PROVIDENCE — Following an outcry from pro-lifers prompted by the release of a series of undercover videos over the last two months that depict officials and doctors from the nation’s largest abortion provider discussing compensation for tissue extracted from aborted fetuses, Planned Parenthood indicated Tuesday that it would no longer accept reimbursements for fetal tissue procured for use in medical research.
In a letter Tuesday to National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, signaled an immediate shift in her organization’s fetal tissue donation policy.
“In order to completely debunk the disingenuous argument that our opponents have been using — and to reveal the true political purpose of the attacks — our federation has decided, going forward, that any Planned Parenthood health center that is involved in donating tissue after an abortion for medical research will follow the model already in place at one of our two affiliates currently facilitating donations for fetal tissue research,” Richards said.
Richards said that the affiliate, which is based in Washington state, accepts no reimbursement for its expenses, even though reimbursement is fully permitted under the 1993 law.
While the outright sale of fetal tissue is illegal in the U.S., Planned Parenthood has maintained that under the law, it could charge a fee for “reasonable” services provided in procuring the tissue for research.
“Going forward, all of our health centers will follow the same policy, even it means they will not recover reimbursements permitted by the 1993 law,” she said.
She indicated the reason for the reversal is to protect her organization from “patently false claims” made by opponents of safe and legal abortion over the last two months which threaten to block Planned Parenthood from receiving federal reimbursements for providing cancer screenings and other preventative care.
The Center for Medical Progress has so far released 10 videos which it says record interactions between the staff of a fictitious medical research company and some of the highest-ranking doctors and officials of Planned Parenthood in an effort to establish a business relationship in which the Center can obtain fetal tissue for its research.
Planned Parenthood officials are observed callously discussing ranges of compensation in exchange for providing fetal tissue procured through abortions, with one official indicating her goal was to become wealthy enough to purchase a Ferrari.
But Richards said the agenda of the Center for Medical Progress and its front man David Daleiden is more concerned with depriving all clients of Planned Parenthood, and not just those who receive abortion services, of receiving necessary health care.
“The real goal of these extremists has nothing to do with our fetal tissue donation compliance process but is instead to ban abortion in the U.S. and block women from getting any health care from Planned Parenthood,” Richards said. “Today, we’re taking away their smokescreen and pushing forward with our important work on behalf of millions of women, men and young people.”
Daleiden disagrees. In a statement released Tuesday by the Center for Medical Progress, he questioned the organization’s sudden reversal.
“If the money Planned Parenthood has been receiving for baby body parts were truly legitimate ‘reimbursement,’ why cancel it?” Daleiden said.
“This proves what CMP has been saying all along — Planned Parenthood incurs no actual costs, and the payments for harvested fetal parts have always been an extra profit margin.”
Barth E. Bracy, executive director of Rhode Island Right to Life, likewise questions Planned Parenthood’s sudden change in policy.
“Much like the child who, caught red-handed, denies any wrong-doing while at the same time promising to never do it again, the statement from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the nation’s largest abortion provider, has little to no value whatsoever, other than confirming the extent of the national outrage over their well-documented atrocities and their fears of what a thorough investigation might uncover,” Bracy said.
Despite what he views as a public relations attempt to position Planned Parenthood in a more positive light in the aftermath of the release of the videos, he said the organization could change its policy yet again at any time.
“The tone of their letter is defiant and combative, giving no indication of remorse or recognition of any wrongdoing whatsoever,” Bracy said. “Instead, they audaciously attempt to portray themselves as the victims, rather than the helpless babies whose organs and body parts they have harvested and sold for profit. The obvious purpose of the PPFA letter is purely political, their first salvo of the 2016 election cycle.”
Carol Owens, director of the Diocesan Office of Life and Family and director of its Human Life Guild, said that regardless of the spin, the end does not justify the means, and seems curiously timed to curry greater acceptance of Planned Parenthood’s life-taking work just in time for the political debates.
“I am curious about one thing,” Owens said Tuesday, “do they ask women prior to the abortion if they approve of selling or donating their baby’s tissue or body part, and if they do, do they have their permission in writing? I believe this is yet another smokescreen.”
Daleiden said that the issue of how fetal tissue is dealt with following abortion procedures remains a mystery, and that its statement Tuesday is merely an admission of guilt.
“Without releasing the text of the alleged new “policy” and the exact model from their Washington affiliate, Planned Parenthood’s stunt today tells us nothing,” Daleiden said. “This only raises more serious questions about what Planned Parenthood leadership has been allowing its clinics to do with money and baby parts, and intensifies the need for Congress to pursue full auditing and oversight of Planned Parenthood’s unaccountable criminal enterprise of baby parts trafficking.”
