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July 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – One year ago today, the nation's abortion debate changed dramatically, as the newly formed Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released the first video exposing Planned Parenthood's willingness – indeed, eagerness – to receive money in exchange for aborted babies' organs, tissue, and body parts. Now, one year later, CMP has released a retrospective, looking back at what we've learned and taking a stark look at how much – and how little – has changed.

Two or more criminal violations

CMP's first, devastating video showed Dr. Deborah Nucatola at a posh California eatery, describing the gruesome practice between sips of wine and bites of salad.

As Planned Parenthood's director of medical services, Dr. Nucatola oversees the medical procedures and techniques employed by all abortionists at its affiliates nationwide, including training them in specific methods. She said its affiliates charge between $30 and $100 per body part.

Receiving “valuable consideration” for human body parts is federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.

In the video, she details an abortion method that resembles the banned partial birth abortion process, another federal felony punishable by two years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

She also said she would alter her technique, to “crush below” or “crush above” the desired body part in an attempt to “get it all intact.” Unnecessarily altering an abortion technique also violates federal HHS guidelines.

CMP investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt spent 30 months posing as part of a biological start-up, Biomax, obtaining hundreds of hours of video footage, which it leaked out one drip at a time.

A week later, the second video featured Dr. Mary Gatter, the president of Planned Parenthood's for-profit Medical Directors’ Council, haggling over the price of aborted babies' tissue, saying, “I want a Lamborghini.”

More videos followed, as did state and federal investigations into what Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards dubbed its “fetal tissue donation” program.

Haggling over “donation” amounts

But money seemed to be a clear consideration for all parties involved. StemExpress, which partnered with Planned Parenthood in the practice, said it offered a financial boost to participating clinics. And one Planned Parenthood official after another pressed the issue.

Dr. Savita Ginde, vice president and medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said she would prefer being paid for each body part. “I think a per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it,” she said.

Invoices CMP obtained showed that one biologics firm, DaVinci Biosciences, pays Planned Parenthood $750 per brain. Yet officials always angled for new ways to obtain more money.

Melissa Farrell of the Houston-based Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast offered to personally dissect the infant cadavers, saying, “It's sickening on some level, but it's fun.”

CMP officials say Planned Parenthood actually does little except have women sign consent forms, violating federal and applicable state laws.

A Reuter/Ipsos poll last August found that 44 percent of those who saw the CMP videos had a more negative view of Planned Parenthood, but most Americans had not seen the videos.

Investigations coast-to-coast

In the ensuing year, 24 states passed or introduced measures to defund Planned Parenthood, the U.S. House of Representatives established a special panel to investigate, and the proposed 2016 Republican Party platform called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

The House Select Panel on Infact Lives continues to investigate, having produced 46 pages of documents, showing that one Planned Parenthood affiliate alone made in excess of $10,000 a month from its “tissue donation” program.

The abortion provider appeared to wilt under pressure. Last October 13, Richards announced that Planned Parenthood would no longer accept any money in exchange for futile organs and tissue in a letter to the national Institute for health. The text of the new policy has not been released publicly.

“Despite Planned Parenthood’s repeated claim that the CMP videos were doctored, Congress has uncovered mountains of evidence — including invoices — showing that Planned Parenthood received large sums of money for the parts of children it aborted,” said Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, where Daleiden began his pro-life advocacy. “Tragically, one year later, Planned Parenthood’s barbaric baby parts trade is allowed to continue, and taxpayers are still forced to subsidize the abortion chain with more than a half billion dollars each year.” 

CMP faces legal backlash

In January, the Houston grand jury indicted CMP investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for using a fake ID and allegedly attempting to purchase human organs. The second charge, a misdemeanor, was later dismissed.

However, despite more than 100,000 petitions requesting that all charges against the pro-life investigators be dropped, and an admission from Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson that her office colluded with Planned Parenthood to turn the charges against CMP, the first charge of tampering with a governmental record still stands. 

If convicted, the two could face up to 20 years in prison.

Daleiden also faces legal woes in his native California, where state Attorney General Kamala Harris rated his apartment, seized all undercover footage, and is investigating pressing criminal charges.

CMP also remains the target of a civil case brought by multiple Planned Parenthood affiliates and the National Abortion Federation.

Daleiden has repeatedly asked for prayers, saying he has never reconsidered his decision to expose the abortion giant.

New video

CMP's latest video, released this morning, focuses on Planned Parenthood's political strength. It features excerpts from previous videos, documenting their charges. Then, they show contrasting reactions from the two presidential candidates.

Donald Trump is shown saying Planned Parenthood officials “talking so cavalierly about what is obviously human life” is “disgraceful.”

The video then features Hillary Clinton's June 10 speech to Planned Parenthood, in which she salutes Dr. Amna Dermish by name. Dr. Dermish laughed with Daleiden on video about how she will “strive for” the day she can decapitate an unborn child with the baby's brain intact.

Planned Parenthood endorsed Clinton during the primaries and has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars on her election. “Of the billions of dollars Planned Parenthood has received from taxpayers, it has given back millions in campaign contributions to politicians who protect it from the laws that everyone else has to follow,” Rose said.  

That money, and Clinton's close, personal friendship with Richards, could continue to inoculate them from federal scrutiny after this fall's election.

“The rule of law means that there cannot be one special set of rules for Planned Parenthood, and another for everybody else,” he said today. “Planned Parenthood is not above the law and must be held accountable for their callous and careless treatment of vulnerable patients and their barbaric profiteering on baby body parts.”