“It’s Not an Option”: Planned Parenthood Fails on Consent to Harvest Baby Body Parts

In response to a series of disturbing videos exposing how Planned Parenthood harvests and sells the body parts of aborted babies, Democrats and supporters have oft-claimed the largest abortion provider in the nation gets consent from the would-be mothers to use the “”donations” for research. However, the second episode (viewable below) in the “Human Capital” documentary web series, produced by The Center for Medical Progress, casts serious doubt on that claim.

Holly O’Donnell, a former Blood and TIssue Procurement Technician, reveals how Planned Parenthood isn’t getting proper consent from would-be mothers for the harvesting of baby body parts. “It’s not an option, it’s a demand,” StemExpress supervisors told O’Donnell regarding how to approach pregnant women at Planned Parenthood to get consent for fetal tissue “donations.” O’Donnell says the StemExpress techs working in Planned Parenthood clinics sometimes harvested fetal parts without even obtaining consent from the patients.

“If there was a higher gestation, and the technicians needed it, there were times when they would just take what they wanted,” O’Donnell said. “And these mothers don’t know. And there’s no way they would know.”

O’Donnell claims Planned Parenthood gave StemExpress workers access to patient records and schedules so that the harvesting company could plan for the days when patient “supply” would be greatest. Even women merely requesting a pregnancy test at Planned Parenthood were considered part of the supply.

“They give you a sheet, and it’s everybody for that day, who’s coming in for an ultrasound, who’s coming in for an abortion, medical or a late-term abortion,” O’Donnell said. “Pregnancy tests are potential pregnancies, therefore potential specimens. So it’s just taking advantage of the opportunities.”

“Human Capital: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site,” follows the release of the fifth video and first in the new series. In “Planned Parenthood’s Black Market in Baby Parts,” an official at the Gulf Coast Planned Parenthood is caught on video willing to sell whole, 20-week baby bodies for intact baby body parts. The disturbing video shows the Director of Research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Melissa Farrell, advertising the Texas Planned Parenthood branch’s track record of fetal tissue sales, including its ability to alter procedures to deliver fully intact fetuses. Federal law prohibits any alteration in the timing or method of abortion, particularly for the purposes of fetal tissue collection (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).

The first video also featured Ms. O’Donnell, who as a procurement tech, had the job of identifying pregnant patients matching the specifications of StemExpress customers and to subsequently harvest the fetal body parts from their abortions.

“Experiences like Holly O’Donnell’s show that Planned Parenthood’s abortion and baby parts business is not a safe place where vulnerable women can be cared for, but a harvesting ground for saleable human ‘product,’” David Daleiden, the Project Lead at the Center for Medical Progress said in a statement. “Taxpayer subsidies to Planned Parenthood’s barbaric abortion business should be revoked immediately, and law enforcement and other elected officials must act decisively to determine the full extent of Planned Parenthood’s offensive practices and hold them accountable to the law.”