I assume most readers are aware of a video, created during a “sting” operation by anti-abortion activists posing as medical research buyers and released on Tuesday, which apparently shows Dr. Deborah Nucatola, a Senior Director of Medical Services for Planned Parenthood, discussing how body parts of aborted babies are harvested and sold for $30 to $100 each, depending on which part and how difficult the extraction procedure is.
Dr. Nucatela calmly, indifferently dispenses this information while sitting with the “medical research buyers” in a Los Angeles restaurant, downing a glass of wine and a salad
Let me start by saying that, when Planned Parenthood supporters point out that the video was taken by a group opposed to its existence and that what has been released is edited (to a small fraction of its two hour length), therefore Dr. Nucatola might have made additional comments which would change our understanding of who the body parts were given to and how they were used, they have a point.
The video is certainly edited down from its original size. And in the absence of knowing its entire contents we cannot be certain of whether the full context of Dr. Nucatola\’s comments were left as-is, or altered. Please note that I am not saying this is what happened, I am saying that, as of now, we don\’t know one way or the other.
But what we do know is that Planned Parenthood has developed a cottage industry of selling parts of babies – much the way a chop shop takes cars apart and sells their fenders, bumpers and engines.
This excerpt, from Sarah Ferris\’s article at thehill.com, should give you a pretty good idea of what is being done by Planned Parenthood…and how the organization\’s supporters are trying to put a positive spin on it:
The remarks by Planned Parenthood\’s medical director in the video are shockingly candid.
While sipping wine in a Los Angeles restaurant, she describes “crushing” the fetus in a way that preserves its organs for researchers. She also describes the growing demand for liver, lungs and “intact” hearts.
Democrats have said there\’s no evidence that the group is violating federal laws from her remarks, though none of them told The Hill they had seen the video.
“Planned Parenthood is actually allowed, is my understanding, for scientific research, to use fetal tissue, and that is not illegal,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus who said she had spoken to Planned Parenthood leadership.
When asked about Republicans\’ planned investigations into Planned Parenthood, Schakowsky said she wanted an investigation into the Center for Medical Progress, which she called “a phony company.”
Allow me to make a few points:
-Democrats say there\’s no evidence of lawbeaking on the video…but none said they had seen it.
-Rep. Schakowsky is correct that fetal tissue can be used for scientific research – provided it is not sold for profit. However;
-This video – the one she did not see – has Dr. Nucatola making comments which sound very much like there is a for-profit motive.
-And, most importantly, Dr. Nucatola is not talking about the sale of “fetal tissue”. She is talking about the sale of intact, formed body parts.
Planned Parenthood, I am sure, would like the public to believe that, for the most part, all it does in an abortion is get rid of some lump of fetal glop.
But the fact that Dr. Nucatola describes, in gruesome detail (to me, not to her, as she sips her wine and eats her salad), the extraction procedure to keep those body parts intact, puts things in a dramatically different perspective – one that Planned Parenthood and its supporters clearly do not want us to think about.
I don\’t know what the fallout from this video ultimately will be. But, given that Planned Parenthood receives hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars each year – another little factoid I\’m sure it would like the general public to be unaware of – at the very least, I think it is necessary, even imperative, that congress investigate this matter.
It is a felony to sell aborted body parts for profit. If that is what Planned Parenthood is doing, then the people involved – maybe Dr. Deborah Nucatola included – have to answer for it. Even if Democrats wish they didn\’t.
Claiming Planned Parenthood is innocent without bothering to look at the video, and complaining that it was created by a group opposed to the organization (as if anyone else would create it) doesn\’t answer a thing.
