Analysis

Planned Parenthood is breaking the law by killing babies born alive

The seventh and most shocking Planned Parenthood video yet was released by the Center for Medical Progress. Whistleblower Holly O’Donnell describes how a born-alive baby boy was put to death outside his mother’s womb in a flagrantly illegal and sadistic manner.

Though his heart pulsed with life, a medical technician at the Planned Parenthood Alameda abortion clinic in San Jose, California, used scissors to cut open his face. The purpose? To harvest his complete brain. Once the technician had started to slice open this baby boy’s face, she handed the scissors to O’Donnell, instructing her to finish opening the boy’s head and then, to pull out his brain.

The boy’s brain was sold to StemExpress. Records show that intact, complete fetal brains can be sold for at least $999.

When America allows abortion, America allows the murder of living, born babies. Despite the laws making such actions illegal, CMP’s undercover videos force the public to question how often Planned Parenthood may be breaking the law to complete their business transactions. Novogenix, another fetal parts business that works with Planned Parenthood, admitted on tape that some babies are harvested for parts although their hearts are beating, after being born alive.

Let’s look at why Planned Parenthood and StemExpress should be prosecuted for the death of this baby and others who are murdered after a live birth.

How exactly is the law being broken? Most simply, when living, born babies are killed.

O’Donnell testified that she saw the baby boy’s heart beating. She testified that, even after this, the medical technician sliced his face open and told her to harvest the brain. We do not know for a certainty at what point the baby boy died, but we do know that he was living after the attempted abortion – a fact that, under California law, required Planned Parenthood to provide him with appropriate medical treatment and to not kill him.

Screen Shot 2015-08-19 at 9.22.13 AMDid the baby boy die a slow drowning, caused by being washed off in the water O’Donnell describes? Did he bleed to death, after the initial slice the technician made under his chin? Was it a shock-related death, caused by having his entire face cut open? Or did the baby boy’s death occur in the very final moment, when his active brain was pulled or cut from his head?

What we do know is that this baby boy was alive and that he was killed, according to California law. While O’Donnell states that she is unsure if the baby boy was alive or not, even though she saw his heart beating, the law is not unclear.

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Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 17, § 915 (2011) defines “live birth” as:

the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception (irrespective of the duration of pregnancy) which, after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached.

Note that, if the baby’s heart beats – at any age – outside the womb, the baby has “show[ed] evidence of life” according to California law. Thus, the baby O’Donnell speaks of was legally alive. He experienced a legal “live birth.”

Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 102100, 102400, and 102775 (2011) require that this baby boy should have been given both a birth and a death certificate. Planned Parenthood should be ordered to produce this.

Cal. Health & Safety Code § 123435 (2011) provides that “an infant prematurely ‘born alive’ in the course of an abortion has the same rights to medical treatment as an infant of similar medical status prematurely born spontaneously.” It is common knowledge that medical treatment of a living infant, prematurely born, does not include slicing open his face and pulling out his brain, to sell.

Yet, Planned Parenthood almost certainly does not have appropriate medical equipment to care for a premature baby born in its clinics. Whether or not the San Jose abortionist knew for a fact the baby was still alive after the abortion, he/she had a duty to find out, since the baby was born intact and intact babies are often alive.

Planned Parenthood also works closely with StemExpress and is almost certainly familiar with the company’s work practices. If it is not familiar, criminal negligence is raised, as any abortion doctor knows that babies may be born alive when digoxin is not used and abortion is attempted late in the second trimester, as in this case.

In effect, Planned Parenthood allows the killing of this baby – and others – to go on in its clinic(s), without fulfilling its legal obligation to treat living babies as prematurely born babies would be treated. Planned Parenthood is participating in the killing and is likely criminally liable for what the StemExpress technicians personally do, especially when an intact baby is swiftly handed off to the person known to cut open and piece out the baby’s organs. If the possibility of a live birth is not investigated by the abortionist, and the baby is later found to be alive, criminally negligent homicide has likely been committed.

For even more clarity on California law, let’s turn to Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 17, § 916 (2011), which defines “fetal death” as:

a death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated by the fact that after such separation, the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles.

Once again, a beating heart precludes a determination of death. Unfortunately, California only applies this beating heart standard to babies who are born. Preborn babies’ hearts begin to beat at a mere 22 days after fertilization, and science conclusively proves that a new, unique, human being has begun her life at the very moment of fertilization. Each baby, from her earliest moment, deserves equal protection under the law.

Yet, under current California law, the baby boy in the Planned Parenthood video did have a right to equal protection, as a living person. If a baby is born and his heart beats, he is alive and a person, under California law. Killing him or denying him proper medical care constitutes the murder of a living person.

Planned Parenthood and StemExpress should be investigated – perhaps by a grand jury – and almost certainly prosecuted, without delay.

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