This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A series of suspicious incidents at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country has led the group to believe they have been targeted in an undercover sting operation by anti-abortionists.

Clinics for the healthcare provider have reported an escalation in so-called "hoax visits", in which female clients ask leading questions about sex selection abortions, in interviews they believe are being secretly recorded in a ploy to discredit the organisation.

The increase in the suspicious incidences at clinics has led to concern at the organisation that it is part of a national propaganda campaign against the group.

It has led to a counter-PR campaign by Planned Parenthood. In a statement published in the reproductive health website RHReality Check, the organisation described "secret videotaping tactics with fictitious patient scenarios and selective editing" as a tactic that opponents of reproductive health and rights had employed against the group for years.

The statement, written by Leslie Kantor and Dr Carolyn Westoff, of Planned Parenthood of America, said that more recently, one group has escalated these visits in many states.

"We anticipate that this group, likely in coordination with a broad range of anti-abortion leaders, will soon launch a propaganda campaign with the goal of discrediting Planned Parenthood, and, ultimately, furthering legislation that blocks access to basic reproductive healthcare, including birth control," the statement said.

"We can expect this propaganda campaign to further escalate the political battles over access to healthcare, rather than focus on the best ways to help women and their families get the care they need."

The statement said that from repeated questions asked in the recent hoax visits, they expected the eventual propaganda campaign to "focus on Planned Parenthood's non-judgmental discussions with the various women who posed as possible patients".

Addressing this possibility, it said that while Planned Parenthood staff offers "non-judgmental confidential care" and does not require women to justify the care they seek, it does not condone sex-selection abortions.

Gender bias was "contrary to everything our organisation works for daily in communities across the country" the organisation said.

The statement added: "As a women's rights advocate for nearly 100 years, Planned Parenthood finds the concept of sex selection deeply unsettling. Planned Parenthood does not offer sex determination services; our ultrasound services are limited to medical purposes."

When contacted by the Guardian, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood was unable to offer any further information than was in the statement and said they were not doing any interviews on the subject.

Activist group Live Action has in the past paid actors to walk into Planned Parenthood clinics and act out various controversial scenarios in "fishing" expeditions, to try to catch on tape the group's advisers doing something illegal or immoral.

In February, the Huffington Post reported that Live Action heavily edited the videos they took of Planned Parenthood clinics to falsely imply that the group is complicit in sex trafficking.

Live Action did not immediately respond to the Guardian's request for comment.