Congressional testimony by Planned Parenthood's president failed to satisfy the concerns of lawmakers and pro-life advocates in the wake of undercover videos providing evidence the organization trades in baby body parts.
Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), denounced charges — apparently of unethical or illegal activity by her organization — based on the videos as "offensive and categorically untrue" in a House of Representatives hearing Sept. 29.
Richards did not directly address a question about manipulation of the abortion procedure to procure body parts. Richards also said the person who testified on a video about the dissection of a child outside the womb is not a Planned Parenthood employee and no such event has occurred at one of its clinics.
The executive’s testimony fell far short of clearing PPFA of the troubling evidence on the videos, said Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist Convention's lead ethicist.
"Nothing that Ms. Richards said before Congress removes any of the deeply disturbing signs that we've seen pointing to an industry of human trafficking within Planned Parenthood clinics," said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). "Further, she consistently dodged important questions about the prominence of abortion in Planned Parenthood's revenue and about Planned Parenthood's practices toward infants who survive abortions.”
The hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee followed the release of 10 secretly recorded videos that show various Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of organs from aborted children. The videos recorded and released by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) also display PPFA employees acknowledging their willingness to manipulate the abortion procedure to preserve body parts for sale and use. In addition, the videos include evidence of the dissection of live babies outside the womb to remove organs.
Rep. Diane Black, R.-Tenn., sponsor of a bill to defund PPFA, said the hearing "further confirmed my belief that Planned Parenthood has skirted the law and should not be funded by hardworking taxpayers."
Black's legislation, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, gained passage from the House in a 241–187 vote Sept. 18. The bill would place a one-year moratorium on federal money for PPFA and its affiliates while Congress investigates the organization. Black's legislation, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, gained passage from the House in a 241-187 vote Sept. 18. The bill would place a one-year moratorium on federal money for PPFA and its affiliates while Congress investigates the organization.
In a written statement, CMP said Richards' "evasive testimony will only prolong the controversy over this corrupt and unaccountable organization, while taxpayers continue to foot the bill for their expanding late-term abortion business and baby parts harvesting chop-shop."
PPFA, the country's leading abortion provider, received more than $528 million in government grants, contracts and reimbursements, according to its latest financial report (2013–14). Its affiliates performed more than 327,000 abortions during 2013. (BP)
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