‘Lawless Cult of Death’: Missouri AG Sues Planned Parenthood for Covering Up Sex Abuse of Minors

On Thursday, Missouri’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for allegedly trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions without parental consent, in violation of state law. The lawsuit demonstrates the latest example of the nation’s largest abortion supplier appearing to engage in covering up the sexual abuse of minors, which stretches back to at least 1982.

In 2008 and again in 2011, undercover investigators for the pro-life advocacy group Live Action obtained video footage of “Planned Parenthood employees at several facilities … repeatedly … offering to cover up” the sexual abuse of minors and help them “get abortions and get around parental notification laws.” A report by Live Action details numerous examples of the abortion business covering up the sexual abuse of minors, including:

• In 2007 in Lebanon, Ohio, 16-year-old Denise Fairbanks told Planned Parenthood facility staff that she was being repeatedly raped since age 13 by her father after he took her to the facility, where she was forced to have an abortion. Planned Parenthood staff “refused to report the incident” and “sent her home with him where he continued to abuse her for another year and-a-half.”
• In Washington State, George Savanah “repeatedly raped his daughter and impregnated her when she was 14, 16, and 17 years old, each time taking her to Planned Parenthood and forcing her to get an abortion. Planned Parenthood neglected to report any of the three suspicious incidents to authorities.”
• In 2014, “Timothy David Smith had sexually abused his stepdaughter for seven years and took her to Planned Parenthood when she became pregnant at 13. Planned Parenthood performed an abortion without notifying her parents and without reporting the suspected abuse to authorities as required by Colorado law.”
• In 1998 in Arizona, “Planned Parenthood performed an abortion on a 12-year-old at the request of her 23-year-old foster brother, who was also her abuser. Shawn Michael Stevens took her home afterwards and continued to rape her. Planned Parenthood not only neglected to notify authorities but also failed to notify the victim’s foster parents that they were going to perform the abortion.”
• In 1982 in San Jose, California, “swim coach Andrew Asa King repeatedly molested and raped a 10-year-old student and continued abusing her for eight years. After he impregnated her in 1982 when she was 14 years old, she went to Planned Parenthood for an abortion.” Planned Parenthood staff made no report of suspected sexual abuse.

On Thursday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss the details of his lawsuit against the abortion giant.

“[T]here was an investigative journalist that filmed a video at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City in November of 2023 … that uncovered that agents of Planned Parenthood were committed to conspiring to transport women across state lines for abortions without providing proper consent for juveniles [and] were willing to conceal after the fact [the] sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old girl,” he explained.

Bailey went on to describe how “Planned Parenthood’s history in the state of Missouri is one fraught with law violations. Since 2018, the state has been uncovering a commitment by Planned Parenthood to fail to comply with state statute. … They must be held accountable.”

The attorney general further recounted how the video evidence appears to show Planned Parenthood staff members eagerly breaking the law.

“[F]irst of all, they conceal it from the parents,” he noted. “But later in the video, the agent of Planned Parenthood brags about forging documents and deceiving custodial authorities, juvenile courts, [and] schools about the transport of these minors across state lines. And look at the smirk on the employee’s face. They’re proud of this behavior. They’re excited to do it. Their commitment to the destruction of human life is put before the health and safety of women and girls and obedience to state law. This is disgusting.”

Bailey continued, “[W]e know that in 2018, they were using a moldy abortion machine on women … and that the doctors at some of these clinics refused to properly report medical complications from these procedures, as required by state statute. Flash forward to 2019-2020, when the same physicians for Planned Parenthood testified under oath that they were not providing the statutorily required risk notifications about the danger of the procedures to women. … I’m not given to hyperbole, but at this point, the best label I have for Planned Parenthood is a lawless cult of death.”

Bailey concluded by expressing hope that prosecution of Missouri’s lawsuit will begin soon. “[A] judge has been assigned [and] we’re looking for a docket entry that will give us our first court date. … We need a court order. If Planned Parenthood refuses to comply by the law, we’ll get a court order requiring them to do so and hold in contempt anyone who is trafficking women out of state for abortions or concealing the sexual exploitation of children.”