On January 14, 2019, YouTube removed an 8-year-old video from pro-life channel Live Action for alleged “sexual content or nudity.” However, the video actually exposes a Planned Parenthood facility in New Jersey aiding and abetting actors posing as sex traffickers of minors and contained nothing of the sort.
The video features an undercover team posing as a pimp and a prostitute looking for STD testing. The man explains they are involved in sex work and says he is concerned he may have contracted something from one of the girls in his employ but is not sure how to go about testing because some of the girls are underage.
“Some of them are young… like 15, 14…”, he tells the Planned Parenthood employee, who later identifies herself as a counselor.
The counselor advises the pimp how to avoid mandatory reporting laws, saying, “Minors are always accepted without parental consent. The only thing that you do have to be careful is if they are a minor we are obligated if we hear any certain information to kind of report… we want as little information as possible.”
“Mainly 14 and under… 14 and under we have to report… once they go to 15 then there’s a little bit more play room. So long as they just lie and say 15,” the counselor continues to explain, cautioning the pimp to lie to the nurse practitioner.
“What if they need an abortion though?” the pimp asks.
“Oh, that’s a completely different story… You never got this from me, just to make our lives easier, if they’re 14 and under just send them right there if they need an abortion,” the Planned Parenthood employee says, marking something on a piece of paper and handing it to the man. “Their protocols aren’t as strict as ours.”
It is unclear what YouTube considered “sexually provocative” in this undercover footage.
According to Kelli at Live Action, an appeal was made, reviewed, and ultimately rejected by YouTube’s review team.
“Upon review, we’ve determined that it violates our guidelines… YouTube isn’t the place for sexually provocative content,” the notification from YouTube sent to Live Action reads.
“Instead of helping Live Action to expose the way abortion industry leader Planned Parenthood has shown willingness to aid and abet sex traffickers, YouTube is choosing to censor this information,” writes Kelli.
Since Live Action initially reported the story of YouTube’s censorship on January 14, 2019, and despite YouTube’s review team upholding the decision to censor the video, it has since been restored to Live Action’s channel. YouTube has provided no explanation for the change.
Live Action’s media contact Alison Centofante told LifeSiteNews, “While we are happy this video was reinstated, we are concerned with YouTube’s recent decision to suppress pro-life videos.”
