Birmingham, Ala., Feb 11, 2010 / 11:42 am
Pro-life leader Fr. Frank Pavone commented Thursday on an abortion clinic in Alabama being put on probation, saying that he's not surprised and that Planned Parenthood's gaffe is simply “par for the course.”
According to the Associated Press, Alabama’s Bureau of Health Provider Standards has put a Planned Parenthood clinic in Birmingham on probation for one year, following the discovery that it was providing abortions to minors without parental consent. Alabama law requires parental consent for abortions performed on minors due in part to possible cases of child abuse.
Evidence that the clinic was engaged in illegally providing abortions surfaced after the California-based pro-life group “Live Action” conducted an under cover sting. A video of the event shows one activist posing as a pregnant 14-year-old girl seeking an abortion. A Planned Parenthood employee can be heard in the video allegedly saying that consent for the abortion could be given by someone other than a parent or legal guardian.
Records have shown that the clinic has been providing abortions since Nov. of 2008 for minors aged 13-15 without proper verification of parental consent, say department investigators. One state health official told the AP that the clinic was going beyond what was required by the law in some ways but failing to abide by the law in others.
“This may be news to many, but it's not news to us,” Fr. Pavone, national director of Priests for Life said on Thursday. “This is par for the course and we've been tracking it for years. It's time for the nation to wake up and realize that making abortion legal did not make it safe, and that in hundreds of facilities nationwide, Planned Parenthood is engaged in criminal activity and deserves to be shut down.”
Alabama health officials investigated the clinic after Live Action's claim last year.