Is Planned Parenthood a racist organization with a covert mission to control black births? Well if you believe a UCLA right-to-life student newspaper called The Advocate and other reports, it would be hard to argue against that allegation.
Last Wednesday, in Idaho, Planned Parenthood officials apologized Wednesday for what they called an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at aborting black babies, reports the Idaho Statesman.
The organization also lashed out at The Advocate for trying to discredit employees in seven states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer.
In Idaho, last July, The Adcocate's call went to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho. A recording provided by The Advocate has an actor portraying a donor saying that he wanted his money used to eliminate unborn black children because "the less black kids out there the better."
Laughing nervously, Kersey responds: "Understandable, understandable. ... Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out."
The Advocate says this is evidence that Planned Parenthood targets minorities and minority neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, according to The Statesman, Planned Parenthood of Idaho "firmly and unequivocally" denounced racial bias, admitted making a mistake and said the group had taken corrective action.
"A fundraising employee violated the organization's principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation," said CEO Rebecca Poedy in a written statement. "We apologize for the manner in which this offensive call was handled. We take full responsibility for the actions of the fundraising staff member who created the impression that racism of any form would be tolerated at Planned Parenthood. We took swift action to ensure that each of our employees understands their responsibility to communicate clearly with donors about the fact that we believe in helping all individuals, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, make informed decisions about their reproductive health care."
A spokeswoman for the organization would not say whether further disciplinary action was taken against Kersey, saying that was a personnel matter.
Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood officials in Idaho blasted The Advocate's actions
"While the actions of our staff member were unacceptable, it's also unacceptable for opponents of abortion to use racist, deceptive tactics to smear Planned Parenthood," Poedy said. "The race-baiting tactics on display in this case are not news 'exposes,' but rather the product of the most cynical form of politicking."
In response, Lila Rose, the editor-in-chief of The Advocate said that the organization shouldn't focus on what the students did (or how they did it). In Idaho it is legal to secretly record a phone call
"They do not change their ways," Rose said. "They attack the whistleblower. It is unacceptable for a nonprofit to accept donations that target specific races," Rose said.
Nationwide, Planned Parenthood received about $902 million in revenue in 2005-06, according to its annual report. Private donations made up about 24 percent, or $212 million.
Make up your own mind. Watch a YouTube report on the 'Evils of Planned ParentHood 2':
Transcript of The Advocate's phone call to Autum Kersey at Planned Parenthood of Idah
Autumn Kersey of Planned Parenthood in Boise: Good afternoon, this is Autumn.
Donor: Hello, Autumn, I'm interested in making a donation today.
Kersey: Fantastic!
Donor: What about abortions for the underprivileged minority groups?
Kersey: Oh, absolutely. We have, um, in fact, uh wonderful, fantastic news. We just received a very generous donation to our women in need fund.
Donor: Wonderful. I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group - would that be possible?
Kersey: Absolutely.
Donor: Like the black community for example?
Kersey: Certainly.
Donor: OK, so the abortion I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose.
Kersey: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that you wanted your gift to be used to help (an) African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that that gift was earmarked specifically for that purpose.
Donor: Great. Because I really face trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids being disadvantaged, you know, against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name, you know.
Kersey: Hmm, absolutely.
Donor: So that's definitely possible.
Kersey: Oh, always, always.
Donor: So I just wanna - can I put this in the name of my son?
Kersey: Absolutely.
Donor: Yeah, he's trying to get into colleges, and he's going to be applying, you know, he's justwe're just really bighe's really faced troubles with affirmative action.
Kersey: Mhmm.
Donor: And we don't, you know, we just think, you know, the less black kids out there the better.
Kersey: (Laughs) Understandable, understandable. ... Um David, let me, if I may, just get some sort of specific general information so we can set this up the right way. You said you wanted to put it in your son's name, and you would like this designated specifically to assist (an) African-American woman who's looking to terminate a pregnancy.
Donor: Exactly, and yeah, I wanna protect my son, so he can get into college.
Kersey: All right. Excuse my hesitation, um, um, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited, and I wanna make sure I don't leave anything out.
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