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NEW YORK, NY, July 27, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — Embattled Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards says that it's pro-life activists, not her senior subordinates, who are the real killers who are lying about Planned Parenthood's practice of harvesting and selling fetal body parts.

Speaking on “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos (rush transcript here), Richards said that the two videos released by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) were “highly selectively edited.”

She also called the videos an attempt “to entrap doctors,” and declared that “Planned Parenthood does not at all profit from fetal tissue donation, which is an important element of health care research in this country.”

Pressed by Stephanopoulos, Richards admitted that CMP had also released their full-length investigative videos – which are not edited.

In the CMP videos, Planned Parenthood's senior medical services director and the head of the abortion company's Pasadena chapter told investigators that abortions were done differently to ensure whole limbs and organs were garnered for sale. However, asked twice by Stephanopoulos, Richards denied that this was happening.

But senior CMP investigator David Daleiden stands by his videos. Last week, he told LifeSiteNews that his organization's videos showed that Planned Parenthood violated statute 42 U.S.C. 289g-1, which says that “no alteration of the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate the pregnancy was made solely for the purposes of obtaining the tissue.”

Neither Stephanopoulos or Richards addressed the fact that CMP's videos appear to reveal that the organization’s abortionists may be using the illegal and gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure to harvest organs and parts. Daleiden pointed out to LifeSiteNews that “[Planned Parenthood] has yet to address” that part of the controversy.

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Richards maintained that because Planned Parenthood is a “100 percent” non-profit, it could not make money off of fetal part sales. Her claim was challenged by Stephanopoulos, who pointed to a StemExpress brochure that he said “talks about the financial benefits to the clinics.”  

While Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization, it works with the for-profit StemExpress for fetal part harvesting. Additionally, the subject of the second CMP video, Dr. Mary Gatter, is president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s for-profit Medical Directors’ Council.

Asked about reforms to Planned Parenthood “in light of” the videos, Richards said that “the most disgusting part of this, to me, is that these folks lied…to gain access to clinics.”

Richards accused Daleiden and “the folks behind” the videos of being “part of the most militant wing of the anti-abortion movement that has been behind the bombing of clinics, the murder of doctors in their homes and in their churches. And that’s what actually needs to be looked at.”

While Richards' argument repeated an argument made by the prominet leftist organization Media Matters last week, Operation Rescue's Troy Newman issued a statement today responding to Richards' accusations.

In its press release, Operation Rescue said that “Richards…obviously was referring to Troy Newman, who is one of three members of the CMP Board of Directors.”

“The evidence is clear that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted baby body parts for fees that exceed their actual costs and is modifying abortion procedures in order to produce organs that can be sold all in clear violation of State and Federal laws,” said Newman.

“Therefore, it is no wonder that she would deflect with fallacious attacks in order to divert attention away from Planned Parenthood’s own appalling behavior.”

Media Matters had also pointed out that Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger pled guilty in 1987 to conspiracy to damage an abortion clinic, and served two years in prison. She has since publicly decried violent means to stop the abortion industry. However, her past conviction has led to Operation Rescue being the target of criticism.

“I'm not sure why I'm even being dragged into this,” Sullenger told LifeSiteNews. “It's a red herring.”

Operation Rescue's release stated that “Newman is considering legal action against Richards for her slanderous and libelous accusations.”

“Richards’ outright lies, misrepresentations and vituperative attacks do not change the truth that Planned Parenthood has been caught with their bloody hand in the cookie jar,” he concluded.