(Article updated 11:18 a.m. for inclusion of full, unedited video when it’s released)
After the last Baby Body Parts Sales video we were promised that there were more to come and the next shoe seems to have dropped today. Life News has released a second video, this one with Mary Gatter, a senior medical director with PP in California. In a lunch meeting with individuals posing as representatives of a biotech firm, Gatter is asked numerous questions about the possibility of purchasing fetal organ tissue from Planned Parenthood clinics and her responses are once again rather ghastly in the cavalier tone she takes. Just as a trigger warning (if you’ll pardon the use of the phrase here) you should really bail out on reading this article if you have a weak stomach or are easily upset.
Gatter discusses the pricing of aborted baby body parts — telling the biotech company officials that the prices for such things as a baby’s liver, head or heart are negotiable. She also tells the officials that she could talk with the Planned Parenthood abortion practitioners to potentially alter the abortion procedure to kill the baby in a way that would best preserve those body parts after the unborn child is killed in the abortion.
The video shows Gatter haggling over payments for intact fetal specimens and offering to use a “less crunchy technique” to get more intact body parts.
Actors posing as buyers ask Gatter, “What would you expect for intact [fetal] tissue?
“Well, why don’t you start by telling me what you’re used to paying!” Gatter replies.
Toward the end of the discussion there doesn’t seem to be a firm price established, and the “biotech firm reps” are actually the ones arguing for paying PP a higher price, presumably to ensure that they get the best parts. Gatter seems to agree that she should get the highest price possible and then, unprompted, tosses out a comment which will probably be the “stop the presses” moment from this interview.
“Let me just figure out what others are getting, and if this is in the ballpark, then it’s fine, if it’s still low, then we can bump it up. I want a Lamborghini.”
She laughs after repeating the Lamborghini line, so it’s unclear how serious that comment is (if at all) but even if I assume she’s joking that’s far beyond the range of even gallows humor considering the topic at hand.
Having watched and listened to the entire video, I will say right up front that this one won’t be without controversy from PP either. Unfortunately, the eight minute video is heavily edited as with some we’ve seen in years past and many of the editing cuts take place right in the middle of or at the end of some of the most inflammatory statements by Gatter. I was unable to find a link to the full, unedited video in this case, so unless that turns up, Planned Parenthood will no doubt be arguing against the lack of full context. (And in fairness, we should have the full video before this is all over because it’s a valid question in any investigation.)
But even lacking contextual bookending, there are some seriously disturbing topics being discussed in the video above and beyond the rather sickening tone taken during the lunch discussion. Gatter seems to clearly acknowledge, for example, that changing the medical procedure used to perform the abortion for the purpose of “salvaging” more usable tissue is illegal, but she finds that argument to be “specious” and is willing to discuss with both the doctor and the patients the possibility of doing just that anyway. There are other examples of such dancing along the legal lines throughout the conversation.
As to the pricing, Gatter is obviously aware that it’s illegal to sell human body parts from the procedure and brings that up. But she also points out that “there are costs associated” with the procedure. I assume this is the standard company line, coloring it as a “reimbursement” rather than a price tag, but I’d love to have some of the lawyers in the audience help me out with that one. How is there a difference? Everyone who does business of any sort obviously has costs associated with their business model. (And I apologize for using the word “business” in this gruesome context, but I’m asking strictly about the legal definitions here.) You factor those costs in when determining the price of your product. If you’re not supposed to be selling human body parts as per the law, taking money and delivering the parts sounds like “selling” to me.
I keep coming back to the Lamborghini line over and over in my mind, though. What possible other context could there be? It sounds like part of a script you’d write for the villain in a Superman movie.
In any event, here’s the video. As usual, please be aware that you are clicking play at your own risk and much of this will turn out to be extremely disturbing – if not outright horrifying – so you have been warned.
In closing, all of the GOP candidates will no doubt be responding to this one, but the first item I found was from Carly Fiorina. You can view it here.
UPDATE: (Jazz) Thanks to our alert commentariat, the full video was “loading” as of 11:15 this morning. Putting in the embed link which you can refresh later and it should be live. Until then, if it shows up with a gray screen, just ignore it until it’s finished.
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