Planned Parenthood to stop receiving payments for fetal tissue

By Paige Winfield Cunningham, Paige Winfield Cunningham

Published December 20, 2015

Planned Parenthood no longer will accept payments for aborted fetal tissue, after a string of undercover videos highlighted its participation in the practice and put the group under heavy fire from Republicans and abortion foes.

On Tuesday, the women's health and abortion provider wrote a letter to the National Institutes of Health, saying it will no longer accept any financial compensation for providing the tissue to human tissue companies, who in turn sell it to medical researchers.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said she and other top officials made the decision not because they did anything wrong, but because they want to "take the smokescreen away" from Republicans attacking her group with claims that it profited from the tissue.

The videos from anti-abortion investigator David Daleiden show that some Planned Parenthood clinics are paid for supplying aborted fetal tissue. While it's legal to be compensated for the overhead costs of providing the tissue, it's illegal to profit from the practice.