Pro-life activists released a new undercover video Wednesday showing a former Planned Parenthood official suggesting that babies born alive after abortions are sometimes left to die.
The video was released less than a day after David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress were charged by California prosecutors with 15 felonies for covertly recording Planned Parenthood executives without their consent.
DeShawn Taylor, former medical director for Planned Parenthood Arizona, appears in the video.
“In Arizona, if the fetus comes out with any signs of life, we’re supposed to transport it. To the hospital,” Ms. Taylor says.
Pro-life activists posing as fetal tissue buyers ask Ms. Taylor if there is “any standard procedure for verifying signs of life.”
“Well, the thing is, I mean the key is, you need to pay attention to who’s in the room, right?” Ms. Taylor says.
SEE ALSO: David Daleiden, Sandra Merritt charged in filming at Planned Parenthood
Mr. Daleiden, project leader of the Center for Medical Progress, said the video shows that Planned Parenthood is willing to “cover up infanticide.”
“The only difference between Planned Parenthood’s barbaric abortion business, and that of the notorious Dr. Kermit Gosnell, is that Gosnell was not so careful as to ’pay attention to who’s in the room,’” Mr. Daleiden said in a statement.
Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt also were charged with criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.
“The right to privacy is a cornerstone of California’s Constitution, and a right that is foundational in a free democratic society,” state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations.”
The new Center for Medical Progress video takes place at a Planned Parenthood networking event. The undercover activists also ask Ms. Taylor about obtaining intact organs from abortions.
“It’s not a matter of how I feel about it coming out intact, but I gotta worry about my staff and people’s feelings about it coming out looking like a baby,” Ms. Taylor says.
In 2015 the Center for Medical Progress released 12 videos showing top Planned Parenthood officials discussing the trade of fetal tissue from abortions. Those videos built momentum to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider, which could be realized this year by the Republican-controlled Congress.
Mr. Daleiden said the new video underscores the need to defund the abortion giant.
“Elected officials must stop forcing taxpayers to subsidize Planned Parenthood’s criminal abortion business, and the Department of Justice must immediately open a full investigation and prosecute Planned Parenthood to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
Planned Parenthood could not be reached for comment about the claims made in the video.
Mary Alice Carter, interim vice president of communications at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the California charges make clear that the abortion giant “has done nothing wrong, and the only people who broke the law are those behind the fraudulent tapes.”
“The California Attorney General filing criminal charges sends a clear message that you cannot target women and you cannot target health care providers without consequences,” Ms. Carter said in a statement. “We look forward to justice being served.”
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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