By Eric Crest. CREATED Jul 24, 2015
A growing controversy involving secretly recorded videos aimed to discredit Planned Parenthood have surfaced online. It shows a woman identified as Dr. Mary Gatter of California"s Planned Parenthood, meeting with potential buyers of fetal specimens. But the buyers are recording the whole thing secretly.
"..It's been years since I've talked about compensation, so let me just figure out what others are getting and if it's in the ballpark then it's fine," said the woman identified as Dr. Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood's Medical Director in California.
The video recorded by the anti-abortion group known as the Center for Medical Progress allegedly shows Planned Parenthood bargaining the price of fetal tissue.
The national Planned Parenthood organization calls the recordings a smear campaign. But tonight. a local lawmaker wants state funding for the Wisconsin chapter to end.
Two state representatives are trying to ban the sale of fetal body parts in Wisconsin. But Planned Parenthood would like to make it clear, they don't offer tissue donations from their patients anywhere in Wisconsin.
The debate is simple on the surface.
"We're talking about selling human body parts," says Representative Andre Jacque.
An act that is illegal. But not for non-profits depending on how you interpret the word sell. If organizations like Planned Parenthood get consent from the patient and if they donate the fetus to a third party, they can then charge that party for the procedural costs.
"We've seen in the videos that they sought to get around the whole idea of selling the parts by instead trying to to consider it a donation or reimbursement," adds Rep. Jacque.
But Planned Parenthood representatives see it as a political attack on the organization that could ultimately cost them millions of dollars in federal funding. Nicole Safar the Government relations Director of Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin said this in a recent statement.
Jacque supports policies like a constitutional ban on birth control and criminalizing all abortion, so it's no surprise that he is advancing these initiatives...Instead of working to address the needs of women... Politicians like Representative Jacque are working to smear trusted health care providers."
But Representative Jacque who co-authored the proposal says he has support from colleagues and his constituents and despite the non-profits claim, he questions whether the practice has occurred here.
I think that certainly there is a strong likelihood that they have been involved in some way or another of trafficking within the state of Wisconsin," says Representative Jacque.
Two other bills that Representative Jacque is proposing would also divert millions away from Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin. Planned Parenthood representatives say these moves would ultimately restrict women's access to health care.
Representative Jacque says the proposal will be introduced within the next couple of weeks but it could be months away from being brought to the Legislature.