Update 2/3/11 4:23 p.m. EST: National Review indicates a Google spokesman confirmed to it that the Live Action video will indeed remain online.
The popular video sharing web site YouTube is threatening to censor a new video that exposes how a Planned Parenthood center in New jersey aided and assisted actors in an undercover investigation with sexual trafficking of minors.
The video has received national attention and more than 230,000 plays at YouTube but the video site claims a “privacy violation” occurred and is demanding that Live Action, the pro-life group that conducted the sting operation, take it down. The group also released a second videoshowing more sex trafficking coverup at a Virginia Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
“This is to notify you that we have received a privacy complaint from an individual regarding your content,” YouTube says in a letter to LiveAction.
“We would like to give you an opportunity to remove or edit the private information within the content reported,” the letter ads. “You have 48 hours to take action on the complaint. If you remove the alleged violation from the site within the 48 hours, the complaint filed will then be closed. If the potential privacy violation remains on the site after 48 hours, the complaint will be reviewed by the YouTube Team and may be removed pursuant to our Privacy Guidelines.”
YouTube warns that the video may have to be removed completely if the privacy concern, which is unspecified in the letter, is located within the video itself.
The privacy concern likely revolves around the fact that Amy Woodruff, the nurse who advises the alleged sex traffickers on how to get abortions and STD testing for the illegally-imported minor girls they victimize and who has since been fired by Planned Parenthood, is shown in the footage. However, no personal information was released about Amy Woodruff or anyone else in the video.
In firing Woodruff, Phyllis Kinsler, executive director of the local affiliate, said a statement, ““We were profoundly shocked when we viewed the videotape released this morning, which depicted an employee of one of our health centers behaving in a repugnant manner that is inconsistent with our standards of care and is completely unacceptable.”
“We have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior, and the employee in the video was immediately suspended from her duties this morning and was terminated this evening,” Kinsler said. “We are fully committed to delivering high-quality reproductive health care to the women of our communities, complying with all laws, and upholding the highest ethical standards.”
This isn’t the first time YouTube has taken down or censored videos exposing abuses at Planned Parenthood abortion centers.
In June 2009, YouTube removed a new undercover video that exposed dishonest counseling practices at Planned Parenthood abortion centers. The video showed a Planned Parenthood staff member telling pro-life activist Lila Rose that images of victims of abortion are “not real.”
Without offering any specific explanation, YouTube removed the video, which features footage of a Planned Parenthood facility in Tucson, Arizona.
YouTube also blocked a video in September 2008 exposing the racist donations Planned Parenthood accepted. YouTube provided no advance warning, but sent an email citing “an alleged privacy violation.” At the time, YouTube had also not responded to the group’s inquiry about why the first four videos critical of Planned Parenthood were marked as “content inappropriate.”
ACTION: Contact YouTube with your comments at https://www.youtube.com/t/contact_us
