Planned Parenthood Caught Violating Same Law Against Organ Sales David Daleiden Was Indicted Over

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jan 29, 2016   |   6:05PM   |   Houston, TX

Just days after a Texas grand jury ignored evidence of Planned Parenthood selling aborted babies’ body parts and indited whistle blower David Daleiden instead, a pro-life group released new documents that appear to show the abortion chain billing for aborted babies’ body parts.

Attorney Brisco Cain, who represents Operation Rescue, released a series of invoices between Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast and the University of Texas Medical Branch on Thursday, showing charges ranging from $1,500 to $3,750 for “consent payments” that Planned Parenthood supplied to university researchers.

“Consent payments” mean aborted babies’ body parts, according to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Director of Research Melissa Farrell’s own statements, Daleiden pointed out.

In August, the Center for Medical Progress released an undercover video of Farrell explaining that Planned Parenthood uses the words “per consent” to charge for aborted babies’ body parts “in order to ‘frame’ the project budget in a way that will look legal ‘on paper,’” Daleiden said. Farrell has overseen the affiliate’s sales of aborted baby body parts for a decade, he added.

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The Planned Parenthood invoices list the “consent fee” followed by the number of specimen and then a charge of $25 to $150 per specimen. The invoices are dated from 2010 to 2011. Farrell’s signature also is on several of the invoices.

Daleiden pointed out that in the video, Farrell suggested that a “per consent” payment would accommodate situations where the aborted baby’s tissue is unusable. He said her statement was “a clear admission that the payments are based on market value of the fetal specimens, not on reimbursement of actual costs.”

“Now, Texas taxpayers can see the illegal proxy payments for fetal specimens on PPGC’s own invoices to UT Medical Branch, which either inexplicably jumped from $25 per specimen to $150 per specimen over the course of one year, or demonstrate an illegal scheme to make extra money off of usable specimens. Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton must hold Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast accountable for their flagrant violation of the Texas Penal Code and their abuse of Texas taxpayers’ dollars,” Daleiden said.

The video of the Houston Planned Parenthood makes it appear the Planned Parenthood abortion business also may be selling the “fully intact” bodies of unborn babies purposefully born alive and left to die. The video shows Farrell, advertising the Texas Planned Parenthood branch’s track record of fetal tissue sales, including its ability to deliver fully intact aborted babies.

“Where we probably have an edge over other organizations, our organization has been doing research for many many years,” explains Farrell in the video. When researchers need a specific part from the aborted fetus, Farrell says, “We bake that into our contract, and our protocol, that we follow this, so we deviate from our standard in order to do that.”

In the video, Farrell also indicates that the specimen sales from her department contribute significantly to the affiliate’s overall finances: “I think everyone realizes, especially because my department contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here, you know we’re one of the largest affiliates, our Research Department is the largest in the United States. Larger than any the other affiliates’ combined.”

At a news conference yesterday in Houston, Texas, Cain said the invoices “appear to throw water on Planned Parenthood’s claim that they do not profit from the sale of fetal tissue but only make enough to cover their costs.”

“It is now clear that the Harris County grand jury never really investigated Planned Parenthood,” said Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President of Operation Rescue. “Because of this new evidence, we renew our call for a new grand jury to investigate Planned Parenthood to be directed by an independent special prosecutor not related in any way to Devon Anderson, anyone in the Harris County District Attorney’s office, or Anderson’s friend, Chip Lewis.”

The new evidence is causing even more suspicion about the political motives of the Texas grand jury that was charged with investigating the Gulf Coast abortion affiliate. As LifeNews reported Monday, the Texas grand jury ignored the videos exposing a Houston-based Planned Parenthood abortion clinic caught selling aborted baby body parts and has instead indicted the man behind producing the expose’ videos.

The Texas grand jury indicted Daleiden and another pro-life activist, Sandra Merritt, behind the videos. Daleiden and Merritt were charged with one felony related to tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to buying human tissue. The felony charge was in reference to the use of a fake ID. If convicted, Daleiden faces 20 years in prison while Planned Parenthood officials face no legal consequences for their actions.

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Harris County, Texas, District Attorney Devon Anderson has come under severe criticism since Daleiden’s indictment was released. Anderson oversaw a previous abortion-related grand jury investigation of Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen after Operation Rescue released evidence in the form of photos and witness testimony that babies were being born alive during abortions and intentionally killed by twisting their necks.

That Anderson-led grand jury failed to indict Karpen despite the considerable evidence against him. Karpen was represented at his trial by attorney Chip Lewis, who donated more than $25,000 to Anderson’s re-election campaign.

A Planned Parenthood board member also works for Anderson as an assistant district attorney. Lauren Reeder is a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s criminal family law division. Reeder is listed as a non-compensated “Director” on the 990 Tax Form for 2014 filed by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

Although Anderson indicates Reeder had no role in the Daleiden indictment, there’s really no way of knowing if that is truly the case. Because of that, pro-life advocates have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the indictment and the fact that the grand jury never voted on charges related to Planned Parethood’s sale of aborted babies.

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