Abortion Above the Law: Clinics Committing Illegal Abortions

The abortion industry has once again been exposed on sex-selective abortions – this time agreeing to commit gendercide in a state where it is illegal.

With President Obama and pro-abortion legislators blocking the federal ban on sex-selective abortions in Congress last week, aborting a baby because the unborn child is the “wrong” gender is only illegal in four states: Arizona, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

Last week undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood clinics facilitating sex-selective abortions in states where it is legal. And, as the Huffington Post reported, “no Planned Parenthood clinic will deny a woman an abortion based on her reasons for wanting one, except in those states that explicitly prohibit sex-selective abortions.”

The latest Live Action video shows apparent illegal activity on the part of two abortion clinics in Arizona. Arizona law provides, that it is “class 3 felony” to perform “an abortion knowing that the abortion is sought based on the sex or race of the child or the race of a parent of that child.”

The video shows not one but two National Abortion Federation (NAF) abortion clinics in Arizona agreeing to perform illegal sex-selective abortions.

What is worse is that this was not the case of uninformed staffers. In one case, when the person seeking the abortion said that it was because of the baby’s gender, the NAF staffer told her that “state law says we cannot do a termination on somebody just because of race or gender.” However, the staffer said, just “don’t tell us that,” and proceeded to encourage her to commit fraud by signing a form that says she was not seeking the abortion based on the sex of the baby. Disturbingly, the NAF clinic staffer says that the doctor herself would advise the client in the same manner. This particular staffer said that others have sought abortions based on gender.

The situation plays out similarly at the second Arizona NAF clinic with the staffer aware that performing such an abortion is illegal but advising the client not give that reason.

The National Abortion Federation boasts over 400 affiliated clinics in North America, including “Planned Parenthood facilities.”

The National Abortion Federation’s policy guidelines for it’s affiliated clinics, which are currently prominently displayed on their website, do not address sex-selective abortion procedures. However, the guidelines repeatedly state, “As always, it is incumbent upon each clinician to be aware of the laws pertinent to their clinical practice.”

Ironically, the policy guidelines do not state that their clinics are to follow these laws. An omission that is sure to be remedied now, but these particular clinics appear to be following the guidelines to the letter.

While it is bad enough that it is exposed that these abortion clinics were willing to break the law by performing sex-selective abortions and were encouraging their clients to commit fraud, there is another area where they may have actually broken the law.

In addition to making it a crime to perform gendercide, Arizona law also provides that it is a crime to “Solicit[]s or accept[] monies to finance a sex-selection or race-selection abortion.” The video shows at least one of the NAF clinics discussing payment for the procedure, naming a specific price for the desired sex-selection abortion.

As the abortion industry continues to be exposed over the issue of sex-selection abortions, it is important to note that some of the blame from sex-selection abortions around the world can be traced back to the abortion industry itself.

As “pro-choice” feminist author, Mara Hvistendahl, details in her critically acclaimed book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, groups promoting population control, including “the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), helped sell Asian nations on population control, primarily by spreading logic that lower birth rates lead to richer people.”

It is critical that we continue exposing the hypocrisy of the abortion industry over sex-selection abortion, and in some cases their willingness to violate the law in the name of abortion.