With the litany of undercover videos coming out about Planned Parenthood I think I will discuss my philosophy on Abortion in general and the specifics of the discussion of fetal remains for research.
I think that at the moment of conception you have a unique genetic code of an individual. That genetic combination could potentially be the next Einstein or the next Hitler, but honestly I think the larger defining factor will be the nurturing of the child and their life experiences. That is where Life begins and an abortion could result in that unique genetic code ever being reached again.
Additionally I think that abortion should be avoided as much as possible through responsible family planning. So while I would advise against abortion as much as possible I recognize that is my personal opinion and that only goes as far as my own body.
A pregnant woman has different priorities and rights and could reach different decisions or philosophies. While I vehemently oppose the Roe v. Wade for how it was accomplished by creating rights out of thin air instead of the constitution the actual outcome of abortion being legal I can actually support. I believe that the decision is one that needs to be reached between the family and their doctor. If there was a severe situation such as rape, incest, or life threatening conditions. Each family might have a different outcome and some mothers might value the life of their child over their own and others feel the opposite.
So each family needs to find the medical practitioner that offers the choices they want to have available to them. However that medical practitioner should not have a financial benefit to influence your decisions where that decision could end in a life.
Planned Parenthood has certainly failed to avoid the perceived conflict of interest in the situation of Abortion. Despite a law making it illegal to profit from the remains of abortions they were so inept that they cannot properly document their fetal remains and accounting for the “refunding” of transporting the remains to researchers. The lack of competence convinces me that Planned Parenthood is unable to effectively implement a “Chinese Wall” to separate the medical advise to the patients with those who perform the abortions. Even if a such a separation existed if the individuals performing the abortion change their procedure at the risk of the patient in order to harvest viable organs from the fetal remains.
The conflict of interest is so compelling I can support the efforts to suspend funding to Planned Parenthood (temporarily) until they can be investigated. If the evidence proves they are illegally violating federal law then I would transition that support to permanently remove federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Though if that occurs I would support transitioning the funding they are receiving to other institutions that can follow the laws as written.
Conversely if the evidence shows there was not criminal action funding for non abortion activities could be restored if proper oversight keeps them separate. If Planned Parenthood actually commits to reforms to resolve this perception then with the proper oversight I could even see the funding restored, but their current public relations campaigns make this seem very unlikely.