The undercover videos taken at meetings with Planned Parenthood executives continue to dominate pro-life news this week. A second video was released by the Center for Medical Progress this past week and it is as damning as the first. This video shows a Planned Parenthood official haggling over the price of each specimen (baby body part). When asked for what Planned Parenthood charges, she is very hesitant. She explains she doesn’t want to “lowball” the amount. That means she doesn’t want to ask for less than what the company will pay. Is $50 enough? How about $75. Well, then how does $100 a specimen sound? She seems to agree on the $100 figure, but, at the end of the video, she says she wants to check that price and if others are getting more, she’ll adjust the price upward. Incredible!
We must remember this kind of haggling is illegal. The ONLY legal answer to “What do you charge for the baby parts?” is “Whatever our actual costs are.”
What seems to be fueling the fire of the opposition to Planned Parenthood is the attitude of the PP executives in these videos. They calmly discuss acquiring parts of aborted babies and selling them while eating lunch and even cracking jokes. The medical professional in the second video actually joked that she needed to charge as much as possible because “I want a Lamborghini.” This callousness is outraging even those who have supported Planned Parenthood in the past. You can view the videos at centerformedicalprogress.org.
The number of states that have launched investigations of Planned Parenthood following the release of these videos has nearly doubled since last week. Nine states, including Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, and Texas have announced investigations. In addition, members of Congress have launched an investigation as well.
Legislation to defund Planned Parenthood has been introduced in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, both bills, as introduced, contain language that cannot be supported by many pro-life groups—including American Life League. As we were going to press with this newsletter, we heard there may be some changes in the language of these bills. We’ll bring you an update on that next week.