Sep. 15, 2015 (
Newsbusters) - Ironically, Planned Parenthood trembles in the face of its most faithful ally: the traditional media.
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| from VOCAL |
The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released a
tenth investigative video Sept.
15, that showed Planned Parenthood executives discussing aborted baby
parts for money as a “valid exchange” for a “fair amount of income.” The
Planned Parenthood executives admitted terror and distrust of the media
– and worried about becoming a public relations or “P.R. issue” that
might make headlines. A worry much unfounded, as MRC studies have found.
The video opened with Dr. Carolyn Westoff, Planned Parenthood’s
Senior Medical Advisor, revealing her role in harvesting aborted baby
parts to an actor posing as a tissue buyer.
“We’ve just been working with people who want particular tissues,
like, you know, they want cardiac, or they want eyes, or they want
neural,” she said, “Oh, gonads! Oh my God, gonads. Everything we provide
is fresh.”
This isn’t the first time that the subjects of the videos have
expressed zeal over the idea of chopping up human babies – like when
workers
laughed while sorting “5-star” baby parts in the fourth video or when a Planned Parenthood partner
joked about shipping baby heads in the eighth video.
In her practice, Westhoff expressed fear of only one thing: the media.
“Obviously,
we would have the potential for a huge H— P.R. issue by doing this,” she admitted.
Likewise, Vanessa Cullins, Planned Parenthood’s vice president of
External Medical Affairs, “seem[ed] fully aware of the criminal exposure
that fetal body parts sales present to Planned Parenthood,”
according to CMP.
“This is important,” she said to the buyer in the undercover video.
“This could destroy your organization and us, if we don’t time, you
know, those conversations correctly.”
Getting straight to the point, Deborah VanDerhei, the National
Director for Consortium of Abortion Providers (CAPS), asked the buyer
about compensation for aborted baby parts: “Can I ask you about
remuneration?” According to CMP, CAPS is “an influential committee
within Planned Parenthood that drives abortion policy across the
organization.”
VanDerhei also admitted dread of getting caught by the media.
“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,” she admitted, “because
the headlines would be a disaster.”
Because there is not Planned Parenthood national policy, VanDerhei
recommended that, for those who want to “engage in remuneration,” “you
really need to, like, think that through” as in “
think New York Times headline when you’re creating your policy” – a sentiment she expressed more than once in the video.
But the media isn’t enough of a threat to keep her organization from
trafficking aborted baby parts. When VanDerhei learned that the buyer
offers around $100 per specimen, she remarked, “we have independent
colleagues who generate a fair amount of income doing this.”
In regards to Planned Parenthood’s participation in aborted baby
parts, VanDerhei recommended talking “in person” on the topic. “It’s an
issue you might imagine that we’re not that comfortable talking about on
email,” she said.
VanDerhei also appeared in a later conversation with Vanessa Russo,
Compliance Program Administrator for Planned Parenthood Keystone in
Pennsylvania. Russo told VanDerhei to brush off any fear of the law –
and the media.
“We can’t consent to be bullied by ridiculous laws and
this media that doesn’t understand the big picture,” Russo demanded before going on to talk about “research.”
Russo also argued that, “A company like this that wants to give our
organization money for the tissue, like, I think that that’s a valid
exchange, and that that’s okay.” VanDerhei confirmed with an, “Mhm.”
VanDerhei consoled Russo by saying that “there are Planned
Parenthoods that participate in donation programs that are reimbursed
for it” and adding “it’s fine.”
She listed Northern California, Mar Monte and Los Angeles as clinics that “all provide donation for remuneration.”
CMP’s press release
highlighted that,
“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).
The video is part of CMP’s years-long investigative study and
documentary web series, “Human Capital,” which delves into Planned
Parenthood’s practice of harvesting aborted baby parts.
Media History
Planned Parenthood executives’ fear and disgust of the media is
laughable, as the media loyally serve as a PR firm for the abortion
giant.
Since the release of CMP’s first video, the broadcast networks have
proven hesitant to publicize the story – and when they did, they
refused to even utter the word “baby.”
On Monday, MRC Culture
found that
ABC, NBC and CBS had aired a mere 0.13% of the CMP footage during their
news shows – or 1 minute, 13 seconds of more than 16 hours. Likewise, a
month ago, MRC Culture
discovered the
networks spent an embarrassing 0.008% of their news shows playing the
CMP footage: 1 minute, 13 seconds out of 243 hours and 30 minutes.
From the beginning, the liberal media raced to
defend Planned
Parenthood. In the first 9 hours and 30 minutes of news shows broadcast
after the story broke, ABC, NBC and CBS, spent only
39 seconds on the first video. It took
more than 24 hours before all three covered the story. In the week after the first video, the networks gave a mere 9 minutes and 11 seconds to the story (in contrast, the nets
devoted more than three times that to the Susan G. Komen controversy, when the charity temporarily decided to defund the abortion giant).
ABC, NBC and CBS prioritized animals over aborted babies, covering
the shooting of Cecil the lion more in one day than they did these videos in two weeks – as well as
the birth of the National Zoo’s panda cubs.
The three networks haven’t mentioned the content of CMP’s last five videos. In fact, the networks
haven't covered a single Planned Parenthood video release in more than one month.
Not only that, but also they refused to cover the tens of thousands of Americans
speaking out against Planned Parenthood during rallies held in late August – except once, when CBS
tried to connect the event to arson.
The media similarly stayed silent on the case of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Gosnell's trial, in which witnesses
described baby abortion survivors “swimming" in toilets “to get out,”
attracted a
scant 12–15 reporters. Only after 56 days, multiple letters from
members of the House of Representatives and a public outcry, did all
three broadcast networks
report on Gosnell.
Planned Parenthood History
Planned Parenthood
received more
than $528 million in taxpayer funding during the fiscal year 2013-2014.
That amounted to more than $1.4 million per day, through government
grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements.
According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the U.S.
ranks second
in the world for the number of abortions performed each year. The
research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List also found that, “If Planned
Parenthood were included for comparison, it would rank sixth in the
world in number of abortions carried out annually.”
Pro-Life Reaction
As the Project Lead for CMP, David Daleiden commented on the newly released video.
“From email black-outs to contorted oxymorons like ‘donation for remuneration,’” he said in a
press release,
“the lengths to which Planned Parenthood leadership will go to cover-up
their illegal sale of aborted baby parts are nothing less than the
desperation of a guilty conscience.”
As the president of Students for Life of America, Kristan Hawkins
also challenged the practices of Planned Parenthood in this tenth video.
“Planned Parenthood knew that if it ever got out that they were
taking money for the body parts of babies they were aborting, that it
would be a 'PR disaster,'” she said in a press release. “That's why they
don't have a written on policy on such matters. That's why they don't
want it in emails.”
Call for action in Congress, Hawkins added, “Every single Congressman
and Senator needs to watch these videos.” She continued, “The time for
rhetoric is over; now is the time for leadership and action."
Likewise, Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie
Dannenfelser responded to the “further evidence that Planned Parenthood
profits from the illegal harvest and sale of the body parts of aborted
children.”
“Senior abortion industry officials feared the New York
Times headlines if these facts were to be exposed, and now they have
been,” she warned, before calling on Congress to defund Planned
Parenthood redirect funds to “more comprehensive health care centers.”
“No one should feel comfortable affixing his or her name to a budget
that prolongs this atrocity,” she said. “It is up to President Obama to
make clear why he believes our government has no higher priority than
guaranteeing that the abortion industry can continue the piecemeal sale
of baby body parts –‘fresh’ liver, eyes, brain, gonads, and more –
without losing a dime of taxpayer dollars.”
Live Action’s Lila Rose added that the video “shows at what length
Planned Parenthood executives will go to cover up the illegal harvesting
of and profiting from baby parts.”
“Multiple executives also discuss the public relations nightmare
should these illegal practices become public,” she said in a
statement. “The nightmare is a reality, and along with continuing its
multiple investigations into the abortion giant, Congress should
immediately stop funneling over half a billion taxpayer dollars into
Planned Parenthood and instead redirect the money to the over 13,000
community health centers that provide comprehensive healthcare to
women.”
Source URL: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/katie-yoder/2015/09/15/planned-parenthood-admits-its-terrified-media-5x-new-video
