YouTube censors ‘racist donor’ Planned Parenthood videos

Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 4, 2008 / 02:21 am

The internet video sharing site YouTube has removed four well-viewed videos which criticize Planned Parenthood, including some featuring Planned Parenthood fundraisers agreeing to process a donation from a donor pretending to have racist motives. The move has prompted Live Action, the pro-life student organization which produced the videos, to charge YouTube with censorship.

The Live Action videos, some of which were the focus of national media attention in the past year, were removed over the past two weeks on the grounds they contain unspecified “inappropriate content.”

“These four videos have received over 160,000 YouTube views in total with the oldest video having been public on YouTube for over seven months,” said Live Action Media Director David Schmidt. “Why are these videos being removed now?" he asked.

"It is discriminatory for YouTube to selectively censor material that clearly does not contain inappropriate content," stated Live Action President Lila Rose in a press release. "We will continue to apply pressure on YouTube until it restores the videos."

In the past, YouTube has censored other pro-life videos. In February 2008 an American Life League video which criticized a Planned Parenthood advertisement was removed on the grounds it had “inappropriate content,” though the original Planned Parenthood advertisement remained posted to YouTube.

On July 2, a CNA video investigating pro-abortion activist Eve Reinhardt was censored by YouTube. After pressure from the Population Research Institute and other supporters, the video was restored on July 4.

Lila Rose told CNA in a Wednesday phone interview that YouTube still had not responded to their inquiries as of Wednesday morning.

“We need to keep those videos up to expose the truth about Planned Parenthood,” she said.

The censored videos are viewable at http://www.liveactionfilms.org/youtube/