During the last couple of days, a scandal has broken out that involves Planned Parenthood in the sale of body parts to various institutions. I have posted the short version of the video that broke the story, however, it is important that you know that the organization that posted the video has also posted the full unexpurgated video so that you can see that the clips that form the video above are accurate clips and not taken out of context. In full, the story should cause pro-choice supporters to pause because several bioethical rules were broken that are unrelated to the abortion.
If you are involved in one of the medical sciences, you already know that post-surgical remains are disposed of after surgery. However, in certain cases, a particular remain may be extremely valuable for research. For example, let’s say that someone has had to have a diabetic foot amputated. It may be that there is a medical researcher who is trying to trace the physiological changes caused by diabetes with a view toward finding ways to prevent those changes so that fewer amputations have to be performed. How do you find amputated diabetic feet to study? Well, without going into detail, there are very legal ways to either advertise that you need those feet or to find a legal intermediary company that specializes in hooking researchers up with the body parts that they need. Whichever way you go, there will be money involved. The foot has to be correctly packaged, correctly shipped, etc. That all costs money. Even if you do not pay for the foot, you still have to pay for the correct preservations, shipping, etc. You are allowed to recover costs, which may also involve the time of the personnel involved, infrastructure, etc. That is what is involved in this video.
The issue in the video is not that there is money involved in the preparation and transportation. Rather, the way in which the conversation goes makes it appear that several ethical, and maybe legal, rules are being violated. The senior director of Planned Parenthood is careful to say that Federal law prohibits the selling of body parts. Yet, given that she is setting a price per part, legally that appears to violate the law. Had she stated a price per shipment, that may contain one or more body parts, then that would have been fully legal. But, she is obviously trying to skirt the law, particularly when she speaks nervously about how it is all in how you interpret the law. If I were a prosecutor, I would start there.
But, medical bioethicists also would have questions about what transpires later in the conversation. Dr. Nucatola goes on to speak about their experience in using forceps in such a way as to not crush hearts, lungs, pelvises, or whatever body part it is that is wanted. To my great dismay, she even goes on to speak about how the baby can be turned to that a breech birth is what happens. Let me ask at this point, how many of you have read stories from other centuries in which a breech birth is to be avoided if at all possible? Breech births are more dangerous than head first births. But, let’s go on.
Dr. Nucatola also admits that a woman undergoing an abortion often does not dilate as far as a woman with a regular births. So, she even touts the breech technique as being more likely to get the woman to dilate a little more so that they can provide an intact head to those who wish one. In other words, the techniques are not being performed for the good and safety of the patient, but rather for the good and profit of the local Planned Parenthood involved. And, it is here that I wish those who are pro-choice to pay special attention. The rule, since Hippocrates, is to do no harm. Over the centuries that has come to include that you should perform no procedure in such a way that you actually increase the risk of harm to a patient over performing it another way.
This is what Planned Parenthood has so clearly violated here, regardless of one’s view on abortion. They have failed to put the patient first. In order to get sellable body parts, Planned Parenthood has been willing to perform abortions in more risky manners in order to maximize their ability to provide body parts. In fact, the whole process of how they provide the body parts, makes it clear that they are engaging in a marketable activity rather than a research activity. Planned Parenthood’s response has been to fall back on the technique that keeps working so well. “Even if we were to have done something wrong, you cannot let those anti-choice people win.”
Sadly, all too many pro-choice people will buy that and turn a blind eye to the place where both pro-life and pro-choice people agree, and that is the safe and ethical treatment of the woman having a surgical procedure. This is one place where we ought to be able to agree that Planned Parenthood does need to be investigated, and ethical charges brought against its physicians and nurses (up to and including malpractice), if it can be verified that they have been engaging in the manipulation of the woman’s body in the way in which Dr. Nucatola documents in her interview. Surgical procedures are supposed to be performed in the quickest and safest way or the patient, not in a slower manipulative way that Dr. Nucatola documents. And, I mean literally manipulative. The baby has to be turned by manipulation of the mother’s womb in order to get a breech birth. The danger to the woman is increased for purely financial benefit. That is wrong.
There is actually an overlap of interests here between pro-choice and pro-life. Planned Parenthood needs to be held accountable, if what Dr. Nucatola states can be verified.
This is disgusting! I am horrified in so many levels! May I share your post?
Of course.
I am sickened and disgusted, I despise planned parenthood even more! I wish I has not even read this!!!!!! Hillary thinks Margaret Sanger was so great, this is the end result of that evil woman’s life work!!!!
Well, I had a long, thoughtful response but apparently God did not intend for that to go here as it suddenly disappeared when I hit the wrong button so I will simplify my response.
First, I want to preface my comments by stating that I am a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, registered in OB/GYN, Abdominal, small parts and Neurosonography. I have been practicing for over 37 years and while most of that time has been spent in pediatric ultrasound, I have quite a bit of experience in OB/GYN work…as well as the fact that I work consistently with neonates born prematurely and/or with severe congenital defects.
I have not watched the entire video, so I can’t comment much on what was said except to say that I have a low opinion of secretly recorded videos-complete with eerie mood music and selective editing (even on the long version) so I am skeptical because I have seen dishonesty over and over again in this particular area. I really can’t speak to this doctor’s intentions or opinions, but I do know that sometimes what we do is not for the faint of heart and can be misconstrued easily. I do hope this is investigated and if there is any wrongdoing, it is prosecuted.
That being said, I must strongly disagree with your assertion that women are being harmed and manipulated to facilitate a “breech” birth during an abortion. You are correct in stating that a breech birth is dangerous…at full term. The head is the largest part of the baby and if it is delivered first, the baby can get stuck and be asphyxiated or cause hemorrhaging or other damage to the mother or the child so no, it is not the best way to deliver and for that reason, C-sections are done routinely. That is not the case in an abortion. You only do a D&E (dilation and evacuation) in the 2nd trimester when at the most, the baby is 6 inches long and weighs around a pound. This is not likely to cause the mother any issues at all. The reason most 2nd trimester abortions are done is because of devastating fetal abnormalities found at the 20 week morphology scan. These are the women most likely to request the tissue be donated for research because they hope something good might come from something really bad. Most women who have abortions do not do so lightly. Many, many of these 2nd trimester abortions are deeply wanted babies but the abnormalities are such that they either will die shortly after birth or suffer endlessly until they do die. These are the types of deformities…things like Trisomies, congental infantile polycystic kidneys, congenital brain abnormalities like holoprosencephaly and schizencephaly…that need much research and they need whole organs/fetuses in order to research fully the disease process. Tissue of this type usually does not go to fetal cell research…that is more likely to be early abortions that are suctioned.(and at this time, I don’t think that is happening anyway, but I could be wrong). Second trimester babies are very delicate and even during a missed miscarriage (the baby died in utero and was not spontaneously aborted), the fetus can disintegrate during evacuation…this is NOT good for anybody, especially the mother as it can cause severe infection. I have personally assisted a few doctors in making sure all fetal parts were evacuated…and those were not abortions-they were incomplete miscarriages. So I really don’t think she is putting the patient at risk in order to deliver a whole fetus. Remember, she thinks she is speaking to a research procurement company…someone who understands what she is speaking about not a group of pro-birthers who see the evil in every thing she does.
Yes, I am angry, but not for the reason you think. I do think she comes across as a bit casual…which can happen in medical circles as you well know. I am angry because too many people tend to make it their business to interfere with the medical relationship between a women and her doctor. These issues are extremely complicated and no one case is the same for everyone. Yes, there are women who abuse the situation and use abortion as birth control and that is disgusting. However, there are thousands of women who find themselves in circumstances we have no understanding of and while I understand the desire to protect life, God Himself does not go where He is not invited. We do not know what path God has set for each individual or what trials she must go through. Why do some Christians think they can play Junior Holy Ghost in other people’s lives when we are expressly told to be more concerned with the plank in our own eye? Perhaps if medical decisions were left in the hands of the person involved and their doctor, we would not need to have a quasi-medical company that offers reduced healthcare to poor women. Planned Parenthood is not a perfect answer, but I am angry that an organization that has done so much to help poor women get the care they need is vilified on a regular basis by those for whom it is politically expedient to do so.
As I said earlier, this is a very complicated…and emotional issue. I only hope to present an alternative narrative to the very one-sided bias of the video. I will watch the entire video when I have the opportunity and I will revise my statements if necessary then. In the meantime, I expect to be called “babykiller” by someone in about 2.8 seconds…which is sad because my whole career has been to save as many babies and children as possible.
“It all depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
— William J Clinton
“I don’t pay a lawyer to tell me if what I want to do is legal. I pay a lawyer to tell me how to get away with what I want to do!”
— attr to J.P.Morgan or J.D.Rockefeller