Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry Tuesday slammed Planned Parenthood after California anti-abortion activists released a video showing a top organization official discussing the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses.
"The video showing a Planned Parenthood employee selling the body parts of aborted children is a disturbing reminder of the organization’s penchant for profiting off the tragedy of a destroyed human life," the former
Texas governor said in a statement.
"It is because of stories like this that I signed legislation defunding Planned Parenthood in the state of Texas — to protect human life and the health and safety of Texans."
The video was made covertly last year by the Center for Medical Progress, based in Irvine.
It depicts a lunchtime conversation between Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services, and anti-abortion activists posing as potential buyers for a human biologics company.
Nucatola is heard in the video referring to fetal hearts, lungs and livers and to efforts to retrieve these organs intact rather than crush them during an abortion procedure.
Commercial sale of human fetal tissue is illegal under federal law, but non-commercial tissue donation is allowed if the woman undergoing an abortion gives her consent.
Nucatola is heard in the video giving a range of monetary estimates. According to Planned Parenthood, which has national offices in New York and Washington, D.C., the doctor "was speculating on the range of reimbursement that patients can receive after stating they wish to donate any tissue after a procedure."
"At several of our health centers, we help patients who want to donate tissue for scientific research, and we do this just like every other high-quality healthcare provider does — with full, appropriate consent from patients and under the highest ethical and legal standards," said Planned Parenthood spokesman Eric Ferrero.
Ferrero said there is no financial benefit for tissue donation for the patient or for Planned Parenthood.
Nucatola also conveyed that point, saying in the video: "This is not something with any revenue stream that affiliates are looking at; this is a way to offer patients the services they want and do good for the medical community."
The Center for Medical Progress released the video in collaboration with several national anti-abortion organizations that called for a congressional investigation.
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal, who also is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, ordered the state health department to begin an investigation, even though Planned Parenthood does not perform abortions there.
The center's founder, David Daleiden, previously worked with the anti-abortion group Live Action, which has released several undercover videos aimed at discrediting Planned Parenthood.
Daleiden said the new video is the first in a planned series that culminates a nearly three-year investigation.
"Planned Parenthood's criminal conspiracy to make money off of aborted baby parts reaches to the very highest levels of their organization," stated Daleiden. "Elected officials must listen to the public outcry for Planned Parenthood to be held accountable to the law."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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