Anti-Abortion Sting Video Fools Washington Post, No One Else

[Blue_Tires]

The conservative “gotcha” video* whose claims fall apart upon close inspection is fast becoming a well-established trope. So perhaps it’s a sign of learning that the latest entry in the genre, which “exposes” the lack of mammogram services at most Planned Parenthood clinics, only snookered one mainstream media outlet: the Washington Post.

The video is the work of the Live Action, an anti-abortion group that has been lobbying fervently in support of a Republican-led effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Live Action’s founder, Lila Rose, is an activist-provocateur in the mold of James O’Keefe, he of the ACORN and NPR stings.

In the video, Live Action’s agent calls various Planned Parenthood clinics and attempts to schedule a mammogram, only to be told time and again that they’re not available. “ontrary to the claims of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and other supporters of the nation’s largest abortion chain, the organization does not provide mammograms for women,” declares the group — proof, it says, that Planned Parenthood’s claims to provide comprehensive reproductive health services are hollow.

The only problem is there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that anyone in an official capacity at Planned Parenthood has ever claimed the organization does provide mammograms at its clinics — only that it conducts breast cancer screenings and refers patients needing mammograms to facilities where they can get them.

http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffbercovici/2011/03/31/anti-abortion-sting-video-fools-washington-post-no-one-else/

[Blue_Tires]

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