JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Two Republican candidates for statewide office are demanding Missouri take action against Planned Parenthood after a recent video broke online detailing the organization’s selling of fetal tissue to medical laboratories.
The Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion activist group, released the hidden-camera video earlier this week which shows a conversation with Deborah Nucatola, a senior director of medical research for Planned Parenthood, explaining that the organization sometimes ships fetal remains to various medical facilities for research.
The Center for Medical Progress and pro-life activists say the video is a bombshell that details a felonious practice. But Planned Parenthood officials have already fired back, saying the eight-and-a-half minute video is heavily edited from a conversation of more than two hours. Planned Parenthood officials say the fee sometimes charged to labs for fetal tissue does not profit the company, but is strictly in place to cover shipping costs, something they say the video deliberately ignores.
While investigations into Planned Parenthood from federal law enforcement may be on the horizon, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and state senator Kurt Schaefer are both demanding that Missouri take action as well.
Kinder, who is running for Governor in 2016, called on House Speaker Todd Richardson and Senate Pro Tem Tom Dempsey to conduct hearings to investigate whether or not any illegal activities were taking place in Missouri.
“We in Missouri have been a pro-life state for many years, and we must hold hearings on this to determine what exactly is going on at Planned Parenthood,” Kinder said in a statement. “We cannot stand idly by in the face of such a callous and ghoulish revelation. Any organization participating in, profiting from or sponsoring the harvesting of body parts from aborted babies must be held accountable.”
Dave Plemmons, chairman of the Missouri Right to Life PAC, said any facility in Missouri involved in one of the practices laid out in the video should lose their license, and state lawmakers should move to restrict any federal funds to those facilities.
“We need to make sure that we strongly and unambiguously reinforce laws against using fetal remains for research with any financial consideration whatsoever,” Plemmons said.
Schaefer, a candidate for Attorney General, penned a letter to Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat and candidate for Governor in 2016 as well, demanding Koster use his authority as the state’s chief law enforcement officer to conduct investigations into Planned Parenthood.
“Because of the possibility that Planned Parenthood is violating several Missouri laws prohibiting the sale of human remains and deceptive medical practices, I demand that you use the authority granted under Chapter 407 to immediately conduct an investigation into whether the horrifying and criminal practices described on video by a national executive at Planned Parenthood are occurring in Missouri,” Schaefer wrote. “Given the apparent admissions by Ms. Nucatola that her organization, which operates in part in Missouri, is harvesting and trafficking human body parts, it is legally and morally imperative that you investigate and bring any violators to justice.”
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
