Editorial:
Recently, a video went viral that recorded Planned Parenthood representatives in a restaurant talking about harvesting and selling fetuses. The imagery associated with this is ugly, one of deception, of dastardly deeds, of doctors out to make a buck selling aborted fetuses. The initial reaction to this is one of despair, that this is not good, and seemingly indefensible. Quite naturally the anti-abortionist, right wing-Republican reaction was swift and condemning. They immediately moved to defund Planned Parenthood.
However, after further investigation, we have learned that this is apparently a bunch of nothing, about nothing illegal and nothing out of the ordinary.
The Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group behind the intended sting, went to elaborate lengths to get this piece of video. It took them over three years of deception, plotting, and planning to get to this point, creating a fake business, apparently misleading corporate filings, and false government identifications.
This anti-abortion group then released an 8 minute video that is highly edited to create the controversy. But when you look at the full 2 hour video, the full picture is something completely different than the hysteria that surrounds the edited 8 minutes that went viral.
First and foremost Planned Parenthood has been permitted under federal law to donate organs and tissues of aborted fetuses, with the permission of abortion patients, to legitimate research facilities. Secondly, federal law permits abortion clinics to collect reimbursement fees due to costs associated with these donations. As stated in the video this could range from $30 to $100.
There is no profit being made by Planned Parenthood.
In the unedited version of the video one of the doctors describes how human embryonic cells—those voluntarily donated by Planned Parenthood’s patients—are used in medical research that may one day lead to a cure for degenerative neurological diseases, brain tumors, and spinal cord injuries.
The anti-abortion folks and the conservative Republicans do not really care about all this, they are only interested in shutting down Planned Parenthood. Congress is looking at ways to defund the program despite the fact that Planned Parenthood receives very little money for the abortion portion of their services.
Since the enactment of the Hyde amendment there has been no federal funding of abortion services except for very narrow exceptions. If Planned Parenthood is defunded what will be lost are the services toward preventive medicine — breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and well-woman exams which provide middle and low-income communities with quality services.
For minority communities, in many instances, Planned Parenthood is their only access to quality health care.
The video does not reveal any wrong doing or illegal activity. Dealing with and talking about harvesting fetuses between professionals is a normal part of their everyday life. For most of us this kind of talk makes us squirm, it makes us a bit uneasy, but this is not a reason to cut funding that serves the minority communities of our nation.
Don’t let zealots dictate national policy. What we need is some level headed thinking from our Congressmen to view this video in its full context and weight the relevant facts surrounding this issue and then make a wise decision on the future of the health care needs of our communities.
We hope, in the end, Congress will make the right decision!