Texas is proposing new rules that would require abortion clinics and hospitals to treat aborted babies’ bodies with dignity by cremating or burying them.
The Dallas News reports the newly proposed rules were published Friday by the state Health and Human Services Commission. The commission’s current rules allow aborted babies’ bodies to be incinerated or ground and then disposed along with other medical waste. The new rules would raise aborted babies’ bodies above the level of medical waste, and require abortion facilities and hospitals to either cremate or bury them.
Bryan Black, spokesman for the health commission, said the new rules will ensure that Texas law “maintains the highest standards of human dignity.”
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office also spoke up in favor of the new rules.
In comments to LifeNews, Ciara Matthews, a spokesperson for Abbott’s office, had this to say about the proposal: “Governor Abbott believes human and fetal remains should not be treated like medical waste, and the proposed rule changes affirms the value and dignity of all life. For the unborn, the mothers and the hospital and clinic staff, the governor believes it is imperative to establish higher standards that reflect our respect for the sanctity of life. Further, it is Governor Abbott’s hope that the legislature will consider legislation next session to enshrine the new rules into state law.”
According to the news report, the rules are subject to public comment, but they do not require legislative approval. In Texas, some state agencies have “specific rule making authority” granted by the legislature, the report states. The rules are scheduled to go into effect in September.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
The rules would help to protect aborted babies’ bodies from being sold for profit at abortion facilities in Texas. They come as Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities across the nation face investigations into whether they illegally sold aborted babies’ bodies to researchers.
More states are moving to require dignified treatment of aborted babies’ bodies after a series of undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts. The Center for Medical Progress videos prompted a number of states and the U.S. House to open investigations into the handling of aborted babies’ body parts.
In Ohio, the state attorney general’s investigation found that Planned Parenthood was “steam cooking” aborted babies’ bodies before dumping them in landfills. An investigation in South Carolina caught Planned Parenthood facilities illegally dumping aborted babies’ bodies in public landfills.
As a result, legislation to require burial or cremation of aborted babies’ bodies have been introduced Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi and other states. Although Roe v. Wade prohibits states from banning abortions, pro-life advocates believe the aborted baby ought to at least be treated respectfully even if the abortion clinic treated the baby with disrespect before the abortion.
The expose’ videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation. Here is a list of all twelve:
- In the first video: Dr. Deborah Nucatola of Planned Parenthood commented on baby-crushing: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
- In the second video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Mary Gatter joked, “I want a Lamborghini” as she negotiated the best price for baby parts.
- In the third video: Holly O’Donnell, a former Stem Express employee who worked inside a Planned Parenthood clinic, detailed first-hand the unspeakable atrocities and how she fainted in horror over handling baby legs.
- In the fourth video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Savita Ginde stated, “We don’t want to do just a flat-fee (per baby) of like, $200. A per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.” She also laughed while looking at a plate of fetal kidneys that were “good to go.”
- In the fifth video: Melissa Farrell of Planned Parenthood-Gulf Coast in Houston boasted of Planned Parenthood’s skill in obtaining “intact fetal cadavers” and how her “research” 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.”
- In the sixth video: Holly O’Donnell described technicians taking fetal parts without patient consent: “There were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don’t know. And there’s no way they would know.”
- In the seventh and perhaps most disturbing video: Holly O’Donnell described the harvesting, or “procurement,” of organs from a nearly intact late-term fetus aborted at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Alameda clinic in San Jose, CA. “‘You want to see something kind of cool,’” O’Donnell says her supervisor asked her. “And she just taps the heart, and it starts beating. And I’m sitting here and I’m looking at this fetus, and its heart is beating, and I don’t know what to think.”
- In the eighth video: StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer admits Planned Parenthood sells “a lot of” fully intact aborted babies.
- The ninth video: catches a Planned Parenthood medical director discussing how the abortion company sells fully intact aborted babies — including one who “just fell out” of the womb.
- The 10th video: catches the nation’s biggest abortion business selling specific body parts — including the heart, eyes and “gonads” of unborn babies. The video also shows the shocking ways in which Planned Parenthood officials admit that they are breaking federal law by selling aborted baby body parts for profit.
- Unreleased Videos: Unreleased videos from CMP show Deb Vanderhei of Planned Parenthood caught on tape talking about how Planned Parenthood abortion business affiliates may “want to increase revenue [from selling baby parts] but we can’t stop them…” Another video has a woman talking about the “financial incentives” of selling aborted baby body parts.
- The 11th video: catches a Texas Planned Parenthood abortionist planning to sell the intact heads of aborted babies for research. Amna Dermish is caught on tape describing an illegal partial-birth abortion procedure to terminate living, late-term unborn babies which she hopes will yield intact fetal heads for brain harvesting.
- The 12th video in the series shows new footage of Jennefer Russo, medical director at Planned Parenthood in Orange County, California, describing to undercover investigators how her abortion business tries to harvest intact aborted babies’ bodies for a local for-profit biotech company and changes the abortion procedure to do so.
