US Funding of the Sale of Aborted Fetal Tissue Is a Moral Issue

Not only are Democrats standing firmly behind the foolhardy Obama Iran nuclear deal that he obstinately forced through the Senate using a Democrat filibuster that prevented both debate and a vote -- now Democrats in Congress are threatening to block passage of the budget because it defunds Planned Parenthood (PPFA). ~~~~~ Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating PPFA have said Republicans have no evidence that the women's health and abortion provider sold aborted fetal tissue for profit. The Democrat minority staff of the Committee's oversight subcommittee released a memo Wednesday trying to discredit claims by Republicans that PPFA illegally sold fetal body parts as alleged in a series of undercover videos from the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress (CMP). Committee ranking Democrat member Frank Pallone and oversight ranking member Diana DeGette said : "Despite the incendiary rhetoric, we have looked strictly at the facts. We are continuing to do our due diligence, but we have found these claims to be unsubstantiated. Instead, these attacks appear to be part of a coordinated campaign on the part of the CMP and others to simply discredit Planned Parenthood and undermine a woman's legal right to safe reproductive healthcare." ~~~~~ Here is dialogue from the latest CMP “Human Capital” series, the 10th undercover video showing Planned Parenthood’s baby-parts trafficking efforts. The video discusses the sale of fetal parts that Democrats deny. CMP says : “The video highlights conversations with Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, Senior Medical Advisor for PPFA; Dr. Vanessa Cullins, Vice President for External Medical Affairs for PPFA; and Deborah VanDerhei, National Director for the Consortium of Abortion Providers (CAPS) at PPFA.” VanDerhei talks about “donation for remuneration,” referring to buying baby tissue, which CMP notes “carries the connotation of financial reward or benefit without regard for actual expenses.” VanDerhei says, “I have been talking to the executive director of the National Abortion Federation -- we’re trying to figure this out as an industry - about how we’re going to manage remuneration - because the headlines would be a disaster.” VanDerhei adds, “[W]e have independent colleagues who generate a fair amount of income doing this, which is why they don’t want a paper trail via email. It’s an issue that you might imagine we’re not really that comfortable talking about on email.” The 10th video then shows Dr. Deborah Nucatola in footage from the first CMP video, saying : “There are no guidelines on tissue procurement. And there will never be guidelines. Folks will ask the national office questions, and we certainly have answers to those questions, but we don’t have a policy per se, and that is by choice.” (The choice is clearly to distance the national PPFA from affiliates who traffic baby parts.) CMP then says, “Vanessa Cullins, the Vice President of External Medical Affairs, seems fully aware of the criminal exposure that fetal body parts sales present to PPFA when she says : "This is important. This could destroy your organization and us, if we don’t time those conversations correctly." She is talking to a prospective buyer. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the take-away from this video is that these doctors and officials know that many people have major problems with what they’re doing, and that they’re at best skirting the law. But instead of saying that carving up aborted babies for research material is good practice, they hide their deeds, refuse to state their policy and speak in euphemisms, and then they blame CMP for “heavily editing” the videos. These are all good indications that they know they are wrong. PPFA has abandoned ethics, instead seeking PR solutions. But, the issue is not whether Planned Parenthood has broken laws -- this is the reason Democrats will use to blame the GOP for a government shutdown, appealing to narrow legal arguments. The real question is moral -- does America really want to fund killing fetuses and cutting up the fetal tissue for profit.