The Hidden Ethics Battle in the Planned Parenthood Fetal Tissue Scandal

In a flood of outrage over Planned Parenthood videos — executives caught talking callously about supplying fetal tissue for medical research — some key points have washed out of attention, ethics experts say.

• The use of fetal tissue in medical research is legal — and scientifically valuable.
• It’s taxpayer-funded, to the tune of $76 million last year, and Planned Parenthood isn’t the only provider.
• Done with dignity, it can be ethical, too, both religious and secular experts say.

But they also say there may be an unresolvable impasse in the public response: Can or should the leading provider of women’s health care be shut down in a showdown over the moral status of embryonic and fetal life?