Fifth Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Released By Center For Medical Progress [Graphic Video]

The Center for Medical Progress, a pro-life and anti-abortion group, released on Tuesday a fifth Planned Parenthood undercover video part of its ongoing series, allegedly showing Texas Planned Parenthood officials discussing sale of intact fetuses and parts.

The new footage follows a video that showed Dr. Savita Ginder, vice-president and medical director of Planned Parenthood in Colorado, allegedly discussing sale of fetal organs.

The latest video, reportedly shot on April 9, 2015, allegedly shows Melissa Farrell, the director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Houston, Texas, responding to inquiries from activists posing as representatives of a company that wants to buy fetal tissues. The undercover activists ask if Planned Parenthood is able to adjust its abortion procedures to take into account specific needs or to meet specific demand for intact fetuses, tissues, and organs.

Farrell responds, saying, “Yeah, I think we can.”

She assures the undercover pro-life activists that her organization is able to meet their demand, saying, “… we probably have an edge over other organizations; our organization has been doing research for many, many years.”

She tells the prospective buyers that Planned Parenthood is able to “get creative about” modifying “fetal tissue procurement” procedures to satisfy specific demand for “certain portion of the products of conception.”

“We’ve had studies in which the company, or in the case of the investigator, has a specific need, for a certain portion of the products of conception and we bake that into our contract, and our protocol, that we follow this, so we deviate from our standard in order to do that.

[We are able to] get creative about when and where, and under what conditions can we interject something that is specific to the tissue procurement needs.”

According to the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), Federal laws prohibit “alteration of the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate the pregnancy was made solely for the purposes of obtaining the tissue.”

“The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2). Federal law also requires that no alteration in the timing or method of abortion be done for the purposes of fetal tissue collection (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).”

However, Farrell says that input will be needed from the doctors who perform the procedures.

“So, if we alter our process and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, then we can make it part of the budget that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this. I mean that’s — it’s all just a matter of line items.”

Later, Farrell and the undercover activists are shown with staff at a laboratory examining fetal cadavers. A laboratory staff indicates a fetus, explaining that it was 18 weeks at the time it was aborted.

The video includes graphic scenes showing aborted fetuses and parts, with one of the laboratory technicians commenting grimly, “We had a really long day, and they’re all mixed up together in one bag.”

Farrell also observes that some affiliates of Planned Parenthood do not participate in fetal tissue donation because they fear it could be illegal.

David Daleidan, with the CMP, said evidence of sale of intact fetuses the video gives was “prima facie evidence” of fetuses born alive because the procedure adopted to obtain intact fetuses would require that Planned Parenthood does not use a feticide before the abortion.

He said, “Planned Parenthood’s system-wide conspiracy to evade the law and make money off of aborted fetal tissue is now undeniable. Anyone who watches these videos knows that Planned Parenthood is engaged in barbaric practices and human rights abuses that must end.”

Reacting to the allegations by CMP, Planned Parenthood said it does not sell fetal tissue for profit, but donates it with the consent of patients. The organization’s claim that payments it receives only cover the cost of handling and shipping of the tissues is disputed by opponents. According to the Christian Post, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director alleged the organization makes about $100 to $200 off every tissue or organ sale.

Planned Parenthood has accused CMP of producing heavily edited video to give a misleading impression.

The release of the fifth video comes after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued an order temporarily barring CMP from releasing information obtained during annual gatherings of the National Abortion Federation in San Francisco and Baltimore.

It also comes after Senate Democrats blocked a bill to deprive Planned Parenthood of federal funding.

Meanwhile, Daleidan has said that CMP will release other videos.

[Image: via YouTube / Center For Medical Progress]