Documents show Planned Parenthood agreed to swap baby parts for intellectual property rights: Report

Planned Parenthood entered into a "biological material transfer agreement" with the University of California, San Diego, whereby Planned Parenthood would transfer human body parts in exchange for intellectual property rights over patents resulting from subsequent experiments, according to a report from the Center for Medical Progress.

The CMP — a pro-life activist organization David Daleiden founded — said it obtained the documents through a public records request.

According to the agreement, the regional abortion outfit — then called the Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties — would provide "certain proprietary biological materials" to investigators at the university "for the purpose of deriving cell lines from and determining gene expression, genomic, and epigenomic profiles of the Materials."

The "proprietary biological materials" are clearly defined in the agreement as "fetal and placental tissue," otherwise known as human baby parts.

The agreement — which was made and went into effect on May 1, 2009 — specifies that the university cannot use the baby body parts "for the development of any commercial product, including drug screening or development for commercial purposes or on behalf of any commercial entity."

Further, the contract stresses the human remains are for "investigational use only in laboratory animals or in vitro experiments" and are not to be used in humans.

Per the terms of the agreement, PPSD would acquire "all right, title and interest in patents and patent applications and other intellectual property rights relating to the Material" in exchange for the remains.

A 2010-2011 email chain between Planned Parenthood and the university, similarly obtained by the pro-life group via a public records request, contains plans to set up a quarterly "Planned Parenthood/UCSD Research Collaboration Meeting"; to "share on samples recently collected"; and "questions about payment to the residency program."

Planned Parenthood has partnered with the UC San Diego for more than three decades, operating the Ryan Residency Training Program and providing the university's Complex Family Planning Fellowship program with a clinical training site.

While the initial agreement was between the university and PPSD, it was amended in June 2014 to reflect that the regional abortion outfit had changed its name to Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest.

The Center for Medical Progress obtained more recent UCSD communications that allegedly reference the agreement.

Emails from January 2017 appear to reference the body parts agreement as well as another contract.

A 2020 email chain reveals concerns about the origin of "fetal human fibroblasts" that were used to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells for use in the study of genetic and epigenetic stability.

In one reply, an apparent researcher notes that the fibroblasts were "derived from human fetal livers that were used to generate immune system humanized mice."

Another person identifying as "more of an attorney than a scientist" can be seen asking for a "purchase agreement with an [Advanced Bioscience Resource] or an incoming MTA type agreement" and stressing the "need to be especially careful that we have permission to transfer."

According to the Daleiden's organization, the 2009 agreement remains in effect today.

Neither Planned Parenthood nor UCSD on Friday immediately responded to Blaze News' request for comment on the documents.

Daleiden and his pro-life group have faced repercussions over their past efforts to expose Planned Parenthood's alleged side business.

In 2015, Daleiden went undercover as a biotechnology representative interested in acquiring fetal tissue for research and recorded his conversations with staff members from Planned Parenthood. The videos he took while under cover generated significant uproar.

The Center for Medical Progress posted a video on July 14, 2015, showing a senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood, Deborah Nucatola, state casually over wine and lunch, "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, 'I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact."

"I'd say a lot of people want liver. And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they'll know where they're putting their forceps," continued Nucatola. "The kind of rate-limiting step of the procedure is calvarium. Calvarium — the head — is basically the biggest part."

Nucatola, who was later reprimanded, indicates in the video that body parts could run interested parties anywhere from $30 to $100 per specimen.

Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, stressed in the aftermath of the video's release, "Our donation programs — like any other high-quality health care providers' — follow all laws and ethical guidelines," reported the New York Times.

Despite giving Planned Parenthood a black eye, the abortion outfit sued Daleiden in 2016.

In 2019, a San Francisco jury reportedly awarded Planned Parenthood over $2.2 million in damages. Daleiden and his group appealed, claiming their work was constitutionally-protected journalism. While they largely lost their appeal, the court overturned the jury's verdict that the pro-life group had violated the Federal Wiretap Act by secretly recording their conversations with Planned Parenthood employees.

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