On behalf of Kevin Donovan, M.D., BG&A filed an amicus brief last week in support of the State of Texas in Planned Parenthood v. Smith (5th Cir.), an appeal of a district court decision rejecting Texas’s disqualification of certain Planned Parenthood entities (collectively “Planned Parenthood”) from participation in the Texas Medicaid program.
The brief focuses on standards of ethics accepted in the medical community. In particular, the brief argues that the practice of modifying abortion procedures for research purposes violates well-established ethical duties that Planned Parenthood owes to its patients. In addition, the brief argues that profit-motivated research initiatives involving fetal tissue create serious conflicts of interest and violate the medical community’s longstanding ethical proscription on human commodification.
The amicus brief is available here.