Diaz: Was Planned Parenthood sting an act of journalism?
WHO MADE THEM
The Center for Medical Progress, an antiabortion group, created a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services that sent actors claiming to seek fetal parts for scientific research from Planned Parenthood.
WHAT THEY SHOW
The surreptitiously recorded, heavily edited videos include close-up shots of aborted fetal organs and portray Planned Parenthood employees talking about the abortion procedure, the handling of fetal parts and the financial transactions in a dispassionate, cringeworthy way. The Center for Medical Progress claims the videos offer evidence of illegal profiteering and unethical altering of procedures to provide more intact specimens for sale.
WHAT THEY DIDN’T SHOW
The subsequent release of the full video of one of the meetings in question included repeated statements from a Planned Parenthood doctor emphasizing that it followed federal law and would only accept reimbursement for costs such as storage and transportation. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards has apologized for the lack of “compassion” in the doctor’s language, but has insisted the “video stalking” was part of a “much larger and longer campaign” to undermine abortion rights.
SCIENTIFIC VALUE
Fetal tissue has been used in research on Alzheimer’s, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, HIV and treatment of sick babies.
IMPACT
At least three states have initiated investigations of Planned Parenthood. A proposal to halt federal funding of the group fell short in the U.S. Senate last week — though the issue is not going away, either on Capitol Hill or in the presidential race.
Planned Parenthood is almost certain to be a focus of contentious protest and debate throughout the presidential race.