Is There Another Bogus Undercover Video Attacking Planned Parenthood?
Another zealous pro life outfit has released a shady undercover video that contends that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted baby parts.
Dare I say that there's another pro-life/conservative video expose out there purporting that Planned Parenthood is into the human trafficking of aborted baby parts.
An undercover video is circulating from a group calling itself the Center for Medical Progress, which purports to show a Planned Parenthood employee discussing the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses. In a statement, PP says the video is false and portrays a deeply misleading portrait of their practice of donating fetal tissue. False allegations that abortion clinics “sell” aborted fetuses have circulated for years.
We first began seeing the video on anti-abortion websites Tuesday morning, although it’s still unclear who the “Center for Medical Progress” is. This is their only video; they list their contact person as David Daleiden, who’s written a handful of anti-abortion columns for Live Action and the Weekly Standard.
The video opens with a clip from a 2000 episode of 20/20, then transitions into what it says is Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the Senior Director of Medical Services for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discussing the sale of aborted fetuses. The YouTube description says she was talking to actors posing as executives from a “human biologics” company.
“We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact,” Nucatola says...read on
Obviously, I was more than a little skeptical about these claims after hearing about them, especially since there's not much information about Daleiden online and the very James O'Keefe nature of the scheme. Oh, wait...it appears that the leader of Center for Medical Progress is actually a friend of James O'Keefe acording to Snopes. Charles Johnson uncovered some more troubling info about this story.
The usual wingnut suspects chimed in immediately like Bobby Jindal, who's looking to rise up the polls so he can get into the GOP debates called for an investigation.
Today's video of a Planned Parenthood official discussing the systematic harvesting and trafficking of human body parts is shocking and gruesome. This same organization is seeking to open an abortion clinic in New Orleans. I have instructed Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals to conduct an immediate investigation into this alleged evil and illegal activity and to not issue any licenses until this investigation is complete. I am also asking the FBI to assist DHH in investigating this alleged criminal activity by this organization."
Planned Parenthood responded to these allegations here:
In health care, patients sometimes want to donate tissue to scientific research that can help lead to medical breakthroughs, such as treatments and cures for serious diseases. Women at Planned Parenthood who have abortions are no different. 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. In some instances, actual costs, such as the cost to transport tissue to leading research centers, are reimbursed, which is standard across the medical field.
“A well funded group established for the purpose of damaging Planned Parenthood’s mission and services has promoted a heavily edited, secretly recorded videotape that falsely portrays Planned Parenthood’s participation in tissue donation programs that support lifesaving scientific research. Similar false accusations have been put forth by opponents of abortion services for decades. These groups have been widely discredited and their claims fall apart on closer examination, just as they do in this case.”
We all know that the truth never stopped radical pro-lifers before and the Andrew Breitbart nature of these videos is out front and center.
Cosmopolitan's Robin Marty has a good response piece:
I've read the emails. I've watched the short-version video. I've read the website and the other anti-abortion action groups' press releases. I've even poked through all of the primary sources posted so far in the "Document Vault."
Now, frankly, I'm just going to yawn...read on