O'Reilly Looks at Planned Parenthood Racist Phone Call Controversy

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.