Anti-abortion group released fifth undercover Planned Parenthood video

An anti-abortion group that has released several undercover videos accusing Planned Parenthood of illegally selling the organs and tissues of aborted foetuses released a fifth video on 4 August.

The video comes on the heels of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal cutting state funding from the women's health organisation and the Senate blocking a bill to defund the group.

According to CNN, the latest undercover video appears to be edited shows footage of a Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast leader discussing providing foetal organs to a company. Members of The Center for Medical Progress pose as employees of a foetal tissue procurement company as they attempt to purchase intact foetal organs from the organisation's Houston branch.

"If we alter our process and we're able to obtain intact foetal cadavers, it's all a matter of line items," Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, is heard saying in the video.

In the video, Farrell is also heard saying Planned Parenthood works with academics and researchers that study foetuses to find intact organs, or even complete cadavers, CNN reported.

"It's something that we can look at exploring: How we can make that happen so we have the highest chance," she said. "It will probably also require a little bit of input from the doctors. Doctors are the ones asking, directly doing that."

The research director added that some doctors are researchers who perform abortions in a certain way to get intact organs for their own research.

The video also includes footage of Abby Johnson, the former clinic director of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, testifying in front of the Texas Senate that her organisation's branch made around $120,000 a month selling aborted foetus tissue and organs.

Planned Parenthood has denounced the video series as misleading and unethical, the Washington Post reported.

"The latest tape has at least 20 substantial and unexplained edits. Previous tapes released by this extremist group were heavily edited in order to distort what the people in the tapes actually said," Planned Parenthood's executive vice president Dawn Laguens said in a statement on 4 August.

"These videos are intended to shock and deceive the public. For example, one video was edited to make it look like a doctor said she would 'sell' foetal tissue for a profit — when in fact, she said the exact opposite, 10 separate times, and nearly all instances were edited out of the tape."

The new video follows Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's announcement that the state would terminate its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood. Jindal, a Republican presidential candidate, also ordered the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to investigate the group's activities in the state.

According to the Washington Post, following the release of the fifth video, Texas Governor Greg Abbot announced his state would investigate the matter and would "use all available legal remedies."

Abbot said, "The latest video showing Planned Parenthood's treatment of unborn children in a Houston clinic is repulsive and unconscionable. Selling baby body parts is the furthest thing imaginable from providing women's healthcare, and this organization's repeated and systematic disrespect for human life is appalling."

At least two courts have issued restringing orders against the anti-abortion group, ordering it to not release videos due to concerns they were illegally recorded and that the individuals featured could be harmed.