Debate Planned Parenthood honestly: Our view

Undercover videos of top Planned Parenthood doctors callously discussing how best to collect fetal tissue and organs for research are enough to make most people, regardless of their views on abortion, squeamish if not horrified.

The videos raise troubling questions about how far Planned Parenthood doctors are willing to go to collect intact specimens, how broadly collection is conducted, why the cost would differ among affiliates, and whether the century-old group is treating this work with the respect and sensitivity it deserves.

The words of the organization's own officials suggest it is not. Between sips of wine and forkfuls of salad, the group’s senior director of medical research talks of how easy it is to "crush below" or "crush above" certain organs to keep them  intact. A California affiliate's medical director asserts that “the money is not the important thing, but it has to be big enough that it is worthwhile." And a physician in Colorado worries about how it would look if an affiliate in an anti-abortion state got "caught."

None of this makes the organization look good. Yet for all the effort to smear Planned Parenthood — a militant anti-abortion group set up a phony business and used actors and hidden cameras — no smoking gun has emerged to prove that Planned Parenthood illegally profited from selling fetal tissues and organs.

Amid the uproar, it's important to remember that fetal tissue collection is legal. A bipartisan measure in 1993 set up the rules, including that collectors may be reimbursed for costs. Fetal tissue, which has biological attributes that adult tissue lacks, is used in medical research, helping to create vaccines, develop HIV antibodies, and repair DNA and retinal damage.

Moreover, the planned response by Senate Republicans — a vote on Monday to strip every cent of federal money away from Planned Parenthood — would do nothing to prevent abortions and in all likelihood would increase them.

Federal law  already prohibits using federal funds for abortions except in the rarest of cases. Cutting off more than $500 million in funds would deny low-income women critical health care, from breast cancer screening to birth control. Just 12% of patients go to Planned Parenthood's nearly 700 clinics for abortions.

Although the effort to defund Planned Parenthood is unlikely to prevail, the videos, released over the past three weeks, have opened a new front in the abortion wars, forcing the public to confront the ugly reality of what abortion looks like, particularly beyond the first trimester.

Planned Parenthood's damage-control efforts have been fumbling. It took until last week for the group to admit that it collects tissue in three states; it has not revealed in how many clinics. Planned Parenthood said it has national guidelines on collection, but it refused to share them. As for the California doctor's seeming haggling over payment, Planned Parenthood sees it instead as "guessing about the actual reimbursement costs."

It seems a good idea, as Planned Parenthood recommended last week, to have a national panel sort through the issues related to fetal tissue research.

In the meantime, as long as abortion is legal, opponents should ask themselves whether research is a better alternative than discarding the tissue. And if they think such research ought to be illegal, they should promote legislation to ban it, rather than move to take away Planned Parenthood funding that helps women prevent unintended pregnancies.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

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