A clinic director who previously worked for a southeast Texas Planned Parenthood clinic claims she personally helped "coerce" women into signing up for fetal tissue studies that resulted in financial benefits for the clinic.
In an interview with conservative site the Daily Signal, Abby Johnson, a former clinic director, explained how she participated in the process for eight years until 2009, when she resigned and became a pro-life activist after watching an abortion procedure through an ultrasound.
Johnson said that it was only after a woman signed the consent for an abortion that she would mention the fetal tissue procedure.
"We would tell the client that we are participating in a study and she has an opportunity today to donate the tissue that's removed from her uterus to a research laboratory where they will be working on life-saving treatments for various diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or other types of medical studies," she said. "We would tell her this is an opportunity for her to possibly save the life of someone else by donating this tissue. By creating this altruistic scenario, women would almost always consent and say, 'Yes, absolutely.'"
Johnson said Planned Parenthood trained her on effective strategies and language to use that would dehumanize the baby and increase the chances of securing a tissue donation.
"We never discussed, 'They may want just a leg, or an arm, or these specific organs.' That would create a sense of humanity in their unborn child. And really, we would even shy away from calling it fetal tissue research because just calling it tissue sanitizes it - the women don't necessarily think about the body of their baby, they're just thinking about blood and tissue."
Johnson explained that Planned Parenthood would usually have a contract with a research facility that would pay around $200 per baby sent. She said staff was compensated $20 for each patient they successfully enrolled in a study, but that she never knew what the tissue was actually going to be used for.
"We had absolutely no idea what the tissue was going to be used for. We weren't told that information. We simply had a contract with a research facility, and they said, 'Hey, we need to buy specimens from you, how many can you provide? We'll give you 'X' amount of dollars for each specimen you send.'"
Such incentives created "coercive tactics," she said.
Once the abortion was complete, the fetus and everything suctioned was placed into a jar or tube and sent to a lab where a technician would empty the material onto a dish, similar to what was shown in the fourth and fifth video released from the Center for Medical Progress.
The technician would then pick out the body parts requested for research, put them in a specimen bag and ship them in a dry ice container to the company Planned Parenthood was contracted with.
Johnson said that despite the gruesome and coercive process, she does not believe Planned Parenthood is breaking the law.
"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," she told the Signal. "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."
