Planned Parenthood Wants to Keep Their Dirty Secrets a Secret

The California legislature is mulling over a bill that would criminalize the publishing of undercover video recordings from health care clinics in the wake of the Planned Parenthood video scandal that rocked the country last summer.

If passed, AB 1671, a bill that was authored by Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) and has the support of an enthusiastic Planned Parenthood, would make it illegal to publish video recordings that were gathered while undercover. Any offending parties who published materials that were covertly recorded in a confidential setting with licensed medical personnel could be fined up to $10,000 per violation and receive up to a one-year sentence in prison.

“It is the intent of the legislature to enact legislation to prohibit any person from intentionally video recording a confidential communication…without obtaining the consent of all parties to the communication.”

“It is the intent of the legislature to enact legislation to prohibit any person from intentionally video recording a confidential communication, or disclosing or distributing that video-recording communication, without obtaining the consent of all parties to the communication,” the bill reads.

The bill also extends as far as criminalizing the publication of the recorded materials “in any manner” and in “any forum,” including social media websites.

Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California Action Fund promptly praised the bill, calling it “a key improvement that closes a current loophole in privacy laws around illegal videotaping” on its website.

But many journalists and pro-life advocates immediately began criticizing the breach of their First Amendment rights.

“Rather than be more transparent with the public, Planned Parenthood wants to make it a crime for the media to publish evidence that it might be doing something illegal.”

“For years, undercover journalists have documented Planned Parenthood employees covering up for sex traffickers, failing to report child sexual abusers, and trafficking in baby body parts,” Lila Rose, the president of Live Action, said in a statement. “Rather than be more transparent with the public, Planned Parenthood wants to make it a crime for the media to publish evidence that it might be doing something illegal.”

Rose added that a “watchdog media is a cornerstone of a democratic society, and when the public funds half of the abortion giant’s operations, it has a right to know that its money isn’t being used to break the law or commit abuses.”

Even some who support Planned Parenthood expressed their concerns over the implications the bill’s passing would have for the U.S. After expressing his admiration for Planned Parenthood’s “vital medical services,” Thomas Peele from the San Jose Mercury News wrote that AB 1671 “should have First Amendment advocates, journalists and good-government types gravely concerned.”

Others pointed out the glaring inconsistency the left entertains when it seeks to criminalize some “deceptive” recordings that do not comply with its agenda without condemning other “deceptive” measures. Even after the video series launched by the Center for Medical Progress revealed the harvesting of fetal body parts occurring within Planned Parenthood clinics last summer, the organization claimed that the videos were “deceptively edited.”

“Edits to a Planned Parenthood undercover video are automatically deceptive, but edits to an anti-gun documentary automatically are not? OK.”

“Edits to a Planned Parenthood undercover video are automatically deceptive, but edits to an anti-gun documentary automatically are not? OK,” tweeted conservative blogger Matt Walsh, referencing the scandal that is plaguing Katie Couric over her gun documentary’s “deceptive” editing.

Nevertheless, the bill, which cleared the appropriations committee on May 25, is set to head to the assembly for a vote in the very near future.