Planned Parenthood under anti-abortion fire

In late August, 500 protesters gathered peacefully outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington state, demanding that the US Congress cut off funding for the organization. Planned Parenthood performs abortions in addition to offering a host of other women's and reproductive health services.

Two weeks later, the Pullman city clinic was badly damaged in a fire, forcing it to temporarily close. Local investigators determined that the cause of the blaze was arson. According to local news reports, a federal anti-terrorism task force also joined investigation. Suspects have not been named.

Planned Parenthood has faced an onslaught since the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) published a series of secretly filmed, inflammatory videos over the summer.

In one of the videos, a Planned Parenthood official casually discusses, over lunch and red wine, the donation of fetal tissue for medical research. The official asks for $30 - $100 to recoup the costs associated with preserving the tissue.

"A lot of people want intact hearts these days because they're looking for specific nodes," the official says in the video. "Yesterday was the first time she said people need lungs. Always as many intact livers as possible. Some people want lower extremities too - that's simple, that's easy."

Center for Medical Progress

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, CMP's leadership has connections to anti-abortion extremists. Troy Newman, a member of CMP's board, has called for the "criminal prosecution of Planned Parenthood officials."

In 2003, anti-abortion extremist Paul Hill was found guilty of murdering an abortion doctor and his bodyguard in Florida. Newman subsequently decried Hill's conviction as "judicial tyranny" in a press release.

Newman is also president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. His second in command, Cheryl Sullenger, was convicted in 1988 for conspiring to blow up an abortion clinic in San Diego, California. She was sentenced to three years in federal prison.

"[CMP is] an anti-abortion organization that's associated with some of the most extreme characters in the anti-abortion movement," David Cohen, a law professor and expert on the politics of abortion at Drexel University, told DW. "The goal is not only to shut down Planned Parenthood, but end abortion around the country."

Government shutdown threat

The video has provoked outrage among those opposed to abortion. In August, Senate conservatives launched a failed attempt to cut off Planned Parenthood's funding. Members of the House have called on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into the alleged sale of fetal tissue.

"The harvesting of human fetal body parts for sale is an activity that shocks the conscience," wrote 135 Republican politicians in a letter to the Justice Department. "Moreover, the tragic ethical considerations, potential for criminal violations, and involvement of taxpayer subsidies raise issues of great public importance."

At least 18 conservatives in the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, are now calling for the Republican leadership to block any spending bill that funds Planned Parenthood, creating the risk of a second government shutdown in two years. In 2013, conservative lawmakers shut down the federal government over President Barack Obama's health care reform law.

"We are pursuing it in order to stop sending taxpayers' money to a group that engages in activity that many people find abhorrent and repulsive," Representative Mick Mulvaney told the "Washington Post" paper.

'No financial benefit'

Planned Parenthood has vehemently rejected accusations that it has done anything illegal, saying "there is no financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned Parenthood.''

''At several of our health centers, we help patients who want to donate tissue for scientific research, and we do this just like every other high-quality health care provider does - with full, appropriate consent from patients and under the highest ethical and legal standards,'' Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood, said in a press release.

Under US law, organizations like Planned Parenthood are allowed to recoup the costs associated with donating specimens, but they are not allowed to make a profit.

US federal law also bans the government from funding abortions. The public money that does go to Planned Parenthood is used for other health services like pap smears, breast cancer screenings, and contraceptive visits for men and women.

"If anything, people who are opposed to abortion should be thrilled that Planned Parenthood does that, because contraception prevents abortion," said Cohen, the author of "Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism."

Impact of cutting off funds

According to Cohen, cutting off public funding for Planned Parenthood would force millions of people to go elsewhere for basic health services.

"There just isn't the infrastructure in this country to try to absorb those numbers of people who need those services," Cohen said.

"It would also have a huge impact for other abortion clinics and hospitals that provide abortions," he continued. "If the Center for Medical Progress was successful in attacking Planned Parenthood this way, they would do the same thing to try and end abortion clinics."

Fetal health research

According to Arthur Caplan, there's an irony to the controversy. Medical researchers use the fetal tissue that comes from organizations like Planned Parenthood to try and improve fetal health.

"You're trying to understand what causes diseases," Cohen, founding director of New York University's Division of Medical Ethics, told DW. "When do disabilities begin like Down Syndrome or Spina bifida, you have an eye toward seeing whether you can genetically fix them."

"You're also interested in what exposure to alcohol or air pollutants does to the fetus," he said. "You're primarily interested in, ironically somewhat, fetal health."