Liberal commentator and columnist Kirsten Powers has slammed Planned Parenthood after two viral videos posted online showed doctors in the nonprofit women's health organization discussing with undercover actors posing as buyers about the use of aborted body parts for medical research.
In a column posted on USA Today, Powers, who has identified herself as both Christian and pro-life, described the secretly filmed videos as "stomach-churning stuff." She attacked the notion that both videos were problematic due to the harsh tone displayed in them.
"It's the crushing. It's the organ harvesting of fetuses that abortion-rights activists want us to believe have no more moral value than a fingernail," Powers wrote. "It's the lie that these are not human beings worthy of protection. There is no nice way to talk about this."
The conservative group Center for Medical Progress elaborated on the details on the second video, which featured Dr. Mary Gattner, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Medical Directors Council, discussing details over abortion methods and the theoretical prices of baby parts. The video was originally shot back in February 2015.
"What would you expect for intact [fetal] tissue?" actors posing as buyers asked Gatter.
"Well, why don't you start by telling me what you're used to paying?" Gatter said. "You know, in negotiations whoever throws out the figure first is at a loss, right?"
Gatter added that she didn't "want to lowball," but she later gave a suggested estimate of "$75 a specimen."
"It has to be big enough that it's worthwhile for me," Gatter said.
Powers cited a Twitter comment from her friend, former White House staffer Michael Wear, about the situation with Planned Parenthood.
"It should bother us as a society that we have use for aborted human organs, but not the baby that provides them," Wear wrote.
According to Powers, Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards issued an apology last week for the "uncompassionate tone" displayed in the first video. Richards also claimed that the video was "heavily edited" too.
"Richards intoned menacingly that the video was 'secretly recorded.' So what?" Powers wrote. "When Mitt Romney was caught by 'secret video' making his 47 percent remarks, the means of attaining the information was not the focus of the story."
Powers pointed out that Planned Parenthood tried to defend its actions by describing the "crushing and organ harvesting" as a "humanitarian undertaking." She noticed that very few people have come to the defense of the organization after the videos were released.
"It's a measure of how damning the video is that Planned Parenthood's usual defenders were nowhere to be found," Powers wrote. "There was total silence from The New York Times editorial board and their 10 (out of 11) pro-abortion rights columnists. Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi - both recipients of Planned Parenthood's highest honor, the Margaret Sanger Award - have been mum."
Powers contended that unborn fetuses "are under attack by Planned Parenthood." She also wrote a bold conclusion about American society and those who practiced abortion.
"When abortion doctors are elevated to gods who may not be questioned or held accountable, society has officially gone off the rails," Powers wrote.
