(JUNEAU)- The Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, and Social Services Committee promised Wednesday, to hold hearings in response to evidence that Planned Parenthood clinics and other abortion resource facilities in Alaska have failed to comply with a state law that requires health care providers to report any suspected cases of child abuse or neglect, including sexual abuse.

Sen. Fred Dyson, (R-Eagle River) made the pledge during a press conference following introduction of evidence by the state on Wednesday in the lawsuit Planned Parenthood vs. Alaska.

"The evidence introduced today shows that Planned Parenthood employees have been deliberately ignoring state law," said Dyson. "They are required to report suspected cases of child sex abuse, including cases of statutory rape in which adult men are sexually exploiting girls in their early teens."

The new evidence stems from a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood against the State of Alaska in 1997 that challenges the Legislature's enactment of a law, which requires parental or judicial consent before a doctor can perform an abortion on a girl under the age of 17. The Alaska Supreme Court ordered Superior Court Judge Sen Tan to hold an evidentiary hearing in the lawsuit, which is now entering its third week.

Dyson noted that the state's attorneys, who are defending the parental consent law, were allowed by Judge Sen Tan to introduce audio tapes of several different phone calls made by a young woman to Planned Parenthood facilities in Alaska. In the phone calls, the young woman purports to be a 13-year-old who has been impregnated by her 22-year-old boyfriend, and is seeking an abortion. The transcripts reveal clinic workers pledging to the child that they will not disclose the occurrence of the apparent case of statutory rape. The employees also encourage the girl not to tell anyone about the age of her boyfriend.

"I have reviewed the transcripts of these phone calls and they infuriate me," said Dyson. "If these transcripts faithfully represent the substance of the conversations, then it shows a callous disregard for children and for the laws of the state of Alaska."

Dyson says he intends to explore every option the state has at its disposal to bring providers into compliance with the law.

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* Note - Transcripts of the phone calls are available in the Senate Majority Press Office.