Congress to probe Planned Parenthood after video implies it sells fetal organs
WASHINGTON — Republican congressional leaders on Wednesday launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood after a video implying that it sells the organs of aborted fetuses was released on the Internet. The reproductive health group said the video is false.
The secretly recorded video shows Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discussing harvesting body parts from aborted fetuses with actors posing as buyers from a biological company. The conversation took place over lunch and wine in a restaurant.
The Center for Medical Progress, the Californiabased anti-abortion group that released the video Tuesday, said it was evidence that Planned Parenthood was involved in the illegal sale of aborted fetuses and conducting illegal partial-birth abortions.
The nonprofit organization has flatly denied the accusations, saying neither it nor patients profited from the distribution of fetal tissue for lifesaving scientific research.
In Washington, House Speaker John Boehner, ROhio, said he had asked the appropriate congressional committees to look into “the grisly practices embraced by Planned Parenthood.”
“When an organization monetizes an unborn child — and with the cavalier attitude portrayed in this horrific video — we must all act,” the speaker said.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee said it would investigate whether fetal body parts were illegally sold for profit.
In Louisiana and Texas, the Republican governors of those states also ordered investigations.
Planned Parenthood said in a statement that it has followed legal and ethical guidelines that allow women to consent to donating fetal tissue for scientific research, with no financial gain to the individual or organization. “These outrageous claims are flat-out untrue, but that doesn't matter to politicians with a longstanding political agenda to ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood,” spokesman Eric Ferrero said. The organization characterized the video as the work of anti-abortion activists out to harm its reputation.
The video has reignited the controversy about medical research using human fetal tissue, which experts said was in high demand in the 1990s. Since then, that supply of research material has fallen sharply, replaced largely by cells from embryos and adult stem cells.
“It's legal to obtain fetal tissue. You are not supposed to sell it. You can certainly make it available,” said Arthur Caplan, director of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center's Department of Population Health. He said a few companies now collect the tissue, and “they charge a lot for it. I'm not sure people who donate it realize that,” he added.
Under federal law, selling human fetal tissue across state lines is punishable by fines of as much as $500,000 and a prison sentence of as long as 10 years. But the law allows “reasonable payments” for costs such as transportation and storage.
Planned Parenthood said it followed applicable laws and ethical standards in helping women who wish to donate fetal tissue for research purposes. The group said Tuesday that costs such as transportation to research centers are reimbursed in some cases.