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House Select Panel Documents Prove Planned Parenthood Profited from Baby Parts

The financial documents uncovered by the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives prove that Planned Parenthood profited from the sale of aborted baby parts to their long-time business partner StemExpress. The facts are now undeniable that Planned Parenthood had no “costs” to “reimburse” and every dollar they received for little baby hearts, brains, and livers netted illegal profit. Planned Parenthood lied to the media, to Congress, and to the American people for 9 months falsely asserting they had no financial benefit from supplying baby parts. Now, Planned Parenthood and their partners in crime must face justice under the law for their barbaric criminal profiteering from aborted baby parts.

Motions to Quash Illegitimate Indictments Filed in Houston Case

Attorneys for David Daleiden today filed a motion to quash the indictment by the Harris County District Attorney citing a series of abuses that occurred during and after the grand jury’s proceedings that are in violation of Mr. Daleiden’s due process rights under the Texas Constitution.  Prosecutors systematically leaked Grand Jury information to an unauthorized persons and the grand jury acted without proper authority.  Additional information can be found in the motions below:

STATEMENT ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S FRAUDULENT “CONSENT” FORM FOR ABORTED BABY PARTS

The Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives recently held its first hearing on March 2 to examine the bioethics of fetal tissue harvesting and experimentation. The hearing included a review of the patient consent form used by Planned Parenthood to get permission to harvest aborted baby parts.

The Planned Parenthood form promises pregnant women considering abortion that aborted fetal tissue “has been used to treat and find a cure for such diseases as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and AIDS.” No cures for these diseases are currently available, and no current therapies for them use aborted fetal tissue.

At the hearing, Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, a scientist from the University of California at San Diego, was called by the Panel’s minority to testify in support of Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue harvesting. Dr. Goldstein is a long-time financial donor to Planned Parenthood in San Diego, and uses aborted fetal brains and other body parts from the local Planned Parenthood. Under oath, Dr. Goldstein replied to a question from Planned Parenthood supporter Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) this way:

Watson Coleman: Do you believe that anything on that form is creating an undue hardship or intimidation or misrepresentation to women who are being asked to consider whether they will donate this tissue?

Goldstein: If it’s the form that says, therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and all the rest have already been found, I agree, that’s an inappropriate statement that should not have been made on that form. I don’t know who wrote it, that would not have made it past my IRB [Institutional Review Board] either.

The Planned Parenthood fetal harvesting consent form is authored by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and provided to affiliates in its Manual of Medical Standards and Guidelines.

“Planned Parenthood’s baby parts trafficking scheme cannot stand up to independent scrutiny. When a Planned Parenthood supporter and baby parts customer admits under oath that Planned Parenthood has been fraudulently inducing patient consent, it discredits all of Planned Parenthood’s assurances that their baby parts scheme has operated legally and above-board,” notes David Daleiden, CMP Project Lead. “Law enforcement in Planned Parenthood-friendly jurisdictions should stop wasting taxpayer resources to assist Planned Parenthood in harassing citizen journalists, and should stop ignoring the evidence of real fraud, baby body parts trafficking, and criminal abortion practices right in their own backyard.”

CMP STATEMENT ON TESTIMONY FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD BABY PARTS BUYER AT HEARING

The star witness for Planned Parenthood at today’s hearing on the bioethics of fetal body parts harvesting, UC San Diego’s Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, obtains his aborted fetal brains from Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest in San Diego, CA. Dr. Goldstein is also a long-time financial donor to the same Planned Parenthood in San Diego. Neither of these critical facts are mentioned anywhere in Dr. Goldstein’s sworn written testimony for the hearing.

“This is more of the same from Planned Parenthood and their political cronies: a total lack of transparency and false advertising to cover up troubling revelations about their baby-parts-for-profit scheme,” says David Daleiden, CMP Project Lead. “In reality, Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded crime syndicate for baby parts harvesting is on full display in this hearing–a taxpayer-funded researcher at a government school harvesting brains from late-term babies at a state-subsidized Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. The Investigative Panel must ask Dr. Goldstein the hard questions about how much money he gave Planned Parenthood in exchange for aborted babies’ brains, and what Planned Parenthood may have done to their abortion process to accommodate his orders.”

Previous CMP release about Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest and fetal harvesting with Advanced Bioscience Resources: https://www.centerformedicalprogress.org/2015/09/planned-parenthood-baby-parts-vendor-abr-pays-off-clinics-intact-fetuses-just-fell-out/

Planned Parenthood Orange County Changes Abortions to Harvest Intact Fetuses for Local Company’s “Fetal Products” Sales

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ORANGE COUNTY CHANGES ABORTIONS TO HARVEST INTACT FETUSES FOR LOCAL COMPANY’S “FETAL PRODUCTS”
Medical Director Jennefer Russo Admits “We Try” For Intact “Specimens” in Up to 6-Month Abortions at Planned Parenthood in Orange, CA So Local Company Da Vinci Bio Can Harvest and Sell Body Parts

Contact: Peter Robbio, probbio@crcpublicrelations.com, 703.683.5004

IRVINE, March 1–A new undercover video shows the relationship between Planned Parenthood’s late-term abortion clinic in Orange County and a local for-profit biotech company, Da Vinci Biosciences, to harvest the organs of aborted fetuses to sell nationally and internationally.

The video, produced by The Center for Medical Progress, highlights a conversation between Dr. Jennefer Russo, the Medical Director at Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties, and citizen journalists from The Center for Medical Progress posing as a for-profit fetal tissue company similar to Da Vinci. Dr. Russo performs abortions up to 24 weeks at Planned Parenthood’s abortion center in Orange, CA.

Russo confirms that her Planned Parenthood affiliate is currently working with a local biotech company to supply aborted fetal body parts: “Yeah, it’s Da Vinci,” she states. Da Vinci Biosciences, LLC, and its sister company, DV Biologics, LLC, are located in Orange County, CA and have been partnered with the local Planned Parenthood affiliate since 2008. Planned Parenthood Orange & San Bernardino Counties’ 2008 Annual Report lists Da Vinci Biosciences as one of the major financial donors to the abortion group.

“They take the whole specimen,” Russo explains about Da Vinci. Russo asks the undercover buyer, “You’re looking ideally for an intact specimen?” “As intact as possible,” the buyer replies.

In the first CMP undercover video, Planned Parenthood’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, described using an ultrasound-guided procedure to flip the fetus to feet-first position in order to get intact specimens. When asked about using this procedure to harvest more intact body parts, Orange County’s Russo confesses, “Yeah, we like to do that too.”

Using ultrasound guidance to manipulate the fetus from vertex to breech orientation before intact extraction is the hallmark of the illegal partial-birth abortion procedure (18 U.S.C. 1531). Nucatola previously recommended Russo and Planned Parenthood in Orange County as good prospective partners for fetal body parts harvesting.

Russo also divulges that her Planned Parenthood affiliate is not using digoxin, the chemical used as feticide in later 2nd-trimester abortions to kill the fetus and prevent a live birth, due to a nationwide supply shortage. Without a feticidal procedure like digoxin, it is possible for a fetus extracted intact during an abortion to be born alive.

Asked a second time about producing intact fetuses in late 2nd-trimester cases for organ harvesting, Russo admits, “It happens sometimes, but it’s pretty rare.” She continues with a smile, “But, we try.”

A secret-shopper phone call to Da Vinci Biosciences confirms that Planned Parenthood’s latest cases are being done without feticide. When a caller asks for fetal brain from 18 to 24 weeks gestation, a Da Vinci sales representative assures, “It is feticide-free, considering that we have such a large catalogue of fetal tissue, I believe that would be a requirement for us, in order to have so many fetal products available.”

Invoices show Da Vinci Biosciences charging $350 for fetal liver, $500 for fetal thymus, and $750 for fetal brain. The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2).

“Although Planned Parenthood’s political and PR cronies work overtime to cover-up the revelations of its illicit baby parts trade, Planned Parenthood’s interstate criminal scheme to harvest and sell aborted baby parts continues without any transparency or accountability,” notes David Daleiden, CMP Project Lead. “The fact that a community like Orange County, CA, is open for business for baby body parts makes clear the need for law enforcement and elected officials to hold Planned Parenthood accountable,” Daleiden says. “And as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a landmark abortion business regulation case, Planned Parenthood’s baby parts scheme sends an urgent message about the critical need for States to have strong regulatory authority over the abortion industry.”

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See the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwn0QBhy2TQ

Tweet: #PPSellsBabyParts

For more information on the Human Capital project, visit centerformedicalprogress.orgThe Center for Medical Progress is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances.

Planned Parenthood ally National Abortion Federation Suggests “Group Purchasing Program” for Fetal Parts Company, Payments “A Win-Win” for Clinics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION SUGGESTS “GROUP PURCHASING PROGRAM” FOR FETAL PARTS COMPANY, PAYMENTS “A WIN-WIN” FOR CLINICS
Planned Parenthood-allied NAF Coordinated Payments with Planned Parenthood, Took Money from StemExpress, Suing Investigative Journalists to Suppress Tapes

Contact: Peter Robbio, probbio@crcpublicrelations.com, 703.683.5004

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 8–Previously unreleased covert video of representatives of the National Abortion Federation shows the Planned Parenthood-allied group suggesting a “group purchasing program” to supply aborted fetal tissue to buyers and encouraging them to exhibit at its annual meeting. NAF is currently seeking to permanently enjoin The Center for Medical Progress from releasing any footage obtained at its annual meetings in 2014 and 2015.

The new footage shows NAF’s Training & Education representatives, responsible for planning the organization’s abortion trade shows, in conversation with actors posing as representatives of a start-up company to harvest and sell aborted fetal body parts.

When the actors explain, “We do donate the fees that we get from our researchers, we give a portion back to the clinics as just a thank you for letting us come in,” one NAF representative replies, “Yeah, it definitely sounds like something some our members would be really interested in.” The second NAF representative affirms this kickback arrangement to split the money from fetal parts as “a win-win” for the abortion clinics.

Both NAF representatives also suggest that the purported fetal body part harvesting company exhibit at NAF’s annual meeting and join NAF’s group purchasing program as an approved vendor for its member abortion clinics: “We have an exhibit hall and then we also have the general conference. But I mean, this is a very great way to talk to our members. We have a group purchasing program through our membership,” says one, “So it seems like this would be a really great option to be able to offer our members as well.”

In other previously released footage, Cate Dyer, the CEO of StemExpress, which advertised “financial profits” for abortion clinics in a brochure to supply fetal tissue, admits her company “gives money” to NAF as well. Deborah VanDerhei, the National Director of the Consortium of Abortion Providers (CAPS) at Planned Parenthood, says, “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,” for fetal parts.

“From the very first moment the National Abortion Federation met purported baby parts traffickers in our investigative journalism study, NAF was eager for them to attend its meetings and pay its member clinics for fetal body parts,” notes David Daleiden, Project Lead at CMP. “Multiple Planned Parenthood executives and the leadership of StemExpress told our investigators many times that NAF was a key partner for fetal tissue harvesting. The fact is, the National Abortion Federation is a key accomplice in Planned Parenthood and StemExpress’ scheme to profit off baby body parts, and for this reason they are desperate to suppress the freedom of the citizen press and cover up the evidence of their illicit dealings.”

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See the new video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PG2LxCKW-U

To learn more about The Center for Medical Progress, visit CMP.org
The Center for Medical Progress is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances.

CMP Statement on Planned Parenthood-allied NAF’s Attack on First Amendment with Preliminary Injunction Gag Order

Similar to other corporate outlaws, Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation continue to use oppressive litigation to suppress the evidence of their corrupt baby-parts-for-profit scheme. We will appeal this ruling and seek all legal remedies to vindicate our free speech rights, and those of all Americans, against Planned Parenthood and NAF’s extremist attacks on the First Amendment.

Planned Parenthood Houston Admits Accounting Gimmicks Hide Baby Parts Sales, Invoices Charge Thousands of Dollars

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLANNED PARENTHOOD HOUSTON ADMITS ACCOUNTING GIMMICKS HIDE BABY PARTS SALES, INVOICES TO UTMB CHARGE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Director of Research Melissa Farrell Explains Abortion Group “Worded” Fetal Specimen Line Item as “Patient Consent” to Skirt Law, Agrees to Financial Profit from Sales: “We Definitely Want to Do That”

Contact: Peter Robbio, probbio@crcpublicrelations.com, 703.683.5004

HOUSTON, Feb. 3–A new video at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast and newly-released documents from a Texas Public Information Act request show how Planned Parenthood used accounting gimmicks to hide its illegal sale of fetal tissue.

The video highlights previously overlooked footage from the April 9, 2015 site visit of investigative journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt from The Center for Medical Progress to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s abortion center in Houston. The site visit took place with PPGC Director of Research Melissa Farrell, who has overseen the organization’s fetal tissue supply program since 2006.

“We had two levels of invoicing for them. We had it worded as ‘per consent,’” explains Farrell as she describes a previous fetal tissue deal that took place at PPGC. Farrell indicates that “per consent” is the phrase used in PPGC budgeting in place of “per specimen” for fetal tissue.

Farrell is aware that while a patient may consent to supply fetal tissue, the specimen itself may not be useable for experimentation: “There’s probably some situations where somebody would consent and then just not, we didn’t get a sample, or she changed her mind, or something happened to the specimen.”

Addressing this dilemma, Daleiden says: “Now obviously, we don’t want to end up paying for material that we can’t use,” and suggests that there be a line item fee of “something else that represents the specimens.” “Obviously,” Farrell agrees, “Yep. Yeah.”

“I just don’t want it to turn into a situation that is not financially beneficial for you,” says Merritt. “Yeah, yeah. And we’ll, I’ll take you up on that. I’ll take you up on that. I’ll take you up on that,” Farrell repeats three times, laughing, and continues, “We definitely want to do that, because that’s what staff and management need to see.”

The video also includes footage of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast CEO Melaney Linton advising that Farrell will “work on all of that with you” when it comes to “remuneration” and “compensation” for fetal tissue. Farrell told Daleiden and Merritt during lunch that her department “contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here.”

The system of accounting gimmicks and dual invoicing for “consent” payments in place of fetal specimens that Melissa Farrell describes in the video bears a striking resemblance to invoices submitted by Farrell on behalf of PPGC to the University of Texas Medical Branch in 2010 and 2011. In these documents, obtained through a Public Information Act request, two PPGC invoices for the exact same billing period charge $25 per “Consents obtained,” with a total quantity of 32, and in the same time period charges $150 per “Consent payment” for a smaller quantity of 25. This is consistent with a scheme where Planned Parenthood charged $25 to consent abortion patients to supply fetal tissue, and then charged another $150 for each usable fetal specimen that UTMB could procure.

The total billing from Planned Parenthood for this tissue procurement was over $8,000. The sale, offer to sell, or transfer of human fetal tissue for valuable consideration is a crime under Texas Penal Code 48.02. Planned Parenthood is currently under investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Texas Department of Health, and the U.S. Congress for violations relating to its treatment of aborted infants and aborted body parts sales.

“The evidence that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast charged exorbitant amounts of taxpayer money in exchange for fetal specimens that it provided at nearly zero cost is overwhelming,” notes David Daleiden, CMP Project Lead. “Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton need to send a strong message that Houston’s children are not for sale, and they must immediately appoint a special prosecutor to hold Planned Parenthood accountable to the law.”

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Watch the new video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U9mZyRCisM

To learn more about The Center for Medical Progress, visit CMP.org
The Center for Medical Progress is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances.

CMP Statement on Planned Parenthood Invoices for Aborted Fetal Specimens

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Director of Research, Melissa Farrell, has overseen their program selling aborted fetal parts over the past 10 years. Farrell admitted on camera to undercover investigators that PPGC “worded” the per-specimen charges for fetal specimens as “per consent” in order to “frame” the project budget in a way that will look legal “on paper.” Whether the “consent fee” for fetal tissue is $25 or $150, it is completely outside the letter and spirit of Texas Penal Code 48.02. Farrell even suggests that a “per consent” payment can accommodate situations where a fetal specimen is unusable so a buyer would not pay for low-quality fetal parts–a clear admission that the payments are based on market value of the fetal specimens, not on reimbursement of actual costs. Now, Texas taxpayers can see the illegal proxy payments for fetal specimens on PPGC’s own invoices to UT Medical Branch, which either inexplicably jumped from $25 per specimen to $150 per specimen over the course of one year, or demonstrate an illegal scheme to make extra money off of usable specimens. Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton must hold Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast accountable for their flagrant violation of the Texas Penal Code and their abuse of Texas taxpayers’ dollars.

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Transcript of Melissa Farrell, PPGC from time count 09:54:52 to 10:01:08 in PPGC Site Visit:

Buyer: Yeah. Off the top of your do you happen to remember, or I don’t know if we can talk about this, the, like, per-specimen what compensation was like from Amphioxus, just so we have kind of a ballpark idea.

PP: I don’t. That one, would definitely be different.

Buyer: Right, because they are pretty different. I’m just thinking in terms of, like a paired liver-thymus from a single donor, what we might be looking at for that.

PP: Yeah. Because we had two levels of invoicing for them, we’ve had it worded as “per consent,” because the consent process was the administrative part that we had to do, and then we had an overall administrative fee for basically working it into the clinics themselves. And at the time, “per consent” was $25. And that also covered if a patient consented to be in the study and then for whatever reason, we didn’t get a sample, or she changed her mind, because I see, I didn’t do that budget. It was, existed when I got here. So there’s probably some situations where somebody would consent and then just not, we didn’t get a sample or she changed her mind or something happened to the specimen or I can’t think of it off the top of my head. But we technically can’t, ethically I don’t think they were, based on what I’m reading here, I think it’s paying for the specimen itself, that language that we–

Buyer: Right. On paper, it has to be massaged a little.

PP: Yes. Yeah. Yes. So, the consent process is what is unique to the visit, is consenting the patient.

Buyer: Right. Now obviously, we don’t want to end up paying for material that we can’t use

PP: Obviously.

Buyer: And that might be, so if there’s a certain, like, consent fee and then something else that represents the specimens–

PP: Mhm. Yep. Yeah. I think definitely a, a-la-carte approach would be the best. Because if there’s, say for instance your project with the sickle cell. If there’s a level of screening that has to happen so there’s not everyone that comes in needs to be approached, that involves time and so something for the screening. And then any paperwork that has to be done that’s unique to donating the tissue. And then anything that is unique in the processing. So anything that is standard of care, that’s going to be standard, stays the same and is not billable. Anything that is going to be specific to acquiring the specimens, then that would be–

Buyer: Yeah.

Buyer: And so then that’s what we would want to make sure is your compensation would be higher for that specimen, and then how we say that, how we–

PP: Yes. How we frame it, I think is important too. I think that we’re not altering anything, and that it’s clear that we’re not altering anything, even if the procedure itself there’s a modification in how they do it, it’s still the same procedure, but we’re doing it in a way that we preserve the integrity of the specimen, I think is, yeah. Something that we can definitely discuss that with Tram.

Buyer: It sounds like what can probably happen is we can kind of give you our needs–

PP: Mhm.

Buyer: And sort of how in our, according to our budgeting and our practical use kind of how we look at everything–

PP: Mhm.

Buyer: And then you guys can kind of translate that–

PP: Yes.

Buyer: You know, translate that into something that looks good on paper. [laughter]

PP: Yep. Yeah. And you know, again, knowing that I think the biggest thing is staff and management want to see that costs are covered.

Buyer: Mhm.

PP: You know? And obviously, from our model, and ideally, in my context of budgeting for crazy, budgeting for crazy also includes making sure we budget for some things that we just can’t predict for. Okay, we think that this thing is gonna take this time, and we’ll take the, go through the steps of starting to time it, but then maybe when we actually start implementing, then like you had suggested, “Hey, come back to me,” because we find that this particular step, when we’re using that actual product, or the actual instrument, we have to do this, this, and this to get it instead of it just being one step. And we definitely take that into consideration. We try to do everything we can on this end to role play it and time it and–

Buyer: Mhm, mhm. I just don’t want it to turn into a situation where it’s not financially beneficial for you.

PP: Yeah, yeah. And we’ll, I’ll take you up on that. I’ll take you up on that. We definitely want to do that. Because that’s what staff and management need to see. Is that we’re not underwriting anybody’s project. And I go to great efforts to demonstrate what the cost, actual cost is to us–to whomever asks–and then, this is what is budgeted. So they know, okay, you’re covering costs, there’s margin, that’s covering overhead, or whatever we need, just to make sure everything is covered.

Buyer: Right, and so then when we’re coming in and making it beneficial to you financially–

PP: Mhm.

Buyer: You can frame it so that that’s–

PP: Mhm. Yes.

Buyer: Okay.

PP: Yeah.

Buyer: Because that’s how we’re going to keep you happy, right?

PP: Yes. Yes.

Buyer: To make sure that financially–

PP: Yes.

Buyer: You’re growing your clinic–

PP: Mhm.

Buyer: And however you need to say that, framing that on the other end.

PP: Mhm. Yes.