PERTH AMBOY — The man and woman walked into the Planned Parenthood clinic in Perth Amboy sounding like the operators of a child sex ring looking for help with their business.
They told the manager they would bring in girls as young as 14 for tests, birth control and abortion referrals and wanted to know what kind of questions to expect from clinic employees.
The manager was helpful. She coached them to lie about the age of the girls’ sex partners. "If they are a minor, we are obligated if we hear certain information, to kind of report (it)," the manager said. "So as long as they just lie and say, ‘Oh, he’s 15, 16,’ ’’ no one should question them.
But the man and woman were actually members of Live Action, a California-based anti-abortion group that targeted Planned Parenthood clinics in five states and Washington, D.C., last month. The scenes were videotaped and posted on YouTube, and today created a national uproar.
Tonight, Central Jersey Planned Parenthood fired the manager, identified in the video as Amy Woodruff, and beefed up security around its clinics.
"We were profoundly shocked when we viewed the videotape released this morning, which depicted an employee of one of our health centers behaving in a repugnant manner that is inconsistent with our standards of care and is completely unacceptable,'' Phyllis Kinsler, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Central Jersey said in a statement released at 10:20 p.m.
"We have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior, and the employee in the video was immediately suspended from her duties this morning and was terminated this evening," Kinsler said. "We are fully committed to delivering high-quality reproductive health care to the women of our communities, complying with all laws, and upholding the highest ethical standards."
She also condemned Live Action's sting, questioning how dramatically the video was edited.
By day’s end, Kinsler said, three Planned Parenthood clinics under her supervision — Perth Amboy, Hazlet and Shrewsbury — had received about 10 "harassing" phone calls, including one saying, "They should just bomb your place." She reported the calls to the FBI and local police and asked for their help tightening security.
Attorney General Paula Dow asked the Division of Criminal Justice to investigate whether the manager broke any laws. "At first glance, I find these allegations to be very disturbing," Dow said in a statement. Her spokesman Paul Loriquet said Gov. Chris Christie’s office and some legislators had referred the matter to her attention.
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, said the video "proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Planned Parenthood intentionally breaks state and federal laws and covers up the abuse of young girls it claims to serve." The group suggested laws on aiding and abetting sex traffickers were broken.
Kinsler said Live Action also visited the Shrewsbury clinic on Jan. 13, and the managers at Perth Amboy and Shrewsbury contacted her immediately about their concerns over illegal activity involving children.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America reported the information to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder last week when they believed children might be at risk.
"If these visits are part of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign, they must be condemned," said Stuart Schear, a Planned Parenthood federation vice president. "Falsely claiming sex trafficking to health professionals to advance a political agenda is an astoundingly cynical form of political activity."
The video revived a bitter spat between New Jersey Right to Life and a group of lawmakers protesting Christie’s decision last year to stop state funding for 58 family planning centers and now urging him to sign a bill to expand the state’s Medicaid program so more women can get family planning and other health services.
Marie Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life said the video shows Planned Parenthood does not deserve taxpayer funds. "New Jersey taxpayers and every state and federal elected official and law enforcement agency throughout this country should be outraged," she said.
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor of the Medicaid expansion bill, said if what the video shows is accurate, "obviously this Planned Parenthood clinic needs to get rid of any inappropriate employees and make sure the employes they retain are property trained on the law." But she worried the Medicaid legislation would be linked to the video. "It is about making poor women eligible for Medicaid," Weinberg said of the legislation.
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