Planned Parenthood VP in fourth video knows how to break law: Call sale of body parts 'research'
NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – A fourth undercover video from the Center for Medical Progress has exposed a high-ranking Planned Parenthood official negotiating the sale of aborted fetal tissue, and this time the abortion doctor discusses how to break the law to do it.
In the new footage, Dr. Savita Ginde, vice president and medical director for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, discusses with actors portraying purchasing agents from a human biologics company the price of "specimens" and ways to train doctors to harvest fetal organs whole.
"We'd have to do a little bit of training with the providers or something to make sure that they don't crush" the fetal organs, Ginde says. Her clinic reportedly provides aborted fetal tissue to Colorado State University.
Planned Parenthood has been reeling from the impact of three previous undercover videos which have galvanized support among pro-life advocates and pushed lawmakers to write legislation that could – if passed – defund the $500 million paid the abortion provider by taxpayers annually.
After the first videos appeared, Planned Parenthood's President Cecile Richards issued repeated statements that the abortion provider does not sell fetal body parts, but is only reimbursed for their transport. She also insisted in her first television interview after the publication of the videos that all Planned Parenthood clinics follow the law.
He's got it figured out that he knows that even if – because we talked to him in the beginning, you know – we were like, 'We don't want to get called on,' you know, 'selling fetal parts across states.'
According to Richards, Planned Parenthood had been the victim of a "three-year, well-funded effort by the most militant wing of the anti-abortion movement in America."
"The folks behind this are been behind the bombing of clinics, the murder of doctors in their homes and in their churches, and that's what needs to be looked at," Richards told ABC News.
Under federal law, the sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a felony, which can be punished by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000. Another federal law also stipulates that an abortion provider cannot change the way it conducts an abortion to ensure the collection of whole organs or other fetal tissue.
But in the video, Ginde discusses how Planned Parenthood's legal team has figured out how to circumvent federal law to ensure no one is caught selling aborted fetal tissue.
"Putting it under 'research' gives us a little bit of an overhang over the whole thing," Ginde says. "If you have someone in a really 'anti' state who's going to be doing this for you, they're probably going to get caught."
So Ginde suggests relying on the experience of Planned Parenthood's legal team. She implies that Kevin Paul, the group's attorney, is helping the clinic circumvent the law.
"He's got it figured out that he knows that even if – because we talked to him in the beginning, you know – we were like, 'We don't want to get called on,' you know, 'selling fetal parts across states.'"
The actors portraying purchasing agents then ask, "And you feel confident that they're building those layers?"
"I'm confident that our Legal will make sure we're not put in that situation," Ginde responds.
In the video, the actors ask the abortion doctor if compensation should be "specific to the specimen," and Ginde at first says "okay." But later in the video, Ginde is shown in a laboratory at the facility claiming that she would like to be compensated per body part harvested rather than for a collection of body parts.
"I think a per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it," Ginde says.
Pressure has been mounting from senators and U.S. representatives to investigate Planned Parenthood and clear its funding from the federal books.
On Thursday, however, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest dug in his heels, again claiming President Barack Obama would resist any attempt to defund Planned Parenthood after the release of the videos. He stopped short of saying the president would veto any legislation sent to him demanding the defunding of the abortion provider.
Earnest said the videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress were "fraudulent" because of the way they were obtained and he called them misleading and "heavily edited." Christian Examiner has already reported how Earnest has repeated the narrative provided by Planned Parenthood officials and other pro-abortion advocates.
"There's ample reason to think that this is merely the tried-and-true tactic that we have seen from extremists on the right to edit this video and selectively release an edited version of the video that grossly distorts the position of the person who is actually speaking," Earnest said.
Planned Parenthood has yet to comment on the release of the fourth undercover video.
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