'Intact fetal cadavers' make the most money

Less than 24 hours after U.S. senators failed to advance legislation defunding Planned Parenthood, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released its fifth undercover video providing more evidence supporting allegations the abortion giant illegally profits from fetal tissue sales.

The video features Melissa Ferrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC), discussing a fetal tissue contract with actors posing as buyers. Ferrell boasts PPGC’s research department is the largest in the country—larger than any of the other Planned Parenthood affiliates combined. And in one clip, she tells the buyers tissue sales from her department contribute significantly to the affiliate’s finances.

She also indicates in the footage that the affiliate’s abortionists will willingly alter abortion procedures so tissue buyers can procure intact specimens—whole babies. But the higher quality parts require a higher price. The higher price could be explained as “additional time cost, administrative burden,” Ferrell says.

“If we alter our process and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, then we can make it part of the budget that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this,” she said. “It’s all just a matter of line items.”

During a July 29 Texas Senate hearing, Abby Johnson, a former PPGC facility director and now pro-life activist, estimated the affiliate made as much as $120,000 per month selling fetal body parts. The sale of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by a fine of up to $500,000 and 10 years in prison. Federal law also prohibits altering the abortion procedure to procure tissue.

“Planned Parenthood’s system-wide conspiracy to evade the law and make money off of aborted fetal tissue is now undeniable,” said CMP project leader David Daleiden. “Anyone who watches these videos knows that Planned Parenthood is engaged in barbaric practices and human rights abuses that must end.”

Later in today’s video, the actors viewed samples of fetal tissue in the Houston-based facility’s lab. Planned Parenthood workers presented the shredded remains of an aborted baby—a twin—near 18 weeks gestation. Picking through the mangled tissue and placenta, the workers noted clearly identifiable parts like a leg or a hand and arm, presenting various sellable parts.

“Any idea why the other affiliates in Texas think [fetal tissue sales are] illegal?” Ferrell asked one worker.

“Really?” she answered.

Though the Senate bill to defund Planned Parenthood failed yesterday, pro-lifers plan a longterm fight to revoke the $500 million in taxpayer funds funneled to Planned Parenthood. Some GOP lawmakers have said they will oppose any spending legislation this fall that includes funding for Planned Parenthood. And Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, said the videos still necessitate an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s practices.

“Office holders must do more to examine and investigate how Planned Parenthood has managed to earn more than a billion dollars each year as well as diving in to the legal issues surrounding their grisly business plan of selling abortions to vulnerable women and trafficking in infant remains,” Yoest said. “Their inhumanity appears very profitable.”