O'Reilly Looks at Planned Parenthood Racist Phone Call Controversy

By Brad Wilmouth (Bio | Archive)
April 26, 2008 - 23:18 ET

Friday's The O'Reilly Factor on FNC gave attention to revelations which first surfaced last February that employees of some Planned Parenthood clinics expressed a willingness to accept donations from callers who expressed the blatantly racist motivation of wanting to see more black children aborted, with a couple of the Planned Parenthood employees even seeming to express agreement with the racist statements. O'Reilly interviewed conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham about the attention she has given to the issue on her show, and played a clip of one of the phone calls. (Transcript follows)

In February, a conservative student publication at UCLA, The Advocate, revealed that it had called a number of Planned Parenthood clinics pretending to be interested in donating money to the organization while feigning a racist intention of wanting to reduce the number of black children. O'Reilly played one clip:

AUDIO OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE DONOR: Hello, Autumn. I'm interested in making a donation today.

AUDIO OF FEMALE PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Fantastic!

DONOR: I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group. Would that be possible?

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Absolutely.

DONOR: Like the black community, for example?

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Certainly.

DONOR: Okay, so the abortion could be -- you know, I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Absolutely.

DONOR: And, you know, we don't, we just think, you know, the less black kids out there the better.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Haha, understandable, understandable.

Another notable clip not played by O'Reilly, but which can be heard as part of a montage of clips posted on YouTube by The Advocate, conveys that another Planned Parenthood employee seemed to convey agreement with the racist sentiments espoused by the caller:

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: We can definitely designate it for an African-American.

DONOR: Great, great. I'm really excited because I face trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids to be disadvantaged, you know-

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Yeah.

DONOR: -against blacks. The less, the less blacks out there, the better, so.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Yeah, yeah. It's a strange time, for sure. Hahaha.

Ingraham also mentioned the week's widely ignored protest against Planned Parenthood by the National Pro-Life Black Union. Ingraham: "There is a mass slaughter going on in the United States, in the eyes of many African-Americans. I mean, the group the National Pro-life Black Union, they were out there at Planned Parenthood this week, and they were making their voices heard. They did a silent prayer vigil. They're urging members of the Black Congressional Caucus to get involved."

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the segment from the Friday April 25 The O'Reilly Factor:

BILL O'REILLY: Now you've been doing it on your show for a number of weeks a controversy about Planned Parenthood. And in the controversy, a pro-life group has called up a number of Planned Parenthood organizations. And remember, I want everybody to understand that Planned Parenthood gets about $350 million taxpayer dollars a year. And this pro-life group has been calling them up in a subterfuge. They haven't identified themselves, a pro-life group, trying to arrange abortions in black neighborhoods. Let's roll the tape.

AUDIO OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE DONOR: Hello, Autumn. I'm interested in making a donation today.

AUDIO OF FEMALE PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Fantastic!

DONOR: I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group. Would that be possible?

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Absolutely.

DONOR: Like the black community, for example?

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Certainly.

DONOR: Okay, so the abortion could be -- you know, I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Absolutely.

DONOR: And, you know, we don't, we just think, you know, the less black kids out there the better.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD EMPLOYEE: Haha, understandable, understandable.

O'REILLY: Wow.

INGRAHAM: Unbelievable, Bill.

O'REILLY: So Planned Parenthood is embarrassed, and does the story go any further than that?

INGRAHAM: Well, there were a few other calls made. And I believe a UCLA pro-life group is responsible for these phone calls. And, Bill, it's so shocking on so many levels. Number one, the fact that a number of Planned Parenthood offices, the people who answer the phones are so interested in getting the money, getting the donations that they completely look aside from the fact that the person wants to donate the money clearly has racist intentions. So they're looking aside from that.

The second thing about this, Bill, is that Planned Parenthood last year had a budget about a total of $1 billion. And as you pointed out, a third of that from the federal government under Title X. That money is not supposed to go for any abortions, but it is supposed to go for education.

O'REILLY: Have you brought this phone call to the attention of any black leaders? I mean, it would be interesting to see what Barack Obama would think about it or somebody like that.

INGRAHAM: Somebody has to ask him about it first, Bill. I mean, when you get Barack Obama on the show, I know you're going to ask him that and many other tough questions.

O'REILLY: I would, but look, his abortion record is very liberal, Barack Obama's, the Senator, very liberal abortion record, so I've got other questions on him. And I think it's a shocking situation. But let's be fair, Laura. Some idiot who answers the phone at Fox News might say something stupid, too. Does that reflect on me? No.

INGRAHAM: Well, I don't know, but Bill, there is a mass slaughter going on in the United States, in the eyes of many African-Americans. I mean, the group the National Pro-life Black Union, they were out there at Planned Parenthood this week, and they were making their voices heard. They did a silent prayer vigil. They're urging members of the Black Congressional Caucus to get involved.

O'REILLY: Pro-life people come in all colors. And they believe that there's a holocaust going on. And then the pro-choice people are more, they don't, I mean-

INGRAHAM: But Bill, it's beyond pro-life and pro-choice. This is just common sense at this point, okay? For Planned Parenthood to get 300 plus million dollars from the U.S. taxpayers when, in fact, they profit from the abortion procedure. Meanwhile, foreign clinics don't come under the same rules, to me that makes very little sense.

And I think people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, I mean, they care about whether, you know, we're losing a third, a third of all abortions are of black babies in this country. That's a horrifying statistic. And I would hope that people like them offer a little bit of leadership on this, really.

O'REILLY: All right. Laura, everybody. We appreciate it. And we'll see you next Friday.

INGRAHAM: Thanks, Bill.

—Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


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If libs were consistent

April 26, 2008 - 23:27 ET by nkviking75

If libs were consistent, Planned Parenthood would be labelled as a racist organization and there'd be cries to cut its federal funding.  Instead, they'll be looking for a rug large enough to sweep this under. 

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

It is sad

April 26, 2008 - 23:51 ET by AzRenegade

It  is very sad. Appalling in fact. The loony left will scream racism at a glass of water if it sits in front of a republican, but when a genuine racist act happens to fall on an organization the left props up, the whole thing is hidden from the light of day like a vampire's coffin.

The fact remains that minorities are being aborted at far higher rates than the population they represent. Where are the cries of racism and genocide for Planned Parenthood? Sharpton and Jackson and Wright are insouciant charlatans who are destroying their communities.  

AzRenegade

The whole organization was founded on lies . . .

April 27, 2008 - 00:24 ET by Galvanic

Heck, most feminists can't seem to come to grips with the fact that Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist.  If they would openly discuss that fact with the generations of young women they hope to recruit, there'd be some changes at the top of the movement.

For those who don't know

April 27, 2008 - 04:05 ET by DontFeedTheTrolls

For those who don't know who Margaret Sanger was.

D

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

Galvanic and DFTT... I

April 27, 2008 - 13:52 ET by bigtimer

Galvanic and DFTT...

I could not agree more, these are great examples and you are both exactly right IMHO.

Btw...thanks for that great link and great info. DFTT.

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill

Abortion is capital

April 27, 2008 - 00:24 ET by Norto

Abortion is capital punishment without a trial and no chance of appeal. It never should have risen to the level of judicial discourse in the first place. I truly believe anyone who votes to kill babies will go to Hell, not a chance of an appeal.

But I am not the Judge.

This story is old enough, that I do not doubt all leaders on both sides know of it and have chosen to do nothing. This is a crime that goes from the top  down. Given the choice, our POTUS has fiddled while Rome is burning. 

I'm not a Bill O'Reilly Fan

April 27, 2008 - 01:02 ET by geoff.gale

But I applaud his bringing this issue to the forefront. As everyone else has pointed out, PP is a dirty, scummy organisation with a track record of lies and deceit. They've been complicit in a nearly century-long assault on families, especially black and poor families.

Planned Parenthood are the fangs and claws of the otherwise genteel and well-mannered upper crust. They are living evidence that humanity can never completely out-evolve its beastly side. Modern liberal elites preach that they want peace at all costs, that the death penalty is just morally wrong, then come October, they tick off the Planned Parenthood box on their United Way card for their annual donation with a smug sense of self-satisfaction, never once connecting their actions with the brutal reality of abortion.

All they really proove is that violence is OK, if it's twice or three times removed. Muffy shan't have her manicure sullied with the blood of the innocents, at least not directly.


"All that is necessary for the trimuph of evil is that good men do nothing."

- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

www.conservativeboot...

Situational Ethics

April 27, 2008 - 03:53 ET by harry flashman

Now, see - I just commented negatively on another thread about Sharia Investment and Banking in the US and here I am thinking that we ought to allow the Sharia Courts to deal with the abortion issue en toto.

Ahhh, to allow ourselves to cherry pick ethics and morals.

If the liberals think that Islam has the equivalent moral relevance of  Judeo-Christian tenets then they should have no problem allowing Sharia to mediate and adjudicate here. 

Beheadings to the right, please - floggings to the Left, limb amputations to the center. Move along now, nothing to see here. 

This was a set-up and O'Reilly knows it

April 27, 2008 - 13:02 ET by Guy Arthur Thomas

This was a set-up. The person receiving the call could not have anticipated the extreme movement of conversation and personally I believe her response was one of surprise and patronization. Yes, it doesn't present the PP person in a good light but O'Reilly's attempting to turn this into a deliberately malicious response is deliberately malicious on HIS PART.

I am no friend of PP but O'Reilly is a DEVIL chaser and looks to find demons to hide his own. In this case the caller led the PP person and his last comment was probably so unexpected that the PP person reacted in appeasment to the extremist dialog by the anti-abortion caller.

Next Please! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal.

Agreed, BO'R is no hero

April 27, 2008 - 13:32 ET by geoff.gale

I agree with you that the phone call was a setup, Laura Ingraham said as much. It was one of a series of calls made to PP's around the country. What's astounding is that someone with the title of VP would be so greedy for money that she'd go along with the whole premise. If you read the transcript of the call, it's apparent that the PP staffer was afforded ample opportunities to interject objections to the race baiting. She didn't. That much is clear. No one except her can speak to her mental/emotional reactions, but honestly, how much intestinal fortitude does it take to speak up and say something like "I'm not comfortable discussing this"?

O'Reilly was just using the issue for ratings - it's commercial TV, that's what they do. I suggest you do what I do - not watch!

His inherent evil, however, does nothing to alter the greed and poor judgement of the PP VP.


"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

www.conservativeboot...

Both calls, however

April 27, 2008 - 13:47 ET by Guy Arthur Thomas

Both calls, however, were started and maintained with the tone that they wanted to HELP blacks specifically by donoting to their abortion needs (yes abortion for many is not helping anyone but that isn't the context of the argument or this article). The tone was one of helping. The revelation that the the motivation was racist in trying to fund abortions for blacks so they could help reduce the number of blacks didn't occur until the end of the conversations. Yes a rebutt could have been made but I still strongly suggest that it was a matter of being taken by surprise at the blatant comments at the end of the call that produced the nominal and obviously patronizing responses.

Maybe if the anit-abortion callers would have engaged the PP people longer with more pointed questions and gave them time to compose themselves to realize the need for a rebutt on racist remarks we would have heard whether these representative of PP genuinely feel this way or not or are ambivilent as long as money is being offered.

But the way the calls were structured no such reality is afforded us regarding their true disposition and GOLLY GEE we're left with DEMAGOGUE O'Reilly's speculation? No thanks.

Hit and runs are for LIBERALS and that is just what these anti-abortionist did. The only point they proved is this particular group of anti-abortionists are disingenuine and that people often react in surprise with comments to cover their surprise and is no real gauge of a reasoned and thoughtful response.

Next Please! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal.

1920s

April 27, 2008 - 18:45 ET by okiehawk44

Planned Parenthood has been raising money since the 1920s Guy, wouldn't you think that in all the intervening years they would have perfected responses to statements like this? You are saying that the PP volunteer on the call was caught off-guard. Don't believe it.

1920s

April 27, 2008 - 18:46 ET by okiehawk44

Planned Parenthood has been raising money since the 1920s Guy, wouldn't you think that in all the intervening years they would have perfected responses to statements like this? You are saying that the PP volunteer on the call was caught off-guard. Don't believe it.

→ You're kidding Guy?

April 27, 2008 - 18:59 ET by Cool Arrow

"The tone was one of helping." - Guy Arthur Thomas 

the actor stated, “the less black kids out there, the better.”

OK, In what world is this considered a "helping tone"?  Never mind . . . I know.  

♣ a seal

Not to put too fine a point on it

April 28, 2008 - 17:09 ET by geoff.gale

Both calls, however, were started and maintained with the tone that they wanted to HELP blacks specifically by donoting to their abortion needs (yes abortion for many is not helping anyone but that isn't the context of the argument or this article).

Whether the potential offer was to help blacks or hurt blacks, the phone call should have triggered an immediate responce along the lines of "it is the policy of Planned Parenthood of whatever, not to provide services on the basis of race, age, skin colour, age or religious background" (sexual orientation would be added in several states). Athough PP is a private, not-for-profit 503(c), they take a boatload of money from the feds evey year- around $300M, if memory serves. The tradeoff for taking that money is that they have to comply with all sorts of federal legislation, especially with regard to civil/equal rights. In general, the rules are the same for taking money as for doling out services. It would have been a lot different if the caller had offered to pay money for services for a particular black client or two - that's acceptable. I spent about fifteen years managing public sector programmes in a community mental health setting, and another twenty years in HR, both public sector and private sector. I know from experience that this is drilled into staff frequently in orientation and training, through supervision and through quality control monitoring. Agencies such as PP cannot afford neither the legal bills nor the bad press that would/could arise from such blatant discrimination.

Agreed that the calls were setups; agreed that O'Reilly is a bottom-feeder; agreed pre-emptively that there are state and federal programmes that provide funds/services for specific special groups (although those programmes are generally colour-blind; the definition of "special" is usually related to age, income or state of residence).

None of those statements relieve anyone working at an agency that takes federal support of the responsibility of affirmatively telling potential donors that they cannot discriminate by targeting donations for any ethnic, religious or age group . Whatever that staff person thought is irrelevant - it's not a discussion that she should be holding in the first place. Especially if the staff person is a VP. No excuses accepted for someone at that level. If they worked at my agency, that would be an immediate terminable offence, and I wouldn't worry one bit about an unfair termination lawsuit either.

My point is that the discussion was a problem long before it got to the nasty gotcha at the end. The PP staff had an obligation, at the first mention of race, to clarify the policy of the agency. As I said early on - it was the greed of the VP that got them the notoriety. She thought she was going to get that much closer to making her numbers for the month/quarter/year and she stopped thinking. In the professional world, it's that kind of lapse that can be career damaging or even ending.


"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

www.conservativeboot...

Once again

April 27, 2008 - 15:38 ET by brerol

Once again O'Reilly is bringing up a legit issue that is being ignored by just about everyone else in the media. Considering race is a big part of this issue it is a wonder why the msm has ignored it. Fair question to ask whether abortion trumps race.

As A Republican And a Californian I'm Confused

April 28, 2008 - 04:13 ET by theworminator

I've always been confused on the positions taken by the various sides in the abortion debate. I've always thought the sides got switched, now I won't rant on about my own views unless somebody really wants to know them. However from the few clips of phone calls i've heard you have people who work for a non profit agreeing with people just to get thier money. I'm not sure if that's racist or not it just seems like young people answering phones grubbing for money. Or maybe it's just me.