Investigative

New York abortion clinic administrator admits to ignoring statutory rape

The fact that abortion clinic staff routinely protect statutory rapists is not a new revelation, especially to the pro-life movement. Life Dynamics exposed this years ago, and Live Action followed that up with video proof from Planned Parenthood clinics in six states. Yet I was still surprised to read an interview with a man calling himself “George.” George runs the administrative end of an abortion clinic in New York, and he blatantly admits that he ignores statutory rape.

He was doing an “Ask Me Anything” interview on Reddit.com, a news aggregation website. (I’m not recommending Reddit to anybody because of some of the content that routinely shows up.) During an AMA, any Reddit user can ask questions, and the person doing the AMA can stay as long as he or she wants, answering as many questions as he or she wants. I was curious to see how the users of Reddit respond to AMAs relating to abortion, as the average Reddit user is a young, white, extremely liberal male. So after searching for AMAs with “abortion” in the title, I see a headline of an AMA from last year titled “I AM the guy who runs an Abortion Clinic.”

George introduces himself by saying,

… I am a 26 year old guy who runs a Gynecology\Plastic Surgery clinic in NY. I’ve worked here for quite some time and seen\heard many incredible things. I’ve gone to school for phlebotomy and sonography and I do the ultrasound for every patient that comes through the clinic. I am pro-choice although watching people do things like having an abortion because their first born isn’t a son or aborting a set of twins because they “can’t handle it” does bother me (as it would bother anyone else.) If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you’re going to come on here spewing nonsense and garbage, I’ll give you 2 syllables F*** OFF.

Typically, when an abortion clinic employee does an AMA, he or she gives very careful and PR-friendly responses to questions about abortion clinic procedures. This case was different, though. I couldn’t believe this exchange:

Reddit User 1: Do you report things like finding out that girl was raped to the police, if it wasn’t already? Have you ever had to report rape or statutory rape to the police?

George: As bad is it sounds, its best to not get involved. The parents usually take care of whats necessary and that’s the way it should go. I’ve had one particular patient come in after such an incident and said “it was taken care of.” I didn’t bother to ask what she meant but I’m sure you can put it together.

Reddit User 1: That doesn’t sound bad to me, if you know the parents are doing something about it. It only sounds bad if the girl is trying to get an abortion so her parents don’t find out about her relationship, and the only people who know are the girl, the man, and the clinic. But I’m sure it’s not usual for such a situation to occur, let alone for you to figure out that’s what is going on. However, if you DO know that and you don’t report it, it is my understanding that it is considered illegal, because you and your employees fall under the category of “health care worker” and are therefore required to report child abuse, which statutory rape is considered.

George: That is true but most of the patients who come to this office for our services are illegal immigrants. We only know as much as the tell us. They have enough to deal with at the time so we respect their privacy and let them handle it on their own.

Reddit User 2: I don’t think he could [report statutory rape]. As much as it sucks to know a rapist is walking free, he’s a doctor and he can’t divulge personal info without consent.

George: I’m not a doctor.. I’m an ultrasound tech

Reddit User 2: So do you tell the police then?

George: There’s not much I can tell them. I have no proof, nor can I verify who the person was who raped the girl or if anything was actually “taken care of”.

Reddit User 1: Actually, from what I understand, some states have “mandatory reporting laws” for such cases, and NOT reporting (statutory rape) is illegal.

George never responded to that last comment. At first I was confused about whether the guy doing the ultrasounds would be the one to report a situation with, say, a 13-year-old girl impregnated by a 32-year-old guy, but later on, George makes it pretty clear that he would be one of the people doing that. This is George describing in more detail his role at the clinic:

The doctor owns the business itself but I am the administrator. I register patients, I translate for the doctor, I give them the prices, I explain the procedures. I do a bit of everything. The doctor does his part which is takes care of the patient medically. I take care of them mentally as well as my amazing staff.

I’ve been reading up on New York’s mandatory reporting laws, and they seem to have a loophole in the system. According to the NYCLU, a mandatory reporter is legally obligated to make a report only if the abuse is being done by a parent or caregiver, or if the parent/caregiver knows about the abuse and is allowing it to continue.

George never mentioned this loophole when asked about mandatory reporting laws, so I’m not sure that he even knows about it. Either way, I think it’s clear to most people that if a medical professional learns that a very young girl is being sexually abused by an adult predator without the parents’ knowledge, a report should be made to protect the girl, who may not know how to protect herself without endangering her life. And that report should be mandatory, or else many girls, like those going through George’s abortion clinic, won’t be protected, and the abuse will continue as soon as the abortion is complete.

Live Action on Facebook
  • ProTruth2

    I couldn’t believe this exchange:

    I couldn’t believe that “George” began running the clinic at the age of 20, or that he has participated in abortions every single day of the year for the past six years, or that pro-lifers killed a clinic doctor by bombing his plane. But he said all those things in the very same Reddit interview, so it must be true.

    a mandatory reporter is only legally obligated to make a report if the abuse is being done by a parent or caregiver, or if the parent/caregiver knows about the abuse and is allowing it to continue.

    As you no doubt know from your reading up, health care providers are legally forbidden to make a report without the minor’s consent under any other circumstances, unless the victim sustained a gunshot or stab wound that must be reported to the police or the medical records are subpoenaed. And so New York law would have to be substantially revised before George–if he is real–could report the abuse.

    • Peter

      When did the article say they had to report it to the police? You’ve made an assumption, and consequentially read the wrong section of the cited webpage. If you had kept reading, you would have found this:

      “8. Must a hospital or health care provider report the rape or rape crisis treatment of a minor to a child protective services agency?

      Generally, no. Confidentiality means that a provider also may not report the crime or treatment to outside agencies, unless otherwise required by law.30

      However, when the provider has reasonable cause to believe that a minor patient is abused or neglected, the provider must report this suspicion to the State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. New York law limits child abuse and neglect to those offenses committed by a parent or other person responsible for a child’s care, or where the caregiver allowed abuse or neglect to occur. Thus, a report would be proper where the minor was sexually abused by a parent or legal guardian, or where a parent or legal guardian should have known about the abuse and did not take steps to prevent or stop it.”

      This section is referring to the 1973 Child Protective Services Act, which mandates that certain professionals are obligated to report abuse (rape would be sexual abuse) by a parent or caregiver if they have reasonable cause to suspect it, or if the parent or caregiver informs them that the child is being abused. New York Social Services Law Article 6 Title 6 section 413.1a:

      “The following persons and officials are required to report or cause a report to be made in accordance with this title when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child coming before them in their professional or official capacity is an abused or maltreated child, or when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is an abused or maltreated child where the parent, guardian, custodian or other person legally responsible for such child comes before them in their professional or official capacity and states from personal knowledge facts, conditions or circumstances which, if correct, would render the child an abused or maltreated child.”

      It then goes on to list those mandated to report, the very first being physicians; but also includes “hospital personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care or treatment of persons.”

      • ProTruth2

        You’ve made an assumption, and consequentially read the wrong section of
        the cited webpage.

        No. I was curious, and so I explored several sites with relevant information. I’m not quite seeing the point of the quotations you list above: they demonstrate the points that I have already made, namely, that medical professionals in NY are legally prohibited from reporting the rape of a minor by anyone other than her parent or legal guardian, with relatively few exceptions.

  • Pingback: New York abortion clinic administrator admits to ignoring statutory rape

  • Lesley

    This comment is actually in response to that post you wrote on lifenews.com http://www.lifenews.com/2012/10/28/we-dont-have-to-call-president-obama-names-to-oppose-him/

    I didn’t know anywhere else to comment on it.

    Anyway, I agree with most of the article. I don’t think name-calling and insults are the most effective ways to make a change.

    There’s one statement in your article that I disagree with, though. “This guy is implying that President Obama himself is murdering citizens. This charge is worse than ridiculous.”

    You’re right that Obama isn’t directly ending the lives of fetuses like an abortionist would. Or maybe you meant that commenter is implying that Obama is killing born citizens, since I suppose someone who isn’t yet born on American soil is technically a citizen yet. Obama is still an accomplice to murder, though. Maybe Obama doesn’t actually want people to be killed under his policies, but whether he means to or not, people *are* dying under his policies. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it doesn’t matter what Obama intends. *He is still an accomplice to murder.*

    Does that make name-calling and insults okay? No. Maybe those insults make me feel a tad sorry for him, but I feel more sorry for the people who are dying under his policies. A fetus’s life is worth as much as, say, my mom’s. If my mom died as an indirect result of his policies, I’d hold him partly responsible.