The New York Times on Tuesday again jumped to the defense of Planned Parenthood and the organization's selling of fetal tissue from aborted babies. Writers Denise Grady and Nicholas St. Fleur devoted almost all of the nearly 1500 word story to defending the practice, despite a headline that describes the "Shadowy Trade in Fetal Tissue."
Grady and St. Fleur began by calling the controversy, which includes doctors discussing how to maximize revenue from fetal tissue, "just one more battle in the nation’s long war over abortion." The writers champion:
Researchers say fetal tissue is a uniquely rich source of the stem cells that give rise to tissues and organs, and that studying how they develop can provide clues about how to grow replacements for parts of the body that have failed.
“Think of fetal tissue as a kind of instruction booklet,” said Sheldon Miller, the scientific director of the intramural research program at the National Eye Institute.
Grady and St. Fleur made considerable effort to explain away selling fetal tissues as simply "fees":
Those companies pay small fees, usually $100 or less a specimen, to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, who say they charge only what they need to cover their expenses. The companies then process the tissue and sell it to researchers for higher prices that reflect the processing.
The fees, which can run to thousands of dollars for a tiny vial of cells, do not break the law, according to Arthur Caplan, the director of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center.
“It appears to be legal, no matter how much you charge,” Dr. Caplan said, adding that there appears to be little or no oversight of the processing fees. “It’s a very gray and musty area as to what you can charge.”
It isn't until paragraph 30 (of 33) that some hint of the other side is offered:
But critics note several references in the flyer to financial benefits for clinics. By teaming with StemExpress, “you will also be contributing to the fiscal growth of your own clinic,” it says, a statement that some contend suggests clinics may be illegally profiting from providing fetal tissue.
StemExpress, as noted earlier in the article, is a fetal tissue company being investigated for its connection to Planned Parenthood.
The Times story featured none of the more incendiary quotes from the undercover video, such as Planned Parenthood's Mary Gatter laughing as she haggles over baby parts: “I want a Lamborghini.”
The New York Times editorial board on July 22 aggressively defended Planned Parenthood against its critics:
A hidden-camera video released last week purported to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sells tissue from aborted fetuses. It shows nothing of the sort. But it is the latest in a series of unrelenting attacks on Planned Parenthood, which offers health care services to millions of people every year. The politicians howling to defund Planned Parenthood care nothing about the truth here, being perfectly willing to undermine women’s reproductive rights any way they can.
