Alabama Planned Parenthood on Probation

A Planned Parenthood located in Birmingham, Alabama has been put on probation after state health department inspectors found their were “problems with the reporting of suspected sexual abuse and how parental consent was obtained for minors.” The investigation was spurred by Live Action’s undercover tape.

Rick Harris, director of the state's Bureau of Health Provider Standards, said Wednesday the clinic did more than was required in some ways but failed to get the signature of minors on its forms verifying parental consent, a technical violation.

"To me this is the problem: You would think that an abortion clinic that intended to be law-abiding would have a lawyer or someone in the facility personally sit down and read what the statute requires and that obviously hadn't been done," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The clinic staff apparently thinks there was nothing suspicious about a 12-year-old have 3 sexual partners (4 by the time she was 13) and have two abortions in the span of four months.

There were also concerns about reporting child abuse. One of the 13-year-olds who received an abortion reported starting having sex at age 12 and having three partners in the previous year. She was back at the clinic for another abortion four months later and said she had now had four sexual partners in her life.

"A reasonable person would suspect abuse or neglect of this 13-year-old child, based on the above," inspectors wrote. "Neither the Registered Nurse, the Medical Doctor, nor any other Center staff reported the suspected abuse or neglect to the authorities as required by law."

A local CBS station has the statement issued by Planned Parenthood of Alabama.

The video of Live Action’s undercover operation is here.