The US Senate defeated a bill yesterday that proposed withdrawing government funding for Planned Parenthood, after videos emerged of officials describing how foetal tissue and organs are procured for researchers during abortions.
Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley said the videos illustrate what Pope Francis calls today's "throwaway culture".
The officials also discuss what the organisation charges for the body parts, which opponents of Planned Parenthood said violates federal law and the organisation said are customary handling fees paid by research labs.
While the measure was not expecteded to pass, it is part of a wider effort by pro-life groups and others to restrict abortions and question the activities of Planned Parenthood, which provides health services, family planning and abortions in clinics across the country. Planned Parenthood receives more than US$500m (£320m) a year from national and state governments.
Cardinal O'Malley, in a July 29 statement, said Pope Francis calls abortion "the product of a 'widespread mentality of profit, the throwaway culture, which has today enslaved the hearts and minds of so many.'"
He said that abortion and “the now standard practice of obtaining foetal organs and tissues though abortion" fail to respect the humanity and dignity of human life.
O'Malley made the comments as chairman of the .S bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a radio interview that he was "appalled" by the videos but even more "appalled at the reality of abortion, the taking of the life itself."
The prelates were referring to videos filmed undercover earlier this year and released in mid-July by a nonprofit California-based organisation called the Center for Medical Progress.
In two videos, top Planned Parenthood physicians describe how abortions are carried out to optimise the salvaging of foetal tissue and organs for researchers. They describe a range of prices paid for different body parts.
A third video is an interview with a technician talking about a company she works for, harvesting body parts from aborted foetuses, and included graphic footage. Los Angeles Superior Court last week blocked a fourth video from being released.
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement said: "allegations that Planned Parenthood profits in any way from tissue donation is not true." She later apologised for "the tone" the physicians use in describing abortion procedures and also argued that the videos had been heavily edited to distort the truth.
Above: Cardinal O'Malley. Photo: CNS
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