Planned Parenthood told Congress Monday that a secretly recorded video released last week by an anti-abortion group is fraudulent and part of a years-long pattern of illegal harassment aimed at prohibiting abortion.
In a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Planned Parenthood said it fell victim to a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services that posed as a buyer of human tissues. It was actually created by David Daleiden, an official of the group that released the video, and was engaged in “a campaign of corporate espionage” targeting Planned Parenthood, the letter said.
“A group of extremists who have intimidated women and doctors for years — in their agenda to ban abortion completely — are not ‘documenting’ misdeeds; they are trying to create them, quite unsuccessfully,” Planned Parenthood wrote to lawmakers.
In a show of defiance — at least for now — Planned Parenthood also told the House committee that it has not yet decided whether it will honor lawmakers’ request for a briefing by Dr. Deborah Nucatola, who speaks at length in the video about obtaining fetal tissue for research. Nucatola is the organization’s senior director of medical services.
Planned Parenthood’s letter represents its fullest response so far to that video, which was released last week by the Center for Medical Progress.
Biomax activities included trying to induce Planned Parenthood centers to sell fetal organs for up to $1,600, the letter said, which would likely violate laws banning commercial fetal tissue sales. Those efforts were rejected, according to the letter.
In addition, the letter says Daleiden was involved in secretly recording Planned Parenthood staff and patients at least 65 times over the last eight years. That could yield thousands of hours of recordings that Daleiden could heavily edit to make false charges, the letter said.
Daleiden did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
But in a statement on its website, the center said Planned Parenthood’s initial decision against sending Nucatola to the House committee shows “contempt for the law against selling baby parts.” It said the center “follows all applicable laws” in its investigations and said it plans to release “more clear evidence” that Planned Parenthood profits from selling fetal organs.
Planned Parenthood wrote that Daleiden launched Biomax three years ago, even setting up exhibits at Planned Parenthood conferences. The group wrote that it still doesn’t know “the full extent of Biomax’s illicit conduct.”
Biomax’s activities included entering an area where fetal tissue is processed, where any recording would be “an extremely serious invasion of our patients’ privacy and dignity,” the letter said.
In last week’s video, Nucatola discusses how the group sometimes provides tissue from aborted fetuses for medical research. That conversation, over wine and lunch, was with two actors posing as purchasers of fetal organs and was recorded last July, according to the center.
A nine-minute excerpt the center posted online shows Nucatola saying her organization charges $30 to $100 for such procedures. But in the full version lasting more than two hours, she repeatedly says those prices only cover the procedures’ costs, are not for profit and are only performed with the patient’s consent.
Anti-abortion groups, members of Congress and some Republican presidential hopefuls have used the recording to assail Planned Parenthood, including accusing it of possible illegal activity such as harvesting fetal organs for profit. Planned Parenthood says it has done nothing illegal.
The Energy and Commerce Committee is one of three Republican-led congressional panels that has begun looking into the video. That panel has asked for a briefing this month by Nucatola.
But Planned Parenthood’s letter says it would send a team headed by a different official. Citing GOP politicians’ allegations of possibly illegal activity, the group said it was consulting attorneys about letting Nucatola appear and is “still assessing this aspect of your request.”
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This story has been corrected to show that Daleiden, not Biomax, was involved in secret recordings over past eight years, according to Planned Parenthood’s letter.
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Copyright © 2015 Capitol Hill Blue
Copyright © 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
17 thoughts on “Pattern of harassment by abortion foes”
If they said anything untrue sue them for defamation. If they are telling the truth then PP should be shut down for breaking federal law and everyone who attributed to it should be arrested. So is it defamation or the truth?
So, Planned Parenthood lied again. What’s new? The President of PP one said on TV that PP does mammograms. Call your PP and ask when you can get one, and they will tell you they don’t do mammograms. They have NEVER done mammograms. They don’t have the equipment or the people. Ask if they follow the same guidelines hospitals follow for cleanliness. They will lie and say they do, but if the local authorities try to apply those same standards to PP, they claim they should not be held to the same standards as all other clinics and hospitals. Ask how many women they have died while undergoing abortions in their facilities. They will lie again. Taxpayers give PP over $500million per year to supposedly do what all insurance policies are now required to do — provide birth control counseling and supplies. They even use threats to force other charitable organizations like the Susan J Komen Foundation to give them $millions, while recently released videos prove conclusively that they perform late term partial-birth abortions in violation of the law. They also protect child molesters by failing to report the names of men who have raped young girls and then brought them to Planned Parenthood for abortions, in violation of the law.
they are just upset they got caught not that they are harvesting baby parts . They love to tell women that it is not a viable human being so why is it viable enough to sell of his /her parts?
The video wasn’t dubbed no words where taking out of context. No harm no foul. Someone needs to tell their employees to keep their mouth shut.
“A lie in service to the Truth” is a non-starter.
I’m a republican, but those abortion activists are down right nuts.
Nevermind the fact the video also uncovers the fact that they’re using illegal abortion practices for convenience of harvesting as well…this whole practice is morally abhorrent.
Good job, deflect, it makes credible evidence look like the work of wackos.
What’s that i see in the photo? Women protesting against abortion? I thought abortion was about rights for women. I guess some women see babies as more important than casual sex.
the lady admitted it on video, now they want to get away with it. I wish all those that work for pp, would have been stillborn, then they wouldn’t have the baby killing mills
Give me a break! Planned parenthood does not care about life or they would not do abortions. They enjoy killing babies and would use any excuse to do so.
Don’t like abortions- don’t get one. Please leave that holier than thou crap at home. You people don’t care about these children once born. You just need something to take the place of slavery or what it afforded the many busy-bodies- running another person life.You don’t want women to get birth control but you also want to deny them abortions if they so choose. Your not going to stop a woman who feels she must have it with your ugly rants and intrusion.
What did you expect from organization which makes a living on killing babies?
Planned Parenthood also told the House committee that it has not yet decided whether it will honor lawmakers’ request for a briefing by Dr. Deborah Nucatola,
What are they hiding if they won’t speak?
they got caught, they lied about what is real and what was not and now they will loose all federal funding and state funding thereby destroying Planned Parenthood. Thank God!
This is a bunch of lies, but then of course, from Planned Parenthood, what would one expect. Pro-Life people, which I am, are trying to save lifes, not kill them because someone does not value their unborn child or someone just didn’t take the time to protect themselves from getting pregnant, like using a pill or how about just saying no???? Sick people who agree that abortion is OK, when all it is murder for convenience sake!!!!! Then again, we all have to answer for the things we do in the end!!!!!
They are just speaking to a brick wall, The Republicans does not care about PP because they are against abortion, and they will use anything they can to get rid of it. Putting all of these stupid restriction on PP and women. I doubt they will get anything their way PP. PP does a great job in helping women and men get testing for STD, hepatic C, pap smears, breast exams, refer them to doctor or hospital to get mammograms etc etc etc.
This video shows to the whole world the extent that the U.S.A. has fallen into grave sin where it not only kills its children through abortion but than seeks to sell the babies body parts for money.
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