By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Only weeks after a pro-life organization caught the nation’s largest abortion provider in the act of aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of minors, Planned Parenthood is now lobbying against an Illinois law that would broaden the duty to report such abuse.
Live Action, the organization that conducted the Planned Parenthood sting, is reporting that lawmakers are trying to tighten reporting laws in Illinois to protect young girls from sexual abuse. Presently, only licensed health care professionals at clinics such as Planned Parenthood are required to report the sexual abuse of a child to state authorities. This means non-licensed staff such as volunteers, front-desk staff and other non-licensed office staff are not required to report child sexual abuse when they find out that a child is being abused.
Lawmakers in Illinois are proposing a new law that would expand who is a mandated reporter of child sexual abuse to include every employee or volunteer of any organizations that provides or refers for reproductive health care, which is consistent with laws in most other states.
Planned Parenthood is opposing the law, saying that “all doctors, nurses and teachers are already mandated reporters. Therefore, these organizations are already legally required to make reports. This bill creates redundant regulations that have the potential to overload the Department of Children and Family Services.”
It’s important to note that the clinic workers most recently caught on tape giving guidance and help to people posing as sex traffickers tended to be front-desk workers, not licensed health care workers.
” While Planned Parenthood is right that doctors and nurses are already mandated reporters of child sexual abuse, the Planned Parenthood non-medically licensed staff can currently choose to legally ignore child sexual abuse — and they support their ability to do so!” writes David Schmidt, Live Action Media Director.
“Planned Parenthood’s statement says that the bill has the ‘potential to overload the Department of Children and Family Services.’ Overload the department by reporting child sexual abuse? If there is anything that the Department of Children and Family Services should care about, it should be addressing reported child sexual abuse.”
After conducting several undercover investigations that found rampant violations of child sexual abuse reporting laws, Schmidt says Planned Parenthood’s opposition to this law is shocking.
“It shows that Planned Parenthood has an institutional problem with child sexual abuse reporting and not just a training issue.”
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