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Washington, D.C.  – On Monday, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released deposition footage of Planned Parenthood employees which confirms that its abortionists intentionally use illegal partial-birth abortion methods to obtain intact fetal body parts. Partial-birth abortion uses ultrasound to flip a baby to feet-first (breech) presentation for premature delivery. Once the baby’s body is outside the mother, the abortionist then collapses the baby’s head by suctioning the baby’s brain, or by using tools to crush the baby’s skull. This gruesome practice was banned by Congress in 2003, and this ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2007.

In a 2014 undercover video, CMP investigators captured abortionist Debora Nucatola, formerly Planned Parenthood National’s senior director of medical services, describing partial-birth abortion methods she and other abortionists used to obtain intact fetal body parts, including changing the presentation of the baby. Nucatola later told Congress that neither she nor any Planned Parenthood abortionist would ever perform a partial-birth abortion “intentionally.” Yet in a 2019 deposition, Nucatola attempted to contradict her 2014 statements, but confirmed that Planned Parenthood abortionists place their forceps “above and below the thorax” to obtain intact fetal tissue “if that’s the desire.”

In a 2015 undercover video, CMP captured abortionist Planned Parenthood abortionist Mary Gatter admitting to “violating the patient protocol” that assures women there will be no changes to the abortion techniques made for the purpose of obtaining blood or tissue. Gatter admitted to using a “specious little argument” to change techniques to “get an intact specimen.” Yet in her 2019 deposition, Gatter tried to distinguish between changes to the “procedure,” the “method,” and the “technique.” Gatter admitted in her 2019 deposition that when she worked for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, she and the organization knew there were “legal question marks” about whether they could obtain tissue by using different “techniques.” 

Federal law prohibits altering the “timing, method, or procedures used to terminate a pregnancy” solely for the purpose of obtaining fetal tissue. (42 U.S.C. § 289g). 

CMP founder David Daleiden stated in a press release: “Using ultrasound guidance to manipulate the fetus from vertex to breech orientation before intact extraction is the hallmark of the illegal partial-birth abortion procedure (18 U.S.C. 1531)…” To date, the Department of Justice has not provided Americans with an update on the status of its actions to hold Planned Parenthood accountable to the law, and Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide continue to pocket hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars each year.

Lila Rose, Founder and President of Live Action, stated: 

“It is far past time for the Department of Justice to prosecute Planned Parenthood for its criminality and to finally end the abortion giant’s unbridled defiance of federal law that prohibits the sale of baby body parts under 42 U.S.C. § 289g. Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry’s atrocities — the slaughter of over 2,300 preborn children every day — represents the worst of America. America must lead the way in protecting the most vulnerable — and the Department of Justice can start by prosecuting Planned Parenthood.”

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