CMP Releases New Smear Video Night Before Supreme Court Hears Landmark Abortion Case
Written by Sharon Kann
Published
On March 1, the night before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt -- the legal challenge to a highly restrictive Texas abortion law -- the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released another deceptively edited video. This video baselessly suggests that Planned Parenthood manipulates abortion procedures to perform “partial birth” abortions in order to get “intact specimens” and secure compensation.
CMP Releases 13th Video Unsuccessfully Attempting To Smear Planned Parenthood
Latest Video Claims Planned Parenthood Official Agreed To Alter Abortion Procedures To Make A Profit And That Those Alterations Increase Risk A Fetus Is “Born Alive.” In this latest video, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) selectively edited stealth footage of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties medical director Jennefer Russo, to make baseless claims of wrongdoing by the reproductive health care provider. The 13th video cherry-picks bits of conversation between Russo and CMP actors -- who are fraudulently purporting to represent a tissue-procurement service -- and omits critical context. CMP says the video shows Russo agreeing to manipulate abortion procedures in illegal ways -- such as forgoing the use of digoxin, a common drug used in abortion procedures, or manipulating fetal positions to “breech” -- in order to yield “intact specimens” and secure compensation from tissue procurement services. CMP additionally argues that such changes to the procedure are similar to so-called “partial birth abortion” procedures and increase the chances of a fetus being “born alive.” From CMP's press release:
“They take the whole specimen,” [Planned Parenthood medical director Jennefer] Russo explains about [tissue procurement service] Da Vinci. Russo asks the undercover buyer, “You're looking ideally for an intact specimen?” “As intact as possible,” the buyer replies.
In the first CMP undercover video, Planned Parenthood's Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, described using an ultrasound-guided procedure to flip the fetus to feet-first position in order to get intact specimens. When asked about using this procedure to harvest more intact body parts, Orange County's Russo confesses, “Yeah, we like to do that too.”
Using ultrasound guidance to manipulate the fetus from vertex to breech orientation before intact extraction is the hallmark of the illegal partial-birth abortion procedure (18 U.S.C. 1531). Nucatola previously recommended Russo and Planned Parenthood in Orange County as good prospective partners for fetal body parts harvesting.
Russo also divulges that her Planned Parenthood affiliate is not using digoxin, the chemical used as feticide in later 2nd-trimester abortions to kill the fetus and prevent a live birth, due to a nationwide supply shortage. Without a feticidal procedure like digoxin, it is possible for a fetus extracted intact during an abortion to be born alive.
Asked a second time about producing intact fetuses in late 2nd-trimester cases for organ harvesting, Russo admits, “It happens sometimes, but it's pretty rare.” She continues with a smile, “But, we try.” [Center for Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
Like Previous Videos, New Footage Offers No Evidence That Planned Parenthood Broke Laws. Like the 12 deceptively edited videos CMP has already released, the latest effort to smear Planned Parenthood does not include any evidence of illegal activity. [Media Matters, 8/31/15]
Video Makes Three Baseless Allegations About Planned Parenthood's Legal And Voluntary Tissue Donation Program
1. Edited Video Suggests Planned Parenthood Is Trying To Extract “Whole Specimens” And Intentionally Avoiding Use Of Common Abortion Drug Digoxin. According to the deceptively edited 13th video, Russo indicated interest in securing “whole specimen[s]” and suggested that doctors alter abortion procedures to obtain them. In particular, CMP emphasized Russo's admission that a shortage of digoxin -- a common drug used during abortion procedures -- had a significant impact on the types of procedures performed by Planned Parenthood. From the transcript of the edited video:
CMP ACTOR: So, the company you're working with right now, do they have very clear specifications? Do they take the whole specimen through, or?
JENNEFER RUSSO: They take the whole specimen. And they ... it's only certain gestations. No dig[oxin], only certain gestational ages, because of the dig I think.
CMP ACTOR: Yeah.
RUSSO: And then normally their staff will come get it. So we haven't looked at it in a long time, but I'd be happy to look at it again.
CMP ACTOR: And when do you start using dig[oxin]?
RUSSO: Well, 20 weeks. But we don't dig[oxin] right now because there's a shortage.
CMP ACTOR: Because of?
RUSSO: There's a nationwide shortage of dig[oxin].
CMP ACTOR: Really?
RUSSO: Yeah. [Center for Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
CMP ACTOR: Yeah, I mean for us the compensation is really about you know, securing the relationship, making sure it's worth it for you and it's worth it for us. And you know, if there were to be a situation where like Novogenix from PPLA coming in, or StemExpress, or DaVinci, or whoever the biotech company is, you know, a way for us to ensure that we get priority and stuff like that. So that's where the money comes in with us.
RUSSO: Yeah. Do you have a card on you so I can follow up? [Center for Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
3. CMP Alleges Planned Parenthood Illegally Manipulates Abortion Procedures To Get “More Intact Specimens.” CMP's edited footage also purports that Planned Parenthood illegally alters abortion procedures to manipulate fetal positioning and encourage “fairly intact” samples. In particular, the 13th video is edited to suggest that Planned Parenthood doctors will “try” to secure an “intact” specimen whenever possible. From the transcript of the edited video:
CMP ACTOR: So about your larger cases, you said sometimes you're converting to breech beforehand and then, are those coming out fairly intact, or what is that --
RUSSO: We usually do like, compress the calvarium [head], and then --
CMP ACTOR: But it is breech first? So you're getting like the whole thoracic cavity [chest]?
RUSSO: That's pretty rare.
CMP ACTOR: Oh, it's rare?
RUSSO: We don't usually have that much dilation to be able to do that, but when we do, we do.
CMP ACTOR: When you can you do?
RUSSO: Yeah.
CMP ACTOR: And when that happens, do you get a pretty intact specimen or what would you say?
RUSSO: Yeah but the calvarium is not intact.
CMP ACTOR: That's the tricky part is the calvarium. That's what Deborah [Nucatola] had told us that sometimes that's something they can contribute a lot to getting more intact specimens, is if you're converting to breech beforehand and then you have dilation as the case goes on, and so then even in that case you can sometimes get an intact cal[varium] and everything.
RUSSO: I think, most of us have trained not to have fully intact specimens.
CMP ACTOR: Oh. You're purposely trying like not to, yeah.
RUSSO: Yeah. Even though we use dig[oxin] et cetera, but that's how we were trained. So, it happens sometimes, but it's pretty rare.
CMP ACTOR: Yeah. That's where it gets tricky.
RUSSO: But, we try.
CMP ACTOR: You try. [Center for Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
But The Video Contains At Least Four Examples Of Deceptive Editing And Context Omission That Undermine The Attempted Smear
1. The Full Footage Refutes The Allegation That Shortage Of Digoxin Is Significant, Or Results In Greater Chance Of Fetus Being “Born Alive.” The 13th video emphasizes an excerpt of conversation between Russo and CMP actors about the nationwide shortage of digoxin. CMP's rhetoric in its press release and selective framing of footage attempts to suggests that because “none of those [cases] are getting dig[oxin]” now, that means Planned Parenthood is performing so-called “partial-birth” abortions. However, the full footage of CMP's interaction with Russo reveals the shortage of digoxin has been occurring only “a few weeks” and that it does not represent an ongoing pattern of misconduct. Given Russo's later comments in the 13th video that providers are trained to avoid “fully intact specimens,” it is unlikely that the use of digoxin correlates with “rare” live births. The full footage of the interaction shows this further explanation was omitted:
CMP ACTOR: 25 [cases] a month? So a little bit ... a little bit less than five a week, maybe four or five a week. And none of those are getting dig[oxin] now because you're not using the ...
JENNEFER RUSSO: Rightnow.
CMP ACTOR: Right now.
RUSSO: It's only been a few weeks, but yeah.
CMP ACTOR: Wow. And is DaVinci using most of those cases?
RUSSO: I mean, yeah. For the patients who say they want to donate, yeah. [The Center of Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
RUSSO: The thing that we don't want, is we don't want to sell fetal tissue. So we, I mean actually, it would be good to talk to us, there are many ways of marking and noticing that they're saying they're not available if a patient wants to donate and they're not available to pick it up.
CMP ACTOR: Oh.
RUSSO: And they won't -- they also have very strict specifications --
CMP ACTOR: Right, right.
RUSSO: The thing that we don't want is, we don't agree with the selling of the tissue because we think that wouldn't look good down the line, you know, for us.
CMP ACTOR: Right, right.
RUSSO: So,we're happy to donate, so I don't know what your setup is.
CMP ACTOR: Right so, do you ...is there any kind of compensation or anything?
RUSSO:No, we just offer the patient the option and if they want to do it they can.
[...]
CMP ACTOR: I mean, if you guys are willing to donate it you know, with no questions asked, no remuneration, you know, that's just ... it's not like -- we don't have to ... we don't have to pay you $100 per specimen, like if you want to waive that we're cool!
RUSSO: Well, it's ... you can -- I don't have my card with me but I can give you my information and I can [inaudible]. But I can talk with our CEO because when I was at PPLA ...
CMP ACTOR: Yeah, I mean for us the compensation is really about you know, securing the relationship, making sure it's worth it for you and it's worth it for us. And you know, if there were to be a situation where like Novogenix from PPLA coming in, or StemExpress, or DaVinci, or whoever the biotech company is, you know, a way for us to ensure that we get priority and stuff like that. So that's where the money comes in with us. [The Center of Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
3. Edited Video And Full Footage Both Exclude Crucial Context And Manipulate Conversations Substantially To Give The Appearance Of Wrongdoing. In both the edited video and the full footage, CMP excludes whole sections of conversations between Russo and CMP actors, as well as manipulating their context. In addition to taking Russo's comments out of context, there are three places in the full footage where CMP appears to fast-forward the footage and irreversibly render the discussions inaudible. Text is transposed over the fast-forwarded portions of the video which says “PPOSBC Conversation Paused” implying this portion of the conversation is not related to Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, however their omission and manipulation makes it impossible to confirm the validity of this statement. [The Center of Medical Progress, 3/1/16]
4. Full Footage Shows Planned Parenthood Official Rejecting Claim That They “Try” To Get “Whole Specimens” And Saying They Manipulate Procedures Only When It's Safer. In the 13th video, CMP suggests Planned Parenthood doctors manipulate fetal positioning to “breech” births in order to secure “whole specimens” or perform “partial-birth” abortions. In the edited video, Russo notes that Planned Parenthood doctors are “trained not to have fully intact specimens.” In the full footage, Russo further clarifies that changes to the procedure occur only because “it's an easier procedure” that is likely safer for the woman. According to accepted medical practice, physicians are allowed to manipulate the position of the fetus. Previous research by Media Matters demonstrates that these allegations lack any evidentiary basis in any of the videos produced by CMP. From the full footage:
CMP ACTOR: That's what -- Deborah [Nucatola] had told us that sometimes that's something they can contribute a lot to getting more intact specimens is if you're converting to breech beforehand and then you have dilation as the case goes on, and so then even in that case you can sometimes get an intact cal[varium] and everything.
RUSSO: I think, most of us have trained not to have fully intact specimens.
CMP ACTOR: Oh. You're purposely trying like not to, yeah.
RUSSO: Yeah. Even though we use dig[oxin] et cetera, but that's how we were trained. So, it happens sometimes, but it's pretty rare.
CMP ACTOR: Yeah. That's where it gets tricky.
RUSSO. But, we try.
CMP ACTOR: You try.
RUSSO: It's an easier procedure. [The Center of Medical Progress, 3/1/16; Media Matters 8/31/15]