The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) has yet again released an undercover interview featuring a bone-chilling conversation between undercover CMP journalists and the former Arizona director. In 2015, CMP first received national attention when they released videos of Planned Parenthood employees harvesting and selling fetal limbs and organs. Now, CMP has again showcased the callous attitude with which Planned Parenthood views the sanctity and dignity of human life. The new video contains a conversation between Dr. DeShawn Taylor, the former medical director for Planned Parenthood Arizona and two CMP investigative journalists posing as buyers in the fetal body parts industry.
In the interview Dr. Taylor describes a D&E (Dilation and Evacuation) abortion, the kind which she most frequently performs. According to The Christian Post:
The video also shows Taylor saying she performs elective abortions as late as 24 weeks’ gestation, describing how using forceps to dismember a baby requires much strength.
“My biceps appreciate when the dig[oxin] (a feticide used in some abortion procedures to induce fetal demise) works,” she explained. “I remember when I was a [family planning] fellow and I was training, I was like, ‘Oh, I have to hit the gym for this,’” she laughingly remarked.
By 20 weeks gestation, science is clear that there are pain receptors present throughout the baby’s body that are linked to the brain, indicating that the babies Taylor physically struggles to dismember may feel the process in a very different way from how she does. At 20 weeks, the baby weighs about 10 ounces and is about the size of a small cantaloupe.
In one part of the interview, Dr. Taylor talks about how she tries to avoid having a baby in a second trimester abortion come out of the procedure looking intact because it could potentially make even her staff feel “uncomfortable.” In another part of the video, Taylor reveals “We have the people who do our paperwork for the fetal death certificates. They email us calling them ‘babies.’ Baby this, baby that, baby so-and-so. And I’m like, that’s creepy.”
It’s ironic that others calling an aborted child a baby makes Taylor uncomfortable, but physically struggling to dismember a child does not. According to the Center for Medical Progress website:
Taylor explains to the investigators, “In Arizona, if the fetus comes out with any signs of life, we’re supposed to transport it. To the hospital.” When one investigator then asks, “Is there any standard procedure for verifying signs of life?” Taylor replies, “Well, the thing is, I mean the key is, you need to pay attention to who’s in the room, right?”
The procedures and practices described in this video are not only callous and disrespectful to human life but also downright criminal. It is unacceptable for any life to be handled in such barbaric ways, not excepting the life of an innocent child. As this video makes waves in the pro-life community and brings to light more questionable practices of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, it’s clear that now is the time for to investigate the actions of Planned Parenthood; hold them accountable for their inhumane practices; prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law; and redirect funding through federal taxpayer dollars to more qualified women’s health care centers that respect women and their children.
