A South Carolina lawmaker wants to ensure that Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses never profit from the sales of aborted babies’ body parts in his state.
Sponsored by state Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, Senate Bill 648 would prohibit buying, selling or experimenting on the remains of aborted babies. The bill allows exceptions for miscarried and stillborn babies.
On Thursday, a state Senate panel voted to move forward with the legislation, The State reports.
“This really goes back to the scandal with Planned Parenthood several years back about selling baby parts from abortions,” Cash told his fellow state lawmakers Thursday.
He said the atrocities against unborn babies are a lot like those committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
“If a Jewish person is killed in the death camp because they’re Jewish, that’s a horror,” Cash continued, according to the local news. “If they’re killed and they’re experimented upon for various reasons … now you’re compounding the moral evil that took place in the first place of an innocent person being killed.”
He referred to evidence that the University of South Carolina may have bought fetal tissue from aborted babies several years ago.
USC spokesman Jeff Stensland confirmed that the university purchased human tissue in 2009 from the University of Washington, but said he did not know the origins of the human remains. He told The State that the university does not use remains from aborted babies in its research.
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Meanwhile, Democrat lawmakers claimed the bill would address a non-existent problem. State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, said he has not seen any evidence of illegal sales of aborted baby parts in South Carolina “or any other state.”
Cash pointed to the findings of U.S. House and Senate committee investigations, both of which recommended that the Department of Justice investigate Planned Parenthood after finding strong evidence that the abortion chain may have sold aborted baby body parts. The Department of Justice is investigating.
More evidence of illegal sales of aborted baby parts came out of California in 2017 after two tissue procurement companies agreed to a $7.7 million settlement with the Orange County district attorney’s office based on allegations that they illegally sold aborted baby body parts. Both companies worked with the abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
It is not clear if Cash’s bill will pass. According to The State, Democrats have enough votes in the South Carolina Senate to block the legislation.
Federal law prohibits the sale of body parts of aborted babies. In fact, the sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is 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 human remains, such as aborted baby parts.
The Center for Medical Progress investigation alleged that Planned Parenthood is finagling that loophole by charging more than it costs for the shipping and handling of aborted baby parts.
In 2015, after the Center for Medical Progress first exposed the unethical practices, South Carolina conducted an investigation into its abortion facilities. State inspectors found dozens of violations at all three abortion facilities in the state, including failure to comply with state informed consent requirements, improper disposal of infectious waste and expired medications.
