With recent calls to defund Planned Parenthood after an official was caught on camera discussing how to harvest fetal organs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stepped up Friday to defend the group.
“Calls to defund it based on doctored undercover recordings are politically motivated and wrong. We support its core mission of offering safe healthcare services to women in need,” Trumka wrote in a statement.
On July 14 a video surfaced showing a Planned Parenthood employee casually discussing, over a salad, how the organization harvest fetus organs after an abortion.
“I’d say a lot of people want liver,” Dr. Deborah Nucatola, a senior director for Planned Parenthood, says in the video. “And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they’ll know where they’re putting their forceps.”
The footage was obtained by the Center for Medical Progress as part of a 3-year investigative effort. Nucatola talked to undercover actors she thought were buyers from a human biologics company.
“We’ve been very good at getting lung, heart, liver,” she added. “I’m going to basically crush below, I’m going to crush above and I’m going to see if I can get it all intact.”
The video renewed calls to defund the organization from Republicans presidential hopefuls like Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul among others.
With the criticism also came a backlash from Democrats. Following the video, those like Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Sen. Harry Reid noted the organization is important because it offers services and medical research opportunities.
This report, by Connor D. Wolf, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
