Utah has become the fifth state to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business after six videos were released showing the body parts of aborted babies being sold for money to research organizations.
About 12 states have responded to the six undercover videos showing senior executives at Planned Parenthood negotiating prices for fetal body parts. The 12 states--South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana--have launched investigations into the abortion and organ harvesting business.
One of the videos, which the Planned Parenthood spokespersons claim are "heavily edited," shows the Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, explaining to actors posing as buyers from a human biologics company the use of illegal partial birth abortions to get stable body parts, knowing the risks involved and taking steps to cover it.
Another video shows Planned Parenthood doctor Mary Gatter discussing the price of an aborted baby body part, and telling the biotech company officials that prices for such things as a baby's liver, head or heart are negotiable.
The video shows Nucatola saying how the heads of unborn babies killed in abortions are the costliest. Following are the excerpts of her alleged conversation with the activists posing as buyers who ask her the reason for the price differences of organs:
"How much of a difference can that actually make, if you know kind of what's expected, or what we need?" asks the posing buyer.
"It makes a huge difference.. I'd say a lot of people want liver," Nucatola responds. "And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they'll know where they're putting their forceps. The kind of rate-limiting step of the procedure is calvarium. Calvarium-the head-is basically the biggest part... We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact.. And with the calvarium, in general, some people will actually try to change the presentation so that it's not vertex. So if you do it starting from the breech presentation, there's dilation that happens as the case goes on, and often, the last step, you can evacuate an intact calvarium at the end."
Center for Medical Progress, the pro-life organization, is behind the six-part videos. The latest video features Holly O'Donnell, a licensed phlebotomist who took a job as "procurement technician" at the fetal tissue company StemExpress in late 2012, which acts as a middleman of body parts of aborted babies from Planned Parenthood to sell to research universities and other buyers.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert said that "allegations against Planned Parenthood are deeply troubling." The state's Department of Health was issued orders to cease sending federal funds to Planned Parenthood as the videos are being investigated.
Utah law already prohibits any organization from directing state funds to abortions, but the new restrictions will apply to Planned Parenthood's federal grants, Herbert said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Arkansas has ended state Medicaid funds to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The other states to have followed the decision are Alabama, New Hampshire, and Louisiana.
Planned Parenthood told The Salt Lake Tribune that defunding federal money to its abortion programs could inhibit victim compensations, and that other providers may not be qualified to provide the same services.
The organization further said that the federal money does not go towards paying for abortion services.
