Executives of the US abortion provider Planned Parenthood have been filmed admitting that the organisation would suffer if the public became aware of its trading in foetal body parts.
The admission has come in the 10th undercover video to be released by the Centre for Medical Progress, in which a vice president of Planned Parenthood, Vanessa Cullins, discusses the sale of aborted parts with investigators posing as buyers of foetal tissue.
“This could destroy your organisation and us, if we don’t time those conversations correctly,” she warns when asked about sales of parts.
The sentiment is then echoed by a colleague, Deborah VanDerhei, who points out that the wording of any explanation of foetal sales is extremely important as “the headlines would be a disaster”. VanDerhei goes on to state that a “key challenge” in the trade is how to “manage remuneration”, suggesting that sales of foetal tissue should be viewed as “donation for remuneration”. She then adds: “It’s an issue that you might imagine we’re not really that comfortable talking about on email.”
Under current US legislation, Planned Parenthood cannot profit from tissue it supplies to research companies and can only cover the costs of such issues as supply and transportation, and with patient consent.
Pro-life groups have condemned the dismemberment of aborted foetuses for research purposes as wrong whether Planned Parenthood profits from it or not.
