After the abortion is performed, what happens next?
Once the abortion is complete, the jar or the tube where everything was suctioned would go into the products of conception lab. The product of conception technician, who works for Planned Parenthood, would empty everything that was suctioned out into a dish like what we saw in the fourth and fifth video.
At that point, what did the product of conception technician do with the different body parts?
If it was during a time that we were participating in a research study, they would pick out whatever was requested—whether it was a specific organ, eyeballs, whatever it was—they would take that out and put that in a specimen bag.
Then we would put all of the bags that were going for research in a Styrofoam container inside a freezer, and the ones that were not went into a different bag. With each specimen we had to make a copy of the consent form they signed and put it into the specimen bag.
At the end of the day, we would ship on dry ice the specimens to the company that we were contracted with. Sometimes research labs will actually come and pick up the box, but in our case we shipped it off.
How much did shipping typically cost?
The researchers provided the Styrofoam box and dry ice to Planned Parenthood. Literally the only cost we had was shipping the box. And that was about $20 every time we shipped. So Planned Parenthood is getting $200 per specimen, and we’re taking all the specimens, putting them in one box and shipping it off for $20. The different fetal body parts are not shipped individually.
Does Planned Parenthood have to hire an employee to sort through the body parts and put them in these containers?
It’s not like we hire someone just to separate these parts for research because after every single abortion, a product of conception technician reassembles the parts of the baby to make sure that everything was removed. If they don’t, that can be fatal for a woman. We had several instances where our product of conception technician failed the patient because they would come back in and there would be a leg still in their uterus and that causes very serious infection.
To send the body parts to a research laboratory, it’s just a matter of separating them into different bags.
Do you think Planned Parenthood is doing anything illegal?
The way that the law is written currently, it allows them to charge for these certain items as long as they are coded correctly on a line-item budget. And that’s the problem with the law, is that it’s so subjective as far as the cost. As long as they code it as, we need $100 for extra work in collecting the tissue—well, there is no extra work. And that’s what the videos are showing, with Dr. Mary Gatter, she said, “We don’t have to change anything.” That’s true: they don’t have to do anything.
