Under intense scrutiny by local, state, and federal agencies alike, Planned Parenthood seems to have come to terms with the fact that the truth is coming out one way or another, so they may as well be the ones to divulge the answers – couched in their pretty pink rhetoric—demanded by the American people. Whereas the abortion behemoth has ascribed to deflecting and denying the truth for decades, they have been surprisingly – shockingly, even – candid about their questionable business operations over the last few weeks.
Planned Parenthood’s newfound transparency began with a letter submitted to Congress by Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards on August 27. Richards, the daughter of late Texas Governor Ann Richards and president of Planned Parenthood for the last decade, tucked two bombshell tidbits into the letter.
1. Richards admits that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts
In her letter to Congress, Richards not only admits that Planned Parenthood sells baby body parts, but she divulges the price these tiny human organs and tissues generally fetch: around $60.
“The California affiliate receives a modest reimbursement of $60 per tissue specimen from the TPO, and the Washington affiliate receives no reimbursement,” Richards states. “The four other affiliates whose programs ended after the release of the videos received lesser but comparable amounts. The affiliate working with the research laboratory received no reimbursement. The others received reimbursements from TPOs ranging from $45 to $55 per tissue specimen.”
Center for Medical Progress director, David Daleiden, has repeatedly drawn attention to this revelation in lieu of the media who have remained mum in the face of the evidence. CMP points out a crucial fact Richards does not divulge, but which is of utmost pertinence: Planned Parenthood incurs no cost in supplying fetal body parts. As Daleiden notes, Planned Parenthood’s only time or effort spent on the tissue procurement process occurs when a staff member consents a patient prior to the abortion procedure, and this takes about ten minutes. So the notion that these remunerations exchanged per specimen (per body part) are “reimbursements” is categorically misleading. Said Daleiden:
We now know from Cecile Richards’ letter that $60 per collected tissue specimen is what will “get a toe in” to harvest baby parts at Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest. Like other TPOs, ABR handles all dissection, packaging, and shipping of fetal organs and tissues, and so it is unclear for what PPPS could be receiving “reimbursement.” This is especially suspicious given that Ms. Richards says the $60 fee is paid “per tissue specimen.” Thus, if ABR harvests a liver and a thymus, a common fetal tissue order, from an 18-week fetus aborted at the San Diego clinic, Planned Parenthood receives a total payment of $120 from that case. It stretches credulity to believe that ABR’s technician harvesting two organs from a fetus costs Planned Parenthood $120—this is a new revenue stream off of fetal tissue with no real cost to Planned Parenthood, and thus a criminal profit.
Planned Parenthood cannot be “reimbursed” for a cost they do not incur. Instead, they simply receive payment. And that is illegal. Which brings us to the next admission: Planned Parenthood executives have known about and supported the lucrative practice of fetal body parts trafficking for years.
2. Planned Parenthood leadership has always known about and supported affiliates’ involvement in trafficking fetal body parts.
In the most recent videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) executive Deb VanDerhei not only acknowledges that PPFA leadership know about the trafficking of body parts that occurs within PP affiliates, but also says she knows of independent clinics that “generate a fair amount of income doing this.”
There is no question that Planned Parenthood leaders have always been apprised of these operations. VanDerhei delineates PPFA’s approach to fetal tissue trafficking: know what is going on within the affiliates, but ensure that there is no paper trail. VanDerhei repeatedly frets about the potential “New York Times headlines” that she believed exposure of this practice would generate (we now know this fear did not come to fruition). She insists that meetings about baby trafficking must occur in-person, and communications should not be conducted via email.
Leaving no doubt of PPFA’s support for the trafficking of fetal body parts, VanDerhei said: “It’s a great idea to participate in research… If you’re going to do it, do it right. We’re here to help you do it right.” And, lest VanDerhei give the appearance that “doing it right” referred to following the law, consider that she prefaced that statement by repeating that affiliates and tissue procurement organizations need to be “careful and follow the rules, and think about the headlines if something goes south.”
3. Richards admits that Planned Parenthood abortionists manipulate abortion procedures in order to obtain intact body parts
In her letter to Congress, Cecile Richards states: “Our understanding, however, is that even adjustments that facilitate fetal tissue donations rarely occur at our few clinics that offer women this service.” In other words, manipulation of abortion procedures for the sake of procuring tissue does occur. David Daleiden notes that these manipulations are inconsistent with Planned Parenthood’s purported goal of caring for women’s health: “when a Planned Parenthood doctor manipulates the abortion to get higher-quality baby parts, they are prizing Planned Parenthood’s financial interests ahead of women’s health.” Of course, we know that “prizing Planned Parenthood’s financial interests” is what Planned Parenthood does best.
In a recent interview with Live Action’s Lila Rose, Daleiden said questioning Richards further on these three admissions already made by Planned Parenthood would serve as a strong foundation for a criminal case against the abortion behemoth: “Number one,” he said, “if all the Congress members did is just hold Cecile Richards accountable to explain further the admissions that she’s already made in some of her communications with them, that would be enough to construct a criminal case against Planned Parenthood.” We have seen Planned Parenthood scrutinized for the manner in which they spend their exorbitant funding, and grilled for not providing comprehensive women’s health care. Now is the time for Congress to pry open the bombshell wrongdoings to which Planned Parenthood has already admitted.
