The New York Times editorial board has been called in to conduct damage control after the newest development in Planned Parenthood’s scandal concerning the haggling over and selling of organs from aborted babies. Over the past week, the Center for Medical Progress has released two videos from undercover investigations they’ve conducted with top personnel within the nation’s leading abortion provider. This has led to increased scrutiny of their practices, and calls for defunding since they receive approximately half a billion dollars in taxpayer money every year.
The openly left-wing editors from the Times went to bat for Planned Parenthood and Cecile Richards,
the organization’s president -- also daughter of the late liberal Democratic governor of Texas Ann Richards -- by immediately claiming that “the politicians howling to defund Planned Parenthood care nothing about the truth:”
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.
The editorial board then went to combat the CMP's claims by essentially just laying out everything Planned Parenthood has said already, yet failed to provide proof that the allegations made in the video are false. They simply reiterated a form of the statements provided by Ms. Richards:
Clearly, the shorter version was edited to eliminate statements by Dr. Nucatola explaining that Planned Parenthood does not profit from tissue donation, which requires the clear consent of the patient. Planned Parenthood affiliates only accept money — between $30 and $100 per specimen, according to Dr. Nucatola — to cover costs associated with collecting and transporting the tissue.
The Times also failed to address or offer an opinion on several other important parts of the video and investigation– especially concerning Dr. Gatter's unhesitant willingness to accept higher prices, including a joke that she “wanted a Lamborghini.” They also failed to address the ad obtained by the CMP,
where a lab appears to entice clinics by highlighting “financial benefits.” Instead they went to praise the practice of harvesting aborted fetuses for their scientific uses.
Researchers use fetal tissue to study and develop treatments for diseases and conditions like H.I.V., hepatitis, congenital heart defects, retinal degeneration and Parkinson’s. Last year, the National Institutes of Health gave $76 million in grants for fetal tissue research. Planned Parenthood is certainly not the only collector of fetal tissue — clinics associated with universities also supply tissue for research.
The article ended with typical liberal talking points on how lawmakers will put women’s health at risk if they deem Planned Parenthood’s controversial practices are unethical, and decide to pull federal funding.
The Center for Medical Progress video campaign is a dishonest attempt to make legal, voluntary and potentially lifesaving tissue donations appear nefarious and illegal. Lawmakers responding by promoting their own anti-choice agenda are rewarding deception and putting women’s health and their constitutionally protected rights at risk.
