The cartoon above this column speaks the truth.
"Drive-by shooting kills 5."
"Planned Parenthood sells fetus parts."
"More beheadings."
"Suicide bomber kills dozens."
"Movie theatre shooting."
"8-month-old dead in locked car."
"Sex trafficking of children all time high."
"Kidnapping rises."
Many of these headlines appeared in newspapers across the country; one hits close to home, as the News Bulletin recently reported and commented on the dangers of leaving babies in locked cars, and memory failure that could lead to tragic results.
But one of the headlines didn't appear on enough newspapers — or broadcasts — around the country.
The Irvine, Calif.-based Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group, spoke undercover with some of Planned Parenthood's top staffers for three years. Recently, the group released video clips purporting that the country's top abortion provider sells fetal parts for a profit.
In one video, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood Federation of America's senior director of medical services, says she would use ultrasound to find the best location to grab the fetus with forceps to provide viable parts for donation. "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver because we know that, I'm not going to crush that part," she says while crunching on lunch.
Altering procedure for the sake of tissue donation raises concerns for many bioethicists including Art Caplan of New York University, who said to CNN that Nucatola's actions, as depicted, were a "big no-no."
Yet Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, straight-faced, that PP's doctors don't change procedure.
He challenged her on that — because both the heavily edited and full versions of the video show the opposite — but she simply would not admit to what was evident.
Another video was released.
This time, Dr. Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood's Medical Directors’ council president, said she wouldn't want to "lowball" the price for fetal parts. “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,” she said in the video. “I want a Lamborghini.”
I've volunteered with non-profits. People committed to their service don't even joke about how they could personally gain from their involvement.
Because there's no personal gain.
Perhaps a dozen more videos will be released, the center has said to CNN and Fox News.
Yet it seems people care more about Cecil the lion, who was a major attraction at Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe before a recreational big-game hunter fatally wounded him with an arrow.
Cecil's death was tragic to many people, and the public outcry for this beloved lion is understandable.
But Planned Parenthood can't blame "heavily edited" video and "militant" anti-abortion groups — Richards' go-to lines in the ABC News interview — for her own staffers' ethically questionable words and callous demeanor.
This isn't about women's rights anymore.
And if you consider Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger's well-documented positions on those she considered less than fit for living, perhaps it never was to begin with.
It's time to shine a bright spotlight on Planned Parenthood. —
VIDEO: Watch clips from the Center for Medical Progress' undercover investigation>>
What's your view? Email tboni@crestviewbulletin.com or tweet @cnbeditor.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: BONI: Time to shine a bright spotlight on Planned Parenthood (VIDEOS)