The deception tactics employed in making a supposedly controversial video that purports to show an ob/gyn doctor offering to sell fetal body parts from aborted fetuses are, of course, as shady as the means used to take down ACORN.
...as Charles Johnson from Little Green Footballs pointed out, in what universe are human body parts sold for $30-$100? Perhaps Planned Parenthood is the Dollar Store of fetus organ trafficking, but I doubt it. It turns out that what the official was describing was a standard and very legal process of donating remains to bio-medical firms for research. The $30-$100 the official quoted was the cost of the travel and expense reimbursements given to Planned Parenthood workers who transport the specimens. In a statement, Planned Parenthood confirmed:
In some instances, actual costs, such as the cost to transport tissue to leading research centers, are reimbursed, which is standard across the medical field.
The creator of the video, by the way, is a group called Center for Medical Progress, run by a guy named David Daleiden, who happens to be friends with video con-artist James O’Keefe.
Daleiden, and his Center for Medical Progress, is not exactly oozing with credibility.
But the only thing the Center for Medical Progress appears to have done in the past two years is produce this undercover video investigation into Planned Parenthood. David Daleiden, a longtime anti-abortion activist and the center's founder, previously served as director of research for Live Action, the group that has released several sensational sting videos of Planned Parenthood over the past few years and appears to be solely dedicated to destroying the family planning provider.
Even Mitt Romney's portfolio contained a sizable investment in a fetal disposal company known as Stericycle, as fetal disposal is something that is highly regulated and supervised. This is not an industry based on black market sales of fetal tissue, this is an integral industry that has legitimate functions. But, the panel on Wallace's Fox News Sunday addresses this video (and the need for fetal tissue disposal) as if it were a legitimate reason to be outraged, as Fox is wont to do.
Not until 2:34 into the discussion does former Democratic Congresswoman, Jane Harman suggest that the video is doctored, and that mention receives absolutely zero recognition from the 'pro-life,' anti-woman panel. Jane simply said she won't support any manipulation of tissue from fetuses in the respect that they are sold on the black market. This bogus propaganda video elicited horror in Brit Hume, as this is a video that he claims, represents 'the culture of abortionists.'
Naturally, the panel gravitates to the potential impact this (fake) video has upon Hillary Clinton's campaign. The AP's Julie Pace said that Hillary most definitely will have to address this video, but this is based on the assumption that the video is a genuine production, not created using the sleazy tactics associated with GOP sting operations. Yet, several days before this segment aired, Planned Parenthood indicated this video was bogus.
“The promotional video mischaracterizing Planned Parenthood’s mission and services is made by a long time anti-abortion activist that has used deceptive and unethical video editing, and that has created a fake medical website as well as a fake human tissue website that purports to provide services to stem cell researchers,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement Tuesday.
Michael Needham, the CEO of Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation, was discussing how this is simply something that reallocates credibility to the Susan B. Komen Foundation, which attempted to defund Planned Parenthood, which backfired significantly. Needham was the 'mastermind' behind Ted Cruz's government shutdown which cost taxpayers $24 billion. Needham is steeped in white privilege and has never had to make a life or death decision based on financial means. He is the last person who should be addressing a woman's right to do what she wants with her own body. Michael Needham smugly predicts that Planned Parenthood will be defunded this September.
Jane Harman, much to my chagrin, went along with the panel like a good little Fox News 'liberal,' never again readdressing the bogus nature of the video. Harman tried to defend Planned Parenthood, but didn't go so far as to assert what she knew with respect to the fraudulent nature of the sting video. It was impossible to defend Planned Parenthood without defending the shocking practices of a doctor, but she had the means to do so and chose to keep quiet about it.
