Posted by
Rich on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:41:54 PM
This story is from the Idaho Statesman.
Planned
Parenthood of Idaho officials apologized Wednesday for what they called
an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at
aborting black babies.
They also criticized The Advocate, a
right-to-life student magazine at the University of California-Los
Angeles, for trying to discredit Planned Parenthood employees in seven
states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer.
The call to Idaho came in July to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho.
On
the recording provided by The Advocate, an actor portraying a donor
said he wanted his money used to eliminate black unborn children
because "the less black kids out there the better."
Kersey
laughed nervously and said: "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."
On Tuesday, The Advocate released
transcripts and audio recordings of this phone call and another to
fundraising representatives in Ohio.
The student editor-in-chief
of The Advocate said she's not surprised by Planned Parenthood's
response and that the unedited recordings speak for themselves. The
activist students think Planned Parenthood targets minorities and
minority neighborhoods.
On Wednesday, 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.
A longtime anti-abortion activist and
conservative lobbyist - Idaho Values Alliance Executive Director Bryan
Fischer - called Kersey's response in July reprehensible and said she
should have been fired.
"It turns out that blatant racism is
alive and well in Idaho, but it's not coming from the Aryan Nation
types - it's coming from way-left organizations like Idaho's own
Planned Parenthood," Fischer said. "They should have stridently rebuked
that donor for being a racist and a bigot and refused to take that
money."
The national Planned Parenthood office did not return
phone calls Wednesday, but local officials denounced the editor of The
Advocate as "a known anti-choice extremist."
"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."
Lila Rose, the UCLA student who led the
Planned Parenthood investigation as The Advocate's editor-in-chief,
said it is sad that the organization would focus on what the students
did.
"They do not change their ways," Rose said. "They attack the whistleblower."
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.
"It is unacceptable for a nonprofit to accept donations that target specific races," Rose said.
The
Advocate is waiting for responses from Idaho and Ohio before releasing
recordings from Planned Parenthood organizations in several other
states, she said. In the meantime, the magazine is calling for UCLA to
cut its ties with Planned Parenthood.
It is legal in Idaho for someone who makes a phone call to secretly tape it.