Widely-shared Facebook posts claimed on Monday that Democratic vice presidential candidate and California Sen. Kamala Harris, during her time as state attorney general, prosecuted two pro-life "journalists" who "exposed" Planned Parenthood for "selling baby parts."
We found there’s a major flaw in these posts: A dozen states investigated Planned Parenthood but never reached a criminal finding against the organization for tissue sales. Planned Parenthood has denied the accusations.
We also found the term "baby parts" is wrong and greatly misleading. Scientists use donated fetal tissue as a source of fetal cells. These cells have been used for research since the 1930s, and the government has funded such research since the 1950s, "when it was used to create one of the biggest medical advances of the 20th century: the polio vaccine," according to a recent NBC news report.
Pro-life groups circulated the claims on the same day abortion and women’s reproductive rights took center stage during the start of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on President Donald Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats view Barrett as a conservative ideologue who could vote to eliminate abortion rights.
Originally published in August, this headline from LifeNews.com was viewed nearly 500,000 times on Facebook the day before the hearings began: "Kamala Harris Tried to Put Pro-Lifers in Jail Who Exposed Planned Parenthood Selling Baby Parts."
The story was flagged as part of Facebook’s effort to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about PolitiFact California’s partnership with Facebook.)
Several text memes such as the one below also circulated online:
In this fact check, we focused on whether Harris really failed to prosecute Planned Parenthood for "selling baby parts" and then went after two "journalists."
Background On Accusations Against Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood provides reproductive health care services, including abortions, birth control, testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, along with sex education programs.
In 2014 and 2015, the organization was accused of illegal fetal tissue sales. The allegations came after two anti-abortion activists from the Center for Medical Progress released edited and undercover videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood staff discussing the transactions.
Though sales are illegal, fetal tissue donations for medical research are allowed under state and federal laws, including the 1993 federal Statute on Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research.
Before a donation is allowed, the federal statute requires that the woman involved must provide written consent. Providers can receive payment to cover the cost of transportation, processing and storage of the tissue.
In 2015, FactCheck.org took a close look at the full, unedited video released by CMP. They found it shows "shows a Planned Parenthood executive repeatedly saying its clinics want to cover their costs, not make money, when donating fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research."
Criminal Findings?
As NPR outlined in 2016, Republican governors from Texas to Florida to Indiana, where now Vice President Mike Pence was governor at the time, all ordered investigations into the accusations against Planned Parenthood after the videos were released, but found no evidence of the illegal activity.
"Despite all the worry, state investigations have yet to find any evidence that Planned Parenthood was selling or profiting off fetal tissue," NPR reported.