February 21, 2011

The recent undercover videos showing a Planned Parenthood worker advising clients how to skirt age restrictions on abortion and mandatory reporting laws came as no surprise to Jennifer Ruggiero, director of the Office of Respect for Life in the Diocese of Metuchen, N.J.

"We've made an ongoing effort to raise awareness of some of the myths about Planned Parenthood," Ruggiero said in a phone interview Feb. 4.

The video "sting" conducted by the group Live Action at a Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey clinic showed the clinic's office manager — who since been fired — talking to a young man and woman posing as a pimp and an underage sex worker.

She urges them not to reveal the sex worker is 14 because state law would require clinic personnel to report it as a case of statutory rape and child abuse.

Other Live Action undercover videos have shown Planned Parenthood personnel in 10 states offering advice that would help hide the sexual exploitation of minors or sex trafficking of foreign-born women.