Planned Parenthood's Cavalier Attitude Toward Unborn Children on Full Display
WASHINGTON – On August 19 The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released another video in a series exposing the baby body part harvesting and trafficking conducted by affiliates of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation's largest abortion provider. This is the seventh such video released by CMP uncovering the gruesome nature of Planned Parenthood's huge abortion business.
"These videos again show horrific scenes in which Planned Parenthood executives cavalierly discuss the harvesting and pricing of baby parts" said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. "Planned Parenthood now commands more than one-third of the total abortion 'market,' and we fully support investigations into many aspects of this grisly business. Planned Parenthood equals abortion."
The series of videos by the Center for Medical Progress provides additional grounds for thorough investigation by congressional committees, and by appropriate authorities in affected states, as to whether infants are being born alive during abortion procedures, and then killed during the process of harvesting their organs.
Among other troubling elements, the video presents what is described as a recording of a remark by a top executive of a biotech firm stating, "So you know, there are times when after the procedure is done that the heart actually is still beating."
The federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA, Public Law 107-207) defines "born alive" as meaning "the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother of that member [of the species homo sapiens], at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion."
The federal law says that any "member of the species homo sapiens" who is "born alive," by this definition, is a "person" and a "child" for all federal law purposes. Note that BAIPA explicitly applies "at any stage of development" -- i.e., whether or not the baby's lung development has reached the point where long-term survival is possible ("viability").
These videos continue to highlight the need for legislation such as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, and has renewed efforts to end Planned Parenthood's taxpayer funding. Earlier this month, Senate Democrats blocked a measure (S. 1881), introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), that would cut off federal funding of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates. Several states, including Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, and New Hampshire, have moved to curtail state funding of Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest provider of abortions – at least one-third of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at Planned Parenthood-affiliated facilities. According to their most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood received at least $528 million annually from the federal government or other levels of government.
"After 42 years of abortion on demand, too many people have become numbed to the daily carnage and apathetic to the need for action." Tobias said. "The lives of these little ones have value simply because they are human. They need us to be their voices."
Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.
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