I Thought I Saw All the Planned Parenthood Sting Footage. Turns Out the Tapes Were Edited.
Planned Parenthood has long derided CMP’s short videos as highly edited and deceptive — a charge that, after watching them and the supposedly “full footage” interviews, I agreed with. The videos were clearly edited with an agenda: namely, to make the case that Planned Parenthood profits from the sale of fetal tissue.
At the same time, CMP appeared to do something oddly transparent for a group that’s spent a dozen hours taking undercover footage. It released what it called “full footage” of its Planned Parenthood meetings. It held these videos out as complete meetings. I trusted that I could watch these videos and see, from start to finish, the conversations that happened.
THESE VIDEOS WERE HELD OUT AS FULL CONVERSATIONS. WHAT IF THAT’S NOT THE CASE?
The inaccurate transcript and the jumping timestamps make a pretty compelling case that I didn’t get the full picture. CMP can’t just wave away the missing footage as boring bathroom breaks; it’s impossible to know what might be missing without complete video. If the group wants to present these as the full videos behind the sting operation, then it needs to actually provide the complete footage — however dull or boring those other parts might be.
As I had posted her original article on the tapes, I thought it only fair that I post her response to the newest revelations regarding the tapes.
Regarding the above mentioned original post, I stand by everything that I wrote. I still think that there was one discussion in particular that came close (but did not cross) the line. I always have and still fully and unequivocally support a woman’s right to chose. I believe that sometimes the strongest abortion rights supporters will see things as strictly black and white while many other Americans will see many shades of gray. Having a Planned Parenthood official discuss their operations in a way that comes across as ethically borderline has the potential to weaken the support of some less committed supporters and I don’t see anything wrong with acknowledging that.
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