Planned Parenthood announced today that it will no longer accept any reimbursement for the fetal tissue it supplies to medical researchers, a move to distance itself from recent political attacks.
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The backlash was mostly due to the misconception that the organization was profiting off of its clients’ aborted foetuses, when in reality they were simply abiding by a law passed by Congress in 1993 that allows women who get abortions to donate the fetal tissue for use in scientific research, as per their discretion.
Planned Parenthood says the handful of its clinics that provide fetal tissue for medical research have complied with federal law allowing compensation for overhead costs but not profit. The decision was announced in a letter sent on Tuesday by Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, to the director of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Francis Collins.
“While Cecile Richards is quick to point out that her organization arrived at this decision out of political expediency rather than any sense of moral responsibility, it’s clear that Planned Parenthood no longer wishes to defend a practice that is so profoundly indefensible to the American public”, Schwertner said.
After repeatedly failing to defund Parenthood Parenthood without Democratic support, the House voted last week to create a special investigative panel that will soon have its own committee staff and budget to deepen its probe. It says the affiliate in Washington state already had a policy of accepting no reimbursement, and the California affiliate will now follow the same policy. The organization had also a few strong words in a written statement today, saying that this removes beyond the shadow of a doubt, the ludicrous idea that Planned Parenthood has any financial interest in fetal tissue donation and shows the real agenda behind these attacks.
“We’re not caving”, said Laguens.
“It is curious that, while Planned Parenthood officials maintain there has been no wrongdoing, they still find it necessary to change their policy”, Black said. Only about a half dozen of Planned Parenthood’s 700 US health centers participate in the fetal tissue program.
In the letter, Oregon Health & Science University said it did pay Advance Bioscience Laboratories, a Maryland-based research group, for 123 fetal parts that run $230-$340 apiece.
The initial attack video was released in mid-July by a group of anti-abortion activists who call themselves The Center for Medical Progress. “For Planned Parenthood, this was always about one thing – honoring the desire of women to contribute to lifesaving research”.
She characterized the videos and focus on Planned Parenthood as a “smokescreen” for a broader campaign against a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion, which was approved by the US Supreme Court in 1973. These groups, like Carolina Students for Life, might be well-intentioned, but they are, ultimately, perpetuating a culture that devalues female autonomy and the medical needs of many low-income people.
Planned Parenthood is often incorrectly stigmatized as an evil abortion factory, but the fact is that without it, unsafe abortions would still continue to happen.
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“Planned Parenthood is clearly anxious they may lose their massive taxpayer subsidy”, he added.
