P. Parenthood Head Defends Baby Organ Harvesting

The head of Planned Parenthood faced lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday to answer questions about the company's practice of selling aborted baby body parts.

Republican committee leaders are calling for shifting taxpayer funds away from the abortion giant after a series of undercover videos exposed the company's practice.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards defended their role in harvesting baby's organs. She said they're "proud" to help with "fetal tissue research."

Opponents say the videos prove the abortion giant is breaking federal laws, which bar fetal tissue sales for profit and forbid the altering of abortion procedures to obtain usable organs.

Live Action's Lila Rose responds to Cecile Richards' defense of Planned Parenthood at the Congressional hearing.

They want Congress to stop shelling out half a billion dollars in taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood every year, and instead redistribute the funds to other women's healthcare organizations.

Republican chair Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, pointed out that Planned Parenthood has made significant cuts in care over the last years, yet abortion numbers performed at the clinics are rising.

"There's a 53 percent reduction in cancer screenings, 42 percent reduction in breast exams and breast care," he said.  

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said the money should be shifted to federally approved healthcare centers.

"We simply want to shift the money from an organization caught doing what they were caught doing and give it to the community health centers," he said. "Shift it from the 700 Planned Parenthood clinics; give it to the 13,000 federally approved community health centers."

"Take the money from the guys doing the bad things and give it to the ones who aren't," he said.

But right now Congress is working to pass a short-term spending bill that does not end the abortion giant's funding, hoping to avoid a government shutdown this week.

The short-term bill is being pushed because Senate Democrats have used a filibuster to block Republican legislation halting Planned Parenthood's federal payments.

Still, two House committees plan to approve filibuster-proof legislation shifting Planned Parenthood's Medicaid funds - about $350 million - to community health centers.

So far, the CMP has released 10 undercover videos capturing Planned Parenthood officials casually describing how they sometimes obtain tissue from aborted fetuses for researchers.

Cecile Richards has called them "highly edited, sensationalized videos," and continues to defend Planned Parenthood's actions,

"We're proud of the health care that we deliver every single year despite the animosity by some," she testified.

Meanwhile, a top forensics analsyis company has confirmed that all 10 videos released by the Center for Medical Progress have not been manipulated.

Coalfire Systems reports that CMP's full footage videos showed no evidence of manipulation or editing.

"This conclusion is supported by the consistency of the video file date and time stamps, the video timecode, as well as the folder and file naming scheme," the report states.

"Edits made to the full footage videos (for the shorter YouTube videos) were applied to eliminate non-pertinent footage, such as restroom breaks, meals, and other similar periods lacking pertinent conversation," the company report states.

"The Coalfire forensic analysis removes any doubt that the full length undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress are authentic and have not been manipulated," ADF Senior Counsel Casey Mattox said.

The most damage inflicted on Planned Parenthood by the videos comes from the calloused way some of its officials discuss the procedures. That has drawn apologies from Planned Parenthood and bitter criticism from Republicans.

A number of prolife groups have come together to create GetYourCare.org, an interactive website showing low cost health facilities around the country.

The goal of the site is to give women all over America information on the thousands of low cost health care alternatives to Planned Parenthood.