It is no secret that there are many people in America who would like nothing more than to see the defunding of Planned Parenthood lead to the eventual end of the organization. Lots of these people also happen to be Republican candidates for the 2016 Presidential Election. And until quite recently, the attackers of Planned Parenthood fought mostly against the organization’s open abortion policies, or the fact that they will offer a safe abortion procedure to the young women who seek them out to obtain one.
But now there is a new argument that the denouncers of Planned Parenthood have begun to capitalize on, and it is a video of the organization’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, where she speaks openly and candidly about the organization’s policies for donating human tissue. This video stirred countless accusations and questions of Planned Parenthood’s intentions when donating that tissue, and Dr. Nucatola has been under constant attack since the video went public.
These accusations are mostly centered around the fact that those who are against Planned Parenthood believe that the organization was not donating the tissue purely for the sake of the progression of pharmaceutical research, but to ruthlessly turn a profit at the expense of their patients.
This, however, is not the case.
Planned Parenthood donates the tissue for the sake of bettering the pharmaceutical research the tissue is needed for. The tissue is used for research that often includes fighting diseases that plague infants and creating medicine that is safe to put on the public market for patients. Planned Parenthood makes no profit at the end of the day from donating this much-need human tissue. While it is true that human tissue is coveted by drugmakers and that they are willing to pay whatever it takes to obtain it, this is not the deal they have made with Planned Parenthood. Like the rest of their services, the organization simply gives its patients the choice to donate tissue, and it is never something that is forced upon them.
Furthermore, while the speech of Dr. Nucatola in the video might be considered too casual for the serious subject of discussing the research of human tissue, she was also not in possession of the knowledge that she was being taped. The video was also taken by an pro-life supporter, someone who is against Dr. Nucatola and her profession. And while the choice of words in the video were unprofessional, they meant absolutely no harm.
It seems at this point that the attackers of Planned Parenthood will grasp at almost anything to catch the organization in a compromising position. While they will spin the smallest stories into the largest storms, they pay no attention to years of beneficial health services Planned Parenthood has always readily provided to their patients. And the widely-criticized abortion procedures only make up a small portion of the services they offer. The organization also offers cancer screenings, birth control, and basic health exams to their patients who could not otherwise obtain any of these. All of the practices are free, safe, and legal—and the donation of human tissue from patients who are willing to participate—is no exception. The defunding of this organization would mean the end of all of the services that have kept countless men and women throughout the country informed and in good reproductive health since it's founding in 1916.
