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CMP Statement on Resignation of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards

Cecile Richards was the most devoted practitioner of Planned Parenthood’s “out of sight, out of mind” mantra to cover up their barbaric abortion business from the public. After CMP’s revealing undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors and the damning findings of multiple Congressional probes, Richards’ departure shows that the old strategy is no longer working as Planned Parenthood faces federal criminal investigation for selling aborted baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains. Planned Parenthood’s new leadership should commit to full transparency with the Department of Justice and with the public, and to ending this taxpayer-funded criminal abortion enterprise once and for all.

CMP Asks Appeals Court to Remove Judge with Planned Parenthood Ties From Undercover Videos Cases

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) filed a petition for a writ of mandamus today at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking the disqualification of San Francisco federal Judge William Orrick III from the lawsuits against CMP by Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation, on account of Judge Orrick’s close ties to Planned Parenthood.

Judge Orrick is responsible for the prior-restraint gag order, currently being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, that censors CMP’s remaining undercover footage of Planned Parenthood at the National Abortion Federation’s annual meetings. CMP’s undercover citizen journalism reporting led to the recent news that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Planned Parenthood, and an admission of guilt in a $7.8 million settlement by two of Planned Parenthood’s business partners for selling fetal body parts against the law.

The facts about Judge Orrick’s extrajudicial support of Planned Parenthood include:

1) While in a leadership role at a San Francisco family resource center, Judge Orrick helped open, run, and fund a Planned Parenthood clinic in partnership with the family resource center. That clinic is part of Planned Parenthood Northern California, which has NAF membership and is now suing CMP in Judge Orrick’s courtroom.

2) Judge Orrick and his wife together donated significant financial resources to the partnership between the family resource center and Planned Parenthood, which the Planned Parenthood affiliate CEO said helped maintain and expand their operations.

3) Mrs. Orrick uses her husband’s image on Facebook to support Planned Parenthood in posts attacking CMP’s videos as “domestic terrorism” and weigh in on issues disputed in the lawsuits.

4) Judge Orrick’s ongoing public relationship and duties toward the family resource center in San Francisco housing Planned Parenthood Northern California’s clinic, and the center’s continuing partnership with Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood Baby Parts Business Partners Admit Guilt in $7.8 Million Settlement

Two of Planned Parenthood’s business partners, DaVinci Biosciences and DV Biologics, have admitted guilt in a $7.8 million settlement with the Orange County District Attorney for selling aborted baby body parts from Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties for profit in violation of federal and California law. The OCDA’s press release credits citizen journalism reporting from The Center for Medical Progress for prompting the investigation of baby body parts trafficking in Orange County.

“The DaVinci companies’ admission of guilt for selling baby parts from Planned Parenthood is a ringing vindication of CMP’s citizen journalism methods and accuracy,” says CMP Project Lead David Daleiden. “In light of the news that Planned Parenthood is now under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for the sale of fetal body parts, the next step is for Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties to be held accountable under the law for their 7-year-long aiding, abetting, and profiting in DaVinci’s criminal scheme to sell baby parts for profit.”

See CMP’s citizen journalism work on Planned Parenthood Orange & San Bernardino Counties and DaVinci Biologics herehttps://www.centerformedicalprogress.org/2016/03/planned-parenthood-orange-county-changes-abortions-to-harvest-intact-fetuses-for-local-companys-fetal-products-sales/

Statement on Justice Department Investigation of Planned Parenthood

Over two years ago, citizen journalists at The Center for Medical Progress first caught Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors in a series of undercover videos callously and flippantly negotiating the sale of tiny baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains. Since then, two Congressional investigations found even deeper wrongdoing and confirmed that Planned Parenthood Federation of America, several of their biggest affiliates, and multiple business partners broke the law in a profit-driven scheme to commodify dismembered baby body parts. It is time for public officials to finally hold Planned Parenthood and their criminal abortion enterprise accountable under the law.

StemExpress Shipped Fetal Parts From Planned Parenthood Against FedEx Rules, Says Whistleblower

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STEMEXPRESS SHIPPED FETAL PARTS FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD AGAINST FEDEX RULES, SAYS WHISTLEBLOWER
Former StemExpress Procurement Technician Describes How Company Broke FedEx Rules to Sell Aborted Baby Body Parts from Planned Parenthood

Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 28—In a new video, a whistleblower from the fetal tissue wholesaler StemExpress tells how the company shipped body parts from Planned Parenthood abortions in knowing violation of FedEx policies.

Holly O’Donnell worked for StemExpress as a procurement technician from late 2012 to early 2013, stationed inside some of the biggest Planned Parenthood clinics in northern California. StemExpress workers used private patient medical files leaked to them by Planned Parenthood management to target pregnant women who could meet their body parts order quotas for the day. The StemExpress workers, who received a bonus based on the number and type of body parts they harvested, dissected the fetuses, packaged the organs, and shipped them off via FedEx to StemExpress research customers. StemExpress in turn paid Planned Parenthood based on the number of fetal specimens “determined in the clinic to be usable.”

In the sixth video of a new series from The Center for Medical Progress highlighting her eyewitness testimony, O’Donnell explains how one day she and her supervisor had trouble shipping body parts at FedEx in San Jose, CA:

“The guy behind the counter kinda is looking at her funny, and she goes, ‘I want to ship this here,’” recounts O’Donnell. “And he looks at her and says, ‘What’s in the package?’ and she goes, ‘Um, does it matter?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, ‘cause I know what’s in that package. I’m not shipping it.’”

The FedEx Service Guide Terms and Conditions state: “You are prohibited from tendering the following items for shipment, and you agree not to do so:” listing, “Human corpses, human body parts, human embryos, or cremated or disinterred human remains” under “Prohibited Items.”

When O’Donnell asked her supervisor why FedEx was refusing to ship the aborted fetal parts, she says her supervisor replied, “Oh, because he know’s what’s in here, you’re technically not supposed to ship body parts,” and then told O’Donnell: “I’ve got to go all the way across town to go to a different FedEx and drop this off,” apparently as a way to trick a different FedEx branch into shipping the body parts against their services agreement with StemExpress.

After over a year of nationwide investigation last December, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel referred StemExpress and its business partners Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood Northern California, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation and criminal prosecution.

Earlier this month, The Hill reported that the FBI is seeking thousands of pages of unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation and criminal referrals of Planned Parenthood, StemExpress, and related entities. Attorney General Jeff Sessions then confirmed in Congressional testimony that the findings in the referrals could form the basis of criminal charges against Planned Parenthood and StemExpress, once verified by the Department of Justice.

CMP project lead David Daleiden notes, “Holly O’Donnell’s eyewitness account of the day-to-day harvesting and sale of aborted baby body parts the work of the Congressional investigations, which found “systematic violations” between StemExpress and Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood and StemExpress ran a profit-driven business to sell aborted baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains, and it is time for these corrupt organizations to be held accountable under the law.”

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Documents:

Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28mDUceJCss

Learn more about CMP at centerformedicalprogress.org

“It’s Stealing Baby Parts”: Whistleblower Saw StemExpress Take Fetus Parts from Planned Parenthood Without Patient Consent

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“IT’S STEALING BABY PARTS”: WHISTLEBLOWER SAW STEMEXPRESS TAKE FETUS PARTS FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD WITHOUT PATIENT CONSENT
Former StemExpress Procurement Technician Says Company Took Fetal Organs From Abortions Where the Pregnant Woman Had Never Agreed to “Donate” Body Parts

Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21—In a new video, a former procurement technician for the fetal tissue wholesaler StemExpress says she witnessed her coworkers take fetal body parts without patient consent from abortions at Planned Parenthood.

“If there was like a high-gestated fetus, I have witnessed there was no consent signed, and these women didn’t know that it was getting taken,” reveals Holly O’Donnell, who worked for StemExpress from late 2012 to early 2013 inside some of the biggest Planned Parenthood clinics in northern California.

“It’s stealing, it’s stealing baby parts,” states O’Donnell about StemExpress’ practice of taking fetal body parts without patient consent.

O’Donnell speaks in the fifth video in a new series from The Center for Medical Progress, highlighting her eyewitness experiences at StemExpress and Planned Parenthood.

Embedded inside Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics, StemExpress workers used private patient medical files leaked to them by Planned Parenthood management to target pregnant women who could meet their body parts order quotas for the day.

The StemExpress workers dissected the fetuses, packaged the organs, and shipped them off via FedEx to StemExpress research customers. Planned Parenthood in turn received a payment from StemExpress for each fetal organ “determined in the clinic to be usable.” StemExpress paid its technicians a bonus depending on the number and type of body parts harvested.

O’Donnell, who states she was the only licensed phlebotomist from StemExpress at the time, also describes how Planned Parenthood let unlicensed StemExpress workers draw blood from Planned Parenthood abortion patients and in one case even place an IV.

After over a year of nationwide investigation last December, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel referred StemExpress and its business partners Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood Northern California, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation and criminal prosecution.

Last week, The Hill reported that the FBI is seeking thousands of pages of unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation and criminal referrals of Planned Parenthood, StemExpress, and related entities. Also last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed in Congressional testimony that the findings in the referrals could form the basis of criminal charges against Planned Parenthood and StemExpress, once verified by the Department of Justice.

CMP project lead David Daleiden notes, “Planned Parenthood and their business partners like StemExpress preyed on pregnant women to harvest and sell aborted baby body parts in an illegal profit-driven scheme. Public officials should shut down Planned Parenthood’s barbaric abortion empire so Planned Parenthood can never defraud the public, hurt patients, or sell aborted baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains again.”

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Documents:

Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbSYxqB3w8

Learn more about CMP at centerformedicalprogress.org

CMP Statement on FBI Investigation of Planned Parenthood

Yesterday, we learned that the FBI is seeking to review thousands of pages of unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation and criminal referrals of Planned Parenthood for the illegal sale of aborted baby body parts for profit. Two times today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked about this case during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Attorney General Sessions confirmed that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s findings, if verified by the Justice Department’s review, could form the basis of criminal charges against Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood is responding to this news peddling a pack of lies about prior, severely limited and even compromised inquiries. The only two credible and comprehensive investigations thus far were done by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel, and both resulted in the criminal referrals for Planned Parenthood now being pursued by the Department of Justice.

StemExpress Paid Bonuses for Body Parts Harvested in Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STEMEXPRESS PAID BONUSES FOR BODY PARTS HARVESTED IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD ABORTION CLINICS
Whistleblower Reports How Company Paid Bonuses for “High Demand” Brains, Hearts, Lungs, and Livers from Late-Term Aborted Fetuses

Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14—StemExpress, one of the main business partners of Planned Parenthood in harvesting and selling aborted fetal organs and tissues, paid the workers it stationed inside Planned Parenthood bonuses based on the number and type of fetal body parts they could harvest, according to eyewitness testimony and documentation.

“We wanted more gestated fetuses, it was a lot easier to get these and we could take more from it,” says Holly O’Donnell, a procurement technician for StemExpress from late 2012 to early 2013, speaking in the fourth video in a new series from The Center for Medical Progress.

O’Donnell worked for StemExpress inside some of the biggest Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in northern California, where StemExpress workers used private patient medical files leaked to them by Planned Parenthood to identify and sign up pregnant women who could meet their body parts order quotas for the day.

StemExpress documents show that the company ranked body parts and blood according to Categories A, B, and C, from the most to least valuable. “So A is like brain, heart, lungs, liver, spleen,” explains O’Donnell, listing the body parts that were “really high demand.”

“So if you really do your job, you get up to 11-20 specimens, you’re getting $20 per specimen. If it’s 1 to 10, you’re doing just blood, you’re getting $10 for one blood draw.”

The StemExpress workers dissected the fetuses, packaged the organs, and shipped them off via FedEx to StemExpress research customers. Planned Parenthood in turn received a payment from StemExpress for each fetal organ “determined in the clinic to be usable.”

O’Donnell remembers a Planned Parenthood abortion doctor, Dr. Ronald Berman, who was also the medical director for StemExpress and did his abortions extremely fast. She notes there was “maximum pressure” from StemExpress leadership on the technicians to harvest as many organs as possible. O’Donnell says her StemExpress supervisors told her: “It’s not an option, it’s a demand.” O’Donnell describes intentionally underreporting the number of patients to her StemExpress supervisors in an attempt to protect vulnerable pregnant women from the company.

Last December, after over a year of nationwide investigation, the House Select Investigative Panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee both referred StemExpress, along with its business partners Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood Northern California, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation and criminal prosecution.

Over the summer, the FBI confirmed that the criminal referrals have been sent to multiple field offices for action. Yesterday it was reported that the FBI is seeking unreacted copies of the tens of thousands of documents examined by the Senate Judiciary Committee as evidence in the referrals, in a move widely seen as indicating the opening of a full criminal investigation.

CMP project lead David Daleiden notes, “The evidence is now overwhelming that StemExpress and Planned Parenthood engaged in a profit-driven business together to harvest and sell aborted fetuses against the law. The FBI’s inquiry into the human atrocity of Planned Parenthood’s criminal abortion business is long overdue and law enforcement must move quickly to bring this barbaric enterprise to justice under the law.”

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Documents:

Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98fKemWW81Q

Learn more about CMP at centerformedicalprogress.org

Planned Parenthood Had No “Shipping Costs” For Fetal Parts Sales

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLANNED PARENTHOOD HAD NO “SHIPPING COSTS” FOR FETAL PARTS SALES
StemExpress Whistleblower Debunks Main Excuse from Planned Parenthood Executives for Why They Were Paid for Aborted Baby Body Parts

Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7—When Planned Parenthood defended their receipt of money for aborted fetal organs and tissue, they claimed it was to cover shipping costs—even though Planned Parenthood never shipped the body parts, reveals eyewitness testimony from a former fetal tissue procurement technician who worked inside some of the biggest Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in northern California.

“Planned Parenthood never shipped anything, we did all the shipping,” informs former StemExpress worker Holly O’Donnell, in a new video released today by The Center for Medical Progress.

StemExpress harvested organs from aborted fetuses inside Planned Parenthood and resold them to research customers across the country. StemExpress stationed technicians like O’Donnell inside the Planned Parenthood abortion clinics, where O’Donnell and her fellow StemExpress workers handled all aspects of the fetal organ harvesting process—consenting patients, dissecting fetuses, packaging organs, and shipping them off via FedEx.

After CMP’s undercover videos showed senior-level Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of aborted fetal hearts, lungs, livers, and brains, Planned Parenthood’s public leadership repeatedly claimed to news media that the payments were really to cover Planned Parenthood’s shipping costs. “There are shipping costs,” Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President, told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “It’s not a fee. It’s actually just the cost of transmitting this material to research institutions,” said Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

But invoices show that customers paid StemExpress, not Planned Parenthood, for the FedEx shipping. The StemExpress-Planned Parenthood contract, meanwhile, specifies that the only payments to Planned Parenthood will be per fetal organ “determined in the clinic to be useable.“

Documents obtained by two Congressional investigations show that Planned Parenthood could make up to five-figure sums per month from StemExpress, depending on the number of “useable” fetal organs StemExpress could collect inside Planned Parenthood.

In a video last week, O’Donnell described how Planned Parenthood leaked private patient medical information to the third-party contractors at StemExpress, LLC in order to meet the company’s quotas for harvesting body parts from Planned Parenthood abortions.

Last December, after over a year of nationwide investigation, the House Select Investigative Panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee both referred StemExpress, along with its business partners Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood Northern California, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation and criminal prosecution. Over the summer, the FBI confirmed that the criminal referrals have been sent to multiple field offices for action.

CMP project lead David Daleiden notes, “Planned Parenthood’s executive team repeatedly lied to the public and to the news media when they promised StemExpress was only paying them for ‘shipping costs.’ Holly O’Donnell’s testimony totally debunks Planned Parenthood’s fake excuse for the money they took for aborted baby body parts. Any defense Planned Parenthood had is now totally discredited, and Congress and the Administration should move immediately to hold Planned Parenthood accountable under the law.”

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Documents:

Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHcU8Nc71sA

Learn more about CMP at centerformedicalprogress.org

Planned Parenthood Gave Up Private Patient Info To Meet Baby Body Parts Quotas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLANNED PARENTHOOD GAVE UP PRIVATE PATIENT INFO TO MEET BABY BODY PARTS QUOTAS
Whistleblower Describes Coordination Between StemExpress and Planned Parenthood to Maximize Orders from Aborted Parts “Grocery List”

Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31—Planned Parenthood revealed private patient medical information to third party contractors at StemExpress, LLC in order to meet the company’s quotas for harvesting body parts from Planned Parenthood abortions, says a former StemExpress procurement technician in a new video from The Center for Medical Progress.

Holly O’Donnell worked as a procurement technician for StemExpress inside some of the biggest Planned Parenthood surgical centers in northern California, drawing blood and dissecting organs from aborted fetuses, which the company then sold to research customers across the country.

“At the beginning of the day, we would let them know what we were looking for,” says O’Donnell, describing the StemExpress work flow at Planned Parenthood. “There was a lot of coordination.”

“We’d open up the Task Page, which, it shows you what the researchers want, how many specimens they want for that day or that week.” O’Donnell explains the online StemExpress Task Page, which listed customer orders for aborted fetal livers, brains, kidneys, and other body parts: “Roughly saying, it was like a grocery list of what to get for that day.”

O’Donnell states that the Planned Parenthood clinic management would provide the StemExpress contractors with the private medical information of pregnant women coming into Planned Parenthood: “We’d go to the head nurse, let the nurses know, hey this is what I’m looking for today. They’d give you a sheet of the appointments, which women were coming in, and it would tell you how many patients, what time they were coming in, their name, and if they knew how far along they were.”

O’Donnell also reveals that Planned Parenthood gave StemExpress access to patient medical charts and even to the clinics’ computer network to download patient schedules across the entire Planned Parenthood affiliate. Emails from StemExpress management instruct procurement technicians: “EVERY Friday – please provide schedules for all the clinics you work in,” and, “All computers have access to other clinics.”

Last year, the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Select Investigative Panel referred StemExpress, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, and Planned Parenthood Northern California to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for five years of “systematic violations” of the HIPAA privacy rule in the organizations’ aborted body parts harvesting program. “These violations occurred when the abortion clinics disclosed patients’ individually identifiable health information to StemExpress to facilitate the TPB’S efforts to procure human fetal tissue for resale.”

CMP project lead David Daleiden notes, “Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and Planned Parenthood Northern California together see approximately 300,000 patients each year. Over at least five years of operation, the StemExpress-Planned Parenthood scheme to sell baby body parts put the private health information of hundreds of thousands of pregnant women at risk.”

In December, after over a year of nationwide investigation, the House Select Investigative Panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee both referred StemExpress, along with its business partners Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood Northern California, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation and criminal prosecution. Over the summer, the FBI confirmed that the criminal referrals have been sent to multiple field offices for action.

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Documents:

 

Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGohT2GhEnE

Learn more about CMP at centerformedicalprogress.org