ARTICLES

It Keeps Us Safe?

Planned Parenthood Posts, Then Removes, Child Rape Letter on Website

BY JOHN ECK

The accusation that Planned Parenthood neglects to inform parents or even law enforcement when it treats minors who have been raped is nothing new or surprising to those who battle abortion. That Planned Parenthood would publish its alleged negligence on one of its own web sites is, however, unexpected, to put it mildly.

On December 14, the Washington, D.C.-based American Life League sent out an e-mail release with the headline, "Planned Parenthood conceals rape of 11-year-old and brags about it on web site." According to the release, the "Shared Stories" page on the web site of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, in San Francisco, featured, among other stories, one titled, "It Keeps Us Safe," in which "a young girl praises Planned Parenthood for not telling her parents that she was raped by her 17-year-old boyfriend when she was just 11 years old." American Life League provided the web address for the story.

The story, told by an anonymous writer who said she was 17 at the time of its writing, began, "I was raped at 11, by my 17 year old boyfriend." The writer continued, "I chose not to tell my parents because I didn't think their involvement would help, that was the right choice for me. Planned Parethood [sic] helped me deal with the aftermath of the rape allowing me to deal and cope as best as I could in my own way." The writer continued that she "decided to start having sex" when she was 14; the day she made that choice, she "made an appointment to get birth control pills. She and her current boyfriend, said the writer, "love each other so we're responsible and Planned Parenthood helps us to do that."

The American Life League release noted that "neither the letter itself nor Planned Parenthood made any mention of Planned Parenthood alerting law enforcement to this sexual abuse of an 11-year-old child." Indeed, it appears, subsequent to the e-mail release, which was picked up by weblogs and disseminated by The Conservative Voice, Planned Parent hood did not explain itself to assure the public that it does indeed report rape cases of minors, if not to parents, then at least to law enforcement. Rather, the following day, December 16, the letter was gone from the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate website. (Though it could be found in the archives at http://web.archive.org/web/20041022181821/www.ppgg.org/advocacy/stories.asp? ID=15. On January 4, however, when I tried to access the article, I received this message, "the page you requested has not been archived.")

As of late December, the same letters (except for "It Keeps Us Safe") still appeared on the "Shared Stories" page. These letters, it appears, are unsolicited; the web page provides a place where one can post a story. However, the posted letters are not the only ones received by Planned Parent hood Golden Gate. A search on the web page found a page (www.ppgg.org/actiondev/stories.asp) not only with the letters posted on "Shared Stories" ("It Keeps Us Safe"), again missing, but many others as well. Some of the letters praise Planned Parenthood, but others (evidently posted since December 15) attack the pro-abortion group, some of them asking why "It Keeps Us Safe" was removed from the web page. Apparently, Planned Parenthood culls which letters it will post on its "Shared Stories" page and found "It Keeps Us Safe" acceptable -- at least before the brouhaha over it broke out.

The letters Planned Parenthood Golden Gate does publish on its "Shared Stories" page are revealing in other ways. One letter writer says she "found out about Planned Parenthood in the phonebook when I was looking for clinics that offered abortion services because I was pregnant." The writer is quite thankful for Planned Parenthood's help "with counseling and options about what I wanted to do about my pregnancy." The writer says, "I thought my life was over when I got pregnant" (without, perhaps, realizing that on account of her abortion her child's life was over in more unequivocal sense.)

"Shortly after I turned 16 (during a relationship with my first boyfriend), I discovered that I was pregnant," begins another "Shared Story." This story shows that Planned Parenthood is not opposed to parental participation, at least as long as the minor desires it, for, says the writer, her "single mom" and she "both knew that there was no way I could or should have that child." Theywentto Planned Parenthood in San Mateo where, after several trips, the girl had an abortion. "I remember the nurse was particularly kind," she continues. "She looked into my eyes and I looked into hers as the doctor performed the abortion. She looked at me and talked to me as if I was her sister and we were the only two in the room. She held my hand and made me feel relaxed and cared about."

A third writer praised Planned Parenthood for helping her in "Doing My Part" (the title of the "Shared Story.") "I've been coming to Planned Parenthood since I was in high school and learned they gave out free condoms," says the writer. "I kept a basket of them on my coffee table when I threw keg parties in college (because I'm from Louisiana and we have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates -- due to too much religion and not enough education!)"

In its solicitude for pregnant minor girls, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate's web site lets them know how lucky they are to live in California, where "minors (people under 18 years old) have the right to obtain birth control services, prenatal care, sexually transmitted infection/HIV services and abortion without parental notification or permission," according to a page on the web site titled, "Minors' Reproductive Health Rights in California." "In many other states," it continues, "parental notification or permission is required to obtain an abortion. If teenagers cannot tell their parents that they need an abortion, they may either attempt to get approval from a judge (known as 'judicial bypass') or they must travel out of state to get the services they need." California, it turns out, is one of "only eight states that have no parental involvement requirement on the books."

This page, however, does not inform its readers that Planned Parenthood may have to inform, if not parents, then law enforcement when a rape of a minor occurs. According to a report on state laws concerning statutory rape put out in 2004 by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, "in California all sexual activity involving minors is illegal." However, not all cases of statutory rape need to be reported by health care providers; rather, "the reporting requirements only apply to the violations of certain criminal offenses -- namely, those addressing situations involving victims under 16 years of age where there is an especially large difference in the age of the two parties." Whether the reporting requirement would apply in a case involving an 11-year-old and a 17-year-old is unclear; but Planned Parenthood's removal of the letter reflects, perhaps, its own uneasiness over whether it does apply.

The letter, "It Keeps Us Safe," however, indicates that the rape of the eleven-year-old was not merely statutory rape, but sexual assault. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California on its website (at www.ppacca.org/site/pp.asp?c=kuJYJeO4F&b=139575) offers a summary of the state's minor consent laws. And according to Planned Parenthood, California's family code 6928 says a minor who may have been sexually assaulted can receive "diagnosis and treatment of sexual assault and the collection of medical evidence." But the "treating professional shall attempt to contact the minor's parent or guardian and shall note the day and time of the attempted contact and whether it was successful or unsuccess ful." This provision does not apply "if the treating professional reasonably believes the parent or guardian committed the sexual assault" -- which was not the case with the 11-year-old girl. "In addition," adds Planned Parenthood, "under child abuse reporting requirements, a sexual assault against a minor must be reported as suspected abuse."

An analysis, written in 1998, of assembly bill 327 by the National Center for Youth Law in San Francisco says that family planning organizations must report instances of sexual abuse of minors. According to this analysis, while "sexual activity between a 16-year-old and a 22-year-old would not be mandatorily reportable based on age alone ... if the health provider suspected coercion or assault, a report would be required."

I tried to contact someone at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate for comment on the letter, "It Keeps Us Safe." In particular, I wanted to know if Planned Parenthood Golden Gate screens letters that appear on the "Shared Stories" section of its web site, and, if so, what criteria are used in selecting which stories will appear. I also wanted to ask if Planned Parenthood reports cases of rape to parents or law enforcement. Finally, I wanted to ask why Planned Parenthood Golden Gate removed "It Keeps Us Safe"from its "Shared Stories" page.

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate did not respond to my repeated queries, both by telephone and e-mail.

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