Survivors of human trafficking say traffickers have used Planned Parenthood to obtain contraceptives and abortions without hassle. Recent studies confirm the links between victims of human trafficking and the multi-billion dollar abortion chain.
Ann often went to Planned Parenthood (PP) with her trafficker to get contraceptives or abortions. This sex-trafficking survivor told researchers of one study how her abuser befriended PP workers so they wouldn't ask him about the many girls he brought there.
“I often went to PP. He used to take all his girls there,” she said. “He called himself Benny, and we didn't know who he was. He said we were sisters or friends.” According to Live Action News, Ann's story is one of many that ties trafficking victims to PP, the abortion chain that receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.
The report cites three recent studies, including one in which Ann participated, published in the Journal of Human Trafficking, which demonstrates the existence of this link. According to Live Action, many survivors said the exploiters take them to PP because no one asks questions. Ann explained that her attacker lied about his relationship with his victims and that he “wasn't asked about the subject.”
“He accompanied us when we went there,” she recalls. When asked to leave the examination room, he would say, “I want to make sure she is treated well.” I was only asked if I was okay with him staying, to which he always replied in the affirmative.
Another victim, Beverly, told investigators that she visited PP “very often” during the eight years she was trafficked. According to the study, PP is “the most visited community health clinic” by victims of trafficking. A study published in 2014 found that victims “had significant contact with clinical treatment centers, most often PP clinics”: approximately 30% visited a PP center while being trafficked.
Live Action News also reported on a 2017 study done at Rikers Island prison, which rated the PP among the most frequently visited places for trafficking victims. Around three-quarters of study participants said they had visited a “community clinic” while being abused, and “all but one had visited PP.”
Victims said the abortion chain is “free” and “helpful,” suggesting their operators weren’t worried about being exposed. By law, every health care provider is required to report suspected abuse of children under 18 to authorities, and some of the human trafficking victims in the studies were underage.
Speaking of her time “on the street,” Laura explains, “I've been to hospitals, urgent care clinics, women's health clinics, and private doctors. No one ever asked me questions when I went to a clinic…I took birth control for the ten years I was on the streets, mostly Depo-Provera injections that I was given at the PP or in other neighborhood clinics. They also gave me the morning after pill.”
Another survivor explained that she had become pregnant six times while being trafficked and had had six abortions. She said: “At least one of my abortions happened at PP because they didn't ask questions. ...These abortions left me with a lot of scars because there was no follow-up and in two cases I had severe infections, so severe that I ended up losing my fallopian tubes [and had to have a hysterectomy].”
For decades, life advocates and others have uncovered evidence that PP has overlooked the sexual abuse of young girls.
A 2011 undercover video captured a PP employee in New Jersey “advising undercover Live Action actors on how an underage prostitute could continue to work after undergoing an abortion.” The abortion chain later fired the employee.
PP has also been accused of selling body parts of aborted babies, botching abortions that killed women, discriminating against pregnant and racial minority employees, and other unethical and potentially illegal activities.
Although it is technically a nonprofit, it supports abortions for “any reason” up until birth, including sex-selective abortions. Last year, they killed 374,155 unborn babies in abortions while receiving more than $670 million in taxes.
A new survey by Open Secrets has found that PP spends more money lobbying federal lawmakers than any other group on either side of the abortion debate.