.

The documented evidence shows that Planned Parenthood repeatedly lied to media outlets after they were exposed in undercover video footage offering assistance to investigators, posing as pimps prostituting minor girls. The information stems from a 2011 investigation where Live Action investigators exposed eight Planned Parenthood clinic staffers at seven different Planned Parenthood facilities willing to aid and abet child sex traffickers by suggesting how to get abortions and birth control for their 14- and 15-year-old victims.

After Live Action released the undercover footage exposing Planned Parenthood, the abortion chain claimed to the media that it would retrain thousands of staff members across the country to properly report suspected sexual abuse of minors to authorities.

Stuart Schear, Vice President for Communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, released this statement which read in part:

Shear then went on NPR and reiterated their statement on retraining:

The media followed Planned Parenthood’s lead. UPI reported that Planned Parenthood had announced retraining:

CNN did the same:

On February 7, 2011, The New York Times reported this:

CBS reported the training this way:

CBS was also told by the abortion chain that any employee who violated the policy would be terminated.

Fox News, Politico, and many others weighed in as well. They all simply took Planned Parenthood’s word at face value, almost blindly believing that the organization took reporting of child sexual abuse seriously and that they would be retraining to assure stringent policies were followed.

However, according to a Planned Parenthood insider, that so-called “retraining” appears to have been an effort by the abortion corporation to instruct their staff on how to identify undercover operatives — like the Live Action investigative team — not to identify teens suffering under sexual abuse.

Ramona Treviño, who was employed as the Sherman, Texas, Planned Parenthood manager when these so-called retraining sessions were to have occurred, revealed that instead of helping employees identify and report potential abuse, the retraining sessions instructed staff how to identify undercover journalists and whether they were being recorded.

Planned Parenthood Lies about Training Staff to Report Sex Traffickers

Simply put, the “retraining” Planned Parenthood assured members of the media they would perform was a hoax. The media did not follow through to see that the training actually took place, because, where members of the media are concerned, if Planned Parenthood says it happened, that is all the media needs to hear for it to be reported as fact.

Should the media have known better?

The answer is YES, and for one simple reason: these “retraining” promises had been given as PR stunts to appease the media before.

In 2010, after Live Action released undercover video footage of an actor posing as a minor impregnated by a much older boyfriend to see if it would raise any red flags by Planned Parenthood staff, US News reported this:

Vanessa Cullins, Planned Parenthood’s vice president for medical affairs, told told US News reporter Deborah Kotz in that 2010 interview, “We take seriously any allegations that come our way and take corrective action in the form of training and retraining in order to ensure that care is in accordance with the law.” The article continued:

Sound familiar? It should because, in 2008, an Indiana ABC affiliate claimed they were told by Planned Parenthood, there would be retraining then as well.

That “claim” was passed onto the Associated Press and picked up by the Huffington Post:

Live Action News has previously documented how Planned Parenthood responds to the victims of sex trafficking. Testimony from a 2014 report quotes trafficked victims who claim they were taken to Planned Parenthood for care because “they didn’t ask any questions.”

Sadly, even though the reporting of suspected child abuse by Planned Parenthood is expected under Title X, which funnels millions of tax dollars to Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations, the media continues to publish Planned Parenthood’s spin without question. Journalism is supposed to question and verify sources or statements while remaining neutral and without bias.

Sadly, as you will see in part two, when it comes to Planned Parenthood, today’s media is all too quick to throw journalistic standards away.