Two California medical companies linked to Planned Parenthood are facing a lawsuit this week that claims they illegally profited off the sales of aborted babies’ body parts.
The Orange County Register reports the District Attorney’s Office of Orange County, California filed the lawsuit Wednesday, alleging that DaVinci Biosciences and its sister company DV Biologics sold hundreds of fetal tissue products (aborted babies’ body parts) and stem cells to research facilities for a profit.
David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, which exposed Planned Parenthood and medical groups peddling aborted babies’ body parts in a series of undercover videos, said the abortion chain is a long-time partner of the two companies.
“For eight years, Planned Parenthood supplied aborted baby hearts, lungs, brains, and intestines to DV Biologics, which DV Biologics then resold for profit,” Daleiden said. “In exchange for merely providing access to aborted baby body parts, Planned Parenthood received kickback contributions from DaVinci Biosciences over the course of their eight-year contract.
“Planned Parenthood is not above the law, and law enforcement and elected representatives everywhere must now hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their barbaric profiteering off of pregnant women and the body parts of their aborted children,” Daleiden added.
Both California law and federal law prohibit the sale of body parts of aborted babies. In fact, the sale or purchase of human fetal tissue a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2). However, it is not illegal for groups to charge a compensation fee for the handling and shipping of the aborted baby parts.
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According to the news report, the district attorney’s office is accusing the Yorba Linda, California companies of profiting from at least 500 sales of aborted baby parts and stem cells between 2012 and 2015. According to the lawsuit, the companies charged more than what it cost them to handle and ship the human tissue.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas emphasized in a press conference Wednesday that the lawsuit is not about abortion politics.
“We are simply charging DV Biologics, DaVinci Biosciences, and a father and his two sons with illegally selling hundreds of fetal tissue products for profit and treating human parts as commodities instead of giving it the respect the law intended. This lawsuit is aimed at taking the profit out of selling body parts,” Rackauckas said.
According to the lawsuit, the companies almost tripled their sales revenue between 2009 and 2011 after they expanded to offer aborted babies’ body parts and stem cells. The DA’s office said the companies sold the human tissue to pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions across the world.
Here’s more from the district attorney’s office:
In October 2009, the defendants are accused of sending an email saying, “It costs us roughly $25 per unit to manufacture and we are selling for $170.” She said offering a 30-40% discount price “would leave us with a margin profit of $94-77 per unit” and if they increase the discount to 50%, they “would still have a marginal profit of $60 per unit.”
The companies also regularly offered “sales” pricing promotions, including, for example, a “25% off” summer sale and “25% off” fall promotion in 2013. Sales staff was given wide flexibility in using discounts in order to close a sale, because they all knew they still ended up “on top.” …
From August 2012 to October 2015, the defendants are accused of unlawfully selling approximately 500 fetal tissue products for valuable consideration.
According to the DA’s office, the companies charged up to $1,100 for fetal brain tissue, up to $375 for fetal lung tissue and up to $700 for fetal heart tissue.
The district attorney’s office said it did not find evidence of wrong-doing at Planned Parenthood, and the abortion chain is not part of the lawsuit.
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, chairwoman of the U.S. House panel investigating the handling of aborted babies’ body parts, said the lawsuit demonstrates the importance of her panel’s work.
“For nearly a year, critics of this Panel’s fact-finding investigation have repeatedly called for it to be disbanded, saying there’s nothing to see here,” Blackburn said. “They claimed there was no wrongdoing in the fetal tissue industry. This claim was soundly debunked with a lawsuit filed by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, which reveals that officials at the state and local level share our concern that some fetal tissue middlemen may have broken the law.”
Blackburn said some of her panel members also have been troubled by the relationship between the California companies and Planned Parenthood.
“The lawsuit filed by the Orange County DA shows that there is also broad support at the state and local level to uncover the truth about what is going on in the abortion and fetal tissue industries,” she said.
One of the undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress exposed a relationship between the companies and Planned Parenthood of Orange County in March. Watch the video here.
