Abortion center assures man it won’t report statutory rape

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‘We don’t need to put anything on your record’: Abortion center assures man it won’t report statutory rape
A LifeSiteNews investigator posing as a 22-year-old who impregnated a 15-year-old was assured the facility would help abort the baby and not involve police.

TORONTO, January 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – An employee of the Canadian abortion center Women’s Care Clinic told an undercover LifeSiteNews investigator posing as a 22-year-old who committed statutory rape to impregnate his 15-year-old girlfriend that he shouldn’t worry about legal trouble.

After the LifeSiteNews investigator began to express concerns about police involvement because the girl he claimed to impregnate was underage, the abortion worker assured him, “We don’t need to put anything on your record.”

The undercover investigative call highlights gaping holes in Canadian law, and laws in other countries, that do not always require physicians to report statutory rape to the police.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, youth aged 14 or 15 “can consent to sexual activity with a person who is less than five years older.” Sexual activity with someone five years older or more is considered to lack “valid consent,” and therefore legally constitutes an instance of sexual assault.

In Ontario, there is a duty to report abuse, including sexual abuse, of a child to the Children's Aid Society (CAS) if the child “is or seems to be under 16.”

However, Canada’s Criminal Code also states, “A physician does not have a duty to report a criminal sexual offense to the police.”

Canadian law considers reporting such a sexual offense a “breach of confidentiality” unless the “mature minor” patient consents, or the patient’s legal guardian consents.

The age of consent in the U.S. varies by state and thus statutory rape laws vary by state, although generally doctors, teachers, counselors, and those in similar positions are “mandatory reporters” and required to report suspected child abuse to authorities.

A guide to state laws on statutory rape explains, “Approximately one-half of all states require child protective services or some other human services agency to conduct the initial investigation,” while only one-fifth of states hold local law enforcement agencies responsible for conducting initial investigations.

The guide emphasizes that, “Generally, law enforcement is responsible for conducting investigations into criminal acts, whereas child protective services and human services agencies are primarily concerned with the well-being of the victim.”

The Women’s Care Clinic in northwest Toronto, where LifeSiteNews conducted its undercover call, is an abortion mill where pro-life activist Mary Wagner has been repeatedly arrested for entering to speak to women intending on aborting their children. Wagner is well known for her pro-life apostolate, which involves approaching women in abortion facilities to give them a rose while gently encouraging them not to abort their children. She has spent a total of six years in jail for her efforts to help save unborn children. Her apostolate inspired the Red Rose Rescue movement in the U.S.

American abortion centers are notorious for refusing to report cases of statutory rape. In its “Sexual Abuse Cover Up” investigation, the pro-life group Live Action “found eight Planned Parenthood facilities in six different states were willing to cover up sexual abuse, including disregarding mandatory reporting laws of suspected statutory rape. Facilities also provided instructions on how to circumvent parental consent laws.”

It also caught Planned Parenthood aiding and abetting pimps who said they needed help obtaining abortions for underage sex trafficking victims.
Live Action also released a seven-part investigative report of what it describes as “systemic cover-up of child sexual abuse” at Planned Parenthood.

In 2019, 52-year-old Florida man was arrested for raping a young woman, aged 21 at the time of his arrest, more than 500 times since the victim was 12 years old. According to the police report, the man took his victim to have an estimated seven abortions at clinics in Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. it is unknown whether the abortion centers ever reported suspected sexual abuse.

The pro-life group Operation Rescue has also extensively documented the American abortion industry’s refusal to report child sex abuse.