A new undercover video shows an abortionist at Planned Parenthood admitting to feigning compliance with the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, pro-life activists say.
At an evening reception hosted by Planned Parenthood, Dr. Suzie Prabhakaran, vice president of medical affairs for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, is caught on video saying she simply “documents” her “intent” to perform dismemberment abortions to get around the partial-birth abortion ban.
“To comply with the partial-birth abortion ban, you basically have to say, ‘I intend to utilize dismemberment techniques for this procedure,’” Dr. Prabhakaran tells activists posing as fetal tissue buyers. “So every time you do a procedure, that’s how you document. So, like, there’s like a checkbox, so it would be before the procedure, you do your evaluation, you write, ‘I intend to utilize dismemberment techniques for this procedure.’”
The video was released Thursday by the Center for Medical Progress, which conducted a years-long undercover investigation into Planned Parenthood and the market for fetal tissue and organs from abortions.
David Daleiden, CMP project lead, said the video shows Planned Parenthood attempting to “skirt” the partial-birth abortion ban.
“Planned Parenthood medical directors and abortion doctors feign compliance with the federal partial-birth abortion law on paper,” Mr. Daleiden said in a statement, “knowing full well that ‘what ultimately happens doesn’t matter’ so long as no one is scrutinizing what they actually do to women and children in the operating room.”
He called on the Department of Justice to “open an immediate investigation into Planned Parenthood’s late-term abortion practices.”
Planned Parenthood did not respond to a request for comment.
During dismemberment abortions, the fetus is pulled apart by forceps, while in partial-birth abortions, the fetus is extracted from the womb alive and killed.
Congress banned the latter procedure in 2003.
Partial-birth abortions make it easier to preserve and collect fetal tissue and organs from abortions.
Abortionists can use digoxin or other agents to stop the heart of the fetus prior to the abortion to comply with the partial-birth ban. But doing so renders much of the tissue unusable for research.
In the video, Dr. Prabhakaran says she was trained not to use digoxin in abortions.
“I’m not doing digoxin,” she says, “and we’re just going to document, and there’s never been a problem.”
CMP said the video corroborates earlier footage that called into question Planned Parenthood’s fidelity to the ban on partial-birth abortion.
In an undercover video released in 2015, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the partial-birth abortion law is “up to interpretation.”
“The federal [partial-birth] abortion ban is a law, and laws are up to interpretation,” Dr. Nucatola said in the video. “So there are some people who interpret it as it’s intent. So if I say on day one I do not intend to do this, what ultimately happens doesn’t matter.”
In response to the CMP investigation, Republicans in Congress promised to divest Planned Parenthood’s more than $500 million in annual taxpayer funding to clinics that do not perform abortions.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said the latest CMP video only underscores the need for Congress to take action.
“After seeing this, many Americans may find themselves asking why and how Planned Parenthood is still permitted to do business, let alone receive more than $500 million dollars a year,” Ms. Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Our forced complicity in this atrocity must end.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed 15 charges against Mr. Daleiden in March for unlawfully recording people without their permission and conspiracy. Mr. Daleiden’s attorneys have slammed the charges as “bogus.”
A federal judge in San Francisco held Mr. Daleiden in contempt of court and fined him $173,000 earlier this month for publishing videos that were under a gag order. His attorneys plan to appeal the ruling.
In an undercover video released in 2015, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the partial-birth abortion law is “up to interpretation.”
“The federal [partial-birth] abortion ban is a law, and laws are up to interpretation,” Ms. Nucatola said in the video. “So there are some people who interpret it as it’s intent. So if I say on day one I do not intend to do this, what ultimately happens doesn’t matter.”
David Daleiden, CMP project lead, called on the Department of Justice to “open an immediate investigation into Planned Parenthood’s late-term abortion practices.”
“Planned Parenthood medical directors and abortion doctors feign compliance with the federal partial-birth abortion law on paper, knowing full well that ‘what ultimately happens doesn’t matter’ so long as no one is scrutinizing what they actually do to women and children in the operating room,” Mr. Daleiden said in a statement.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said the video underscores the need for congressional action to strip Planned Parenthood of its $500 million in annual taxpayer funding.
“After seeing this, many Americans may find themselves asking why and how Planned Parenthood is still permitted to do business, let alone receive more than $500 million a year,” Ms. Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Our forced complicity in this atrocity must end.”
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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