A newly released video, recorded by the pro-life group the Center for Medical Progress, shows a Planned Parenthood medical director describing abortion as “violence” and “killing,” as well as other abortion providers describing the procedure in brutal terms.
A judge blocked the Center for Medical Progress from releasing undercover footage its filmmakers recorded of conversations that took place at the National Abortion Federation's 2014 and 2015 annual conferences. NAF is a trade organization comprised of abortion providers. The Center for Medical Progress is currently appealing the injunction.
Steve Cooley and Associates, a law firm representing David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress, released a video on Thursday that they described as a preview of the footage that is under the injunction. The video purportedly depicts scenes from a series of conversations and panel discussions that took place at the conferences.
In the video, Dr. Lisa Harris, the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, who appeared to be delivering remarks as part of a panel discussion, lamented that “our stories don’t really have a place in a lot of pro-choice discourse and rhetoric.”
“The heads that get stuck that we can’t get out, the hemorrhages that we manage, you know, those are all parts of our experience,” she said. “But there’s no real good place for us to share those.”
In another clip, Harris appears to discuss opposition to abortion, saying that, “given that we actually see the fetus the same way, and given that we might actually both agree that there’s violence in here, ask me why I come to work everyday.
“Let’s just give them all the violence, it’s a person, it’s killing, let’s just give them all that,” she said of the pro-life movement's arguments.
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Michigan did not immediately return TheBlaze’s request for comment regarding Harris’ remarks.
The video also shows several other abortion providers at the same conferences describing abortion procedures in gruesome terms.
In another clip, Dr. Uta Landy, the founder of the Consortium of Abortion Providers, remarked: “An eyeball just fell down into my lap, and that is gross!”
Dr. Ann Schutt-Aine, the director of abortion services for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said that if she is “doing a procedure, and I’m seeing that I’m in fear of that it’s about to come to the umbilicus, I might ask for a second set of forceps to hold the body at the cervix and pull off a leg or two, so it’s not [a partial birth abortion].
Dr. Susan Robinson, an abortion provider at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte called the fetus “a tough little object”: “You go in there, and you go, ‘am I getting the uterus or the fetus? Oh, good, fetus. What have I got? Nothing. Let’s try again.’”
Several other clips raise questions about allegations that Planned Parenthood trafficked aborted fetal body parts.
In one scene, Deb VanDerhei, the national director for the Consortium of Abortion Providers, told actors portraying potential buyers from a human biologics company that "truth is that some might want to do it to increase their revenues — and we can’t stop them."
In another clip, Dr. Paul Blumenthal, the former medical director for Planned Parenthood of Maryland, said, "I know Planned Parenthood sells a lot of stuff to people."
The Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos in 2015 that alleged that affiliates of the nation’s largest abortion provider were selling aborted fetal body parts for profit. Profiting from the sale of human body parts — including those of the unborn — is illegal in the United States.
Spokespersons for Planned Parenthood denied illegal conduct and characterized the videos as “heavily edited.”
In a statement, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, said the newly released video contains “the worst, most graphic conversation we have heard from the abortion industry to date.”
“A civilized nation dares not look away from this assault on the core of our character as a people. This behavior is indefensible and must be stopped,” Dannenfelser said.
Then she added a comment for Planned Parenthood President and CEO Cecile Richards:
I dare you to call these videos "deceptively edited" today. There is no way the incredibly disturbing descriptions in this footage could have been placed in the mouths of senior Planned Parenthood staff and their associates. Dr. Uta Landy, a recipient of Planned Parenthood’s highest award, is heard clearly saying, "An eyeball just fell down into my lap." Since when do clumps of cells have eyes?
In March, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, filed 15 felony charges against Daleiden and his associate, Sandra Merritt, for their roles in the release of undercover videos. Prosecutors said that Daleiden and Merritt filmed 14 people without their consent and filed a charge for each conversation. They filed an additional charge for “criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.”
In a statement shortly after the charges were filed, Daleiden said, “We look forward to showing the entire world what is on our yet-unreleased video tapes of Planned Parenthood’s criminal baby body parts enterprise, in vindication of the First Amendment rights of all.”
Update: The video has been removed from YouTube. It is still available on Twitter:
Update: The video has been removed from YouTube. Here is is below via @LilaGraceRose: pic.twitter.com/wKHEDCcwYg
— Kate Scanlon (@kgscanlon) May 26, 2017
(H/T: National Review)
