Abortion Controversy Erupts Around Planned Parenthood and the Fetal Tissue Trade
Reenergizing the debate surrounding abortion, on July 14, 2015, an activist group called the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released the first in a series of undercover video recordings that it says shows Planned Parenthood doctors illegally selling tissue specimens from aborted fetuses for profit. Since the release of the first video, the CMP has released three additional undercover videos.
On July 28, the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a restraining order preventing the CMP from releasing any new undercover video containing officials from StemExpress, a company that obtains fetal tissue specimens from Planned Parenthood and then provides those specimens to researchers. The order remains in effect until an Aug. 19 court hearing.
In the complaint filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, StemExpress accused CMP of purposely editing the first two videos it released “in a way to paint the [Planned Parenthood] doctors in a negative and factually-misleading light,” and said that CMP was planning on releasing more “false and misleadingly-edited video designed to further harm StemExpress’s business and subject StemExpress’s employees to additional harassment.” The complaint also accused the CMP of invasion of privacy, receipt of stolen property, and a number of other illegal actions.
According to Troy Newman, a board member of CMP and the President of the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue, the videos show that Planned Parenthood “is selling aborted baby body parts for fees that exceed their actual costs and is modifying abortion procedures in order to produce organs that can be sold all in clear violation of State and Federal laws.”
Under federal law it is illegal for companies to profit from the sale of fetal tissue samples, however, companies are allowed to charge for costs incurred such as processing and shipping.
In response to the accusations, Planned Parenthood spokesman Eric Ferrero stated that “at several of our health centers, we help patients who want to donate tissue for scientific research, and we do this just like every other high-quality health care provider does — with full, appropriate consent from patients and under the highest ethical and legal standards… there is no financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned Parenthood.”
The controversy over the videos has rekindled public debate surrounding abortion and the federal funding of Planned Parenthood.
Source: procon.org
