New footage released by the Center for Medical Progress and it’s founder David Daleiden reveals Planned Parenthood officials admitting under oath their involvement in business transactions selling fetal tissue from aborted babies, calling into question whether the nation’s largest abortion provider violated federal law.
Invoices unsealed in April 2020 from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte showed the clinic received $55 per “useable” organ delivered to tissue procurement organization Stem Express, contradicting previous claims by Planned Parenthood officials that the payment was only to cover transportation fees.
New video of these officials’ testimony shows their involvement in the deals with tissue companies like Stem Express. Tram Nguyen, the Abortion Center Director for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, admits “I wanted to move forward with it” when confronted with an email she sent about a contract for fetal tissue. This contradicts the Planned Parenthood affiliate’s insistence that the offer had been “rebuffed” when asked by Congress about the contract.
Other testimony, from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debora Furgeson, refers to emails Furgeson received about the clinic’s arrangement with the company Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) and an opportunity to begin working with StemExpress, which offered more financial incentive. “Stem Ex would like to start collecting samples…ABR has only shown up on Tuesday’s, a couple of times in the last month or two,” the email says. Furgeson responded that she would terminate the arrangement with ABR.
In the recently unsealed testimony, when asked if “there was any discussion about whether or not StemExpress would send technicians to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte health centers on more days a week than ABR would have,” Furgeson responded in the affirmative. StemExpress brochures advertise their arrangements as “financially profitable” and generating “fiscal growth” to participating clinics. Under oath, Furgeson also confirmed that the clinic would only receive payment if the fetal tissue was deemed usable by Stem Express, again contradicting Planned Parenthood’s claims that it was not a fee, but the cost of transmitting material.
The Center for Medical Progress also cited notes from a national Planned Parenthood meeting revealing that national officials knew some clinics were “receiving payments” for abortive tissue programs. Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the Senior Director of Medical Services for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, testified that “they wanted us to know that they were working with StemExpress and thought that it was a good relationship and wanted to know if there was a way to let other affiliates know about the opportunity.”
PPFA responded by sending guidance reminding clinics of the federal law against selling fetal tissue, but Nucatola admitted that she never followed up on the guidance even though she was aware of the sales. “I knew [the Los Angeles clinic] was getting payments because I was a provider there.”
Undercover footage released by Center for Medical Progress in 2015 revealed Planned Parenthood officials graphically discussing the sale of fetal tissue, although PPFA categorically denied evidence and claimed Daleiden “heavily” edited his footage. In a lawsuit over the methods in which the videos were obtained, a federal jury in California sided with Planned Parenthood, but Daleiden has appealed the decision and expects it to be reversed.
