By Jada Lister

In July, a series of ten undercover videos were released on the internet that appeared to show officials from Planned Parenthood talking about selling organs and tissue from aborted fetuses.

While the donation of fetal tissue is not illegal, making a profit off of it is, which happens to be what the videos claim Planned Parenthood is doing. Planned Parenthood denies this and has sparked a great degree of controversy over whether the organization should be defunded.

After viewing the videos, I believe federal funding for Planned Parenthood should be stopped. For years taxpayers have had to pay for a practice that may potentially violate their moral principles. Not only was Planned Parenthood suspected of making a profit off of selling baby parts , but at least in my opinion, regardless of whether the stage of development is an embryo or a fetus, it is still human life, and as such, has moral status including, the right to live. Additionally, an unborn child cannot give consent to be used for research, which is a fundamental ethical requirement.

The videos released from the pro-life group Center of Medical Progress depict various techniques used during tissue harvesting that have been deemed questionable in nature. The fetuses should be treated with the dignity and the respect that they deserve but instead appear to be discussed and handled in a rather cavalier manner.

Planned Parenthood has stated that the videos are edited and are deceptive; however even StemExpress, their partner, has cut ties following the release of the videos.

In a statement from StemExpress, a biotech company that provides human tissues to biomedical researchers, said, “We value our various partnerships, but due to the increased questions that have arisen over the past few weeks, we feel it prudent to terminate activities with Planned Parenthood.”

Many have responded with outcries that cutting Planned Parenthood’s funding would result in thousands of unintended pregnancies every year. This is not the entire story, however.

Recently a bill was defeated that would de-fund Planned Parenthood for one year while a Congressional investigation was performed. Republican leaders are planning to target Planned Parenthood’s funding by drafting a fast-track reconciliation bill that would redirect tax-dollars to local community health centers that provide the same services as Planned Parenthood to low income women with the exception of abortions and harvesting organs from fetuses. This disputes the claims made by those in favor of continuing to fund Planned Parenthood.

Ultimately the government needs to do what is morally right and defund Planned Parenthood in order to prevent further instances of unethical medical practice.