Congress Investigates if Planned Parenthood is Breaking the Law to Sell Aborted Babies

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 18, 2015   |   12:39PM   |   Washington, DC

One of the House committees looking into the scandal of Planned Parenthood selling aborted babies and their body parts is now looking into whether or not the abortion business is breaking federal law.

One of the key allegations that has come out after the series of undercover videos concerning Planned Parenthood selling aborted babies is whether the abortion business is breaking federal law banning partial-birth abortions and altering the abortion procedure in a way that allows to to maximize profit from the sales of aborted baby body parts by better preserving those body parts following the abortion.

The undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted unborn children and admitting she uses partial-birth abortions to supply intact body parts.

Nucatola admits that Planned Parenthood charges per-specimen for baby body parts, uses pseudo-partial-birth abortion procedures in order to get salable parts, and is aware of their own liability for doing so and takes steps to cover it up.

To look into the matter further, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee Chairman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) have called on the Department of Justice to provide further information into the Department’s previous investigations into the altering of abortion procedures in order to obtain fetal body parts.

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The letter is part of the Judiciary Committee’s ongoing investigation into the acts of Planned Parenthood, and comes a month after Chairman Goodlatte and Subcommittee Chairman Franks sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch demanding further investigation by DOJ into potential violations of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act by Planned Parenthood.

In a statement, the Committee said it is seeking further answers from DOJ in regards to the laws that govern such practices and their enforcement. Chairman Goodlatte’s letter to DOJ specifically states that “[N]ew evidence suggests that this disturbing practice of altering the procedure is more than an isolated instance.”

Based on the evidence presented in the videos featuring Planned Parenthood executives, Chairman Goodlatte has called upon DOJ to assess three federal laws that may be implicated by these videos, and expressed the Committee’s “interest in understanding the history of the enforcement of these laws at the Department of Justice.”

Below is the text of the letter. A copy of the signed letter can be found here.

August 17, 2015
The Honorable Loretta Lynch
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Lynch:

The House Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation into whether Planned Parenthood abortionists altered procedures in order to harvest the organs and body parts of aborted children. “I’d say a lot of people want liver,” an executive from Planned Parenthood stated in a video released on July 15, 2015. “And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they’ll know where they’re putting their forceps.” She further stated: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that so 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.”

New evidence suggests that this disturbing practice of altering the procedure is more than an isolated instance. In a recent video released on July 21, 2015, yet another Planned Parenthood abortionist executive stated:

Let me explain to you a little bit of a problem, which may not be a big problem, if our usual technique is suction at 10 to 12 weeks and we switch to using an IPAS [manual vacuum aspirator] or something with less suction or to increase the odds that it will come out as an intact specimen, then we’re kind of violating the protocol that says to the patient, “We’re not doing anything different in our care of you.” Now to me, that’s kind of a specious little argument and I wouldn’t object to asking Ian, who’s our surgeon who does the cases, to use an IPAS at that gestational age in order to increase the odds that he’s going to get an intact specimen.

Later in the video, when asked if she would be happy with the dollar amount per specimen suggested by the undercover investigative journalist, the Planned Parenthood abortionist executive stated: “Well, let me find out from other affiliates in California [what they] are getting and if they’re getting more, then we can discuss it then.” She continued, “But, you know, the money is not the important thing, but it has to be big enough that it’s worthwhile for me.”

At least three federal laws may be implicated by this video: 42 U.S.C. § 274e, which states that “[i]t shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplantation if the transfer affects interstate commerce”; 42 U.S.C. § 289g, which states that “[i]t shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration if the transfer affects interstate commerce”; and 18 U.S.C. § 1531, which prohibits partial-birth abortions.

We write regarding our interest in understanding the history of the enforcement of these laws at the Department of Justice. Please provide the Committee with a copy of the complaint in every case filed by the Department in which a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 274e, 42 U.S.C. § 289g, or 18 U.S.C. § 1531, and any related federal laws, is alleged.

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this request.

The announcement of this aspect of the Planned Parenthood investigation follows on the heels of an announcement that a House committee is now looking into the Obama administration and whether there is any connection between it and the abortion giant.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was to know if the Obama administration, via the Department of Health and Human Services, provided any federal grants to Planned Parenthood that ultimately went to pay for the sales of aborted baby body parts and if they were used by Planned Parenthood to “support transactions involving fetal tissue.”

The expose’ videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation.

As LifeNews reported, the first video of undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted unborn children and admitting she uses partial-birth abortions to supply intact body parts.

In the second video, Planned Parenthood doctor Mary Gatter discusses the pricing of aborted baby body parts — telling the biotech company officials that the prices for such things as a baby’s liver, head or heart are negotiable. She also tells the officials that she could talk with the Planned Parenthood abortion practitioners to potentially alter the abortion procedure to kill the baby in a way that would best preserve those body parts after the unborn child is killed in the abortion.

So far, 12 states have responded to the Planned Parenthood videos and launched investigations into their abortion and organ harvesting business including South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts, KansasMissouri, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana. The district attorney in Houston Texas is also investigating after the Houston-based Planned Parenthood abortion facility was caught selling aborted babies.

Congress has expanded its investigation into the Planned Parenthood abortion business and five states have revoked taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood’s abortion business, including Utah, Arkansas, Alabama, New Hampshire and Louisiana and Iowa’s governor has ordered a review of Planned Parenthood funding.

The full, unedited videos have confirmed that revelations that some aborted baby remains sold by Planned Parenthood go to biotech companies for the purpose of creating “humanized” mice. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has been exposed as having sold body parts from aborted babies for as much as 15 years.

The federal law that technically prohibits the sale of aborted babies and their body parts was written by a pro-abortion Congressman decades ago and essentially spells out a process by which sellers of aborted baby body parts can meet certain criteria that allows the sales to be legal. That’s why a Colorado congressman has introduced legislation to totally ban the sales of aborted baby body parts.

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