Top Democrats on two House panels are asking their Republican colleagues to suspend their Planned Parenthood investigations or at least to also investigate the group that brought them under fire.
Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrats on the House Oversight and House Judiciary committees, respectively, wrote to their Republican counterparts Thursday, asking them to stop investigating Planned Parenthood or start an equally aggressive probe of the Center for Medical Progress.
Run by anti-abortion investigator David Daleiden, the group over the last month and a half has released a series of controversial videos highlighting how some Planned Parenthood clinics provide aborted fetal tissue for medical research. The videos have prompted three House committees, including Oversight and Judiciary, to investigate whether Planned Parenthood broke any laws and the group’s provision of abortion services in general.
But Cummings and Conyers say the investigations are unwarranted because there is a lack of solid evidence that Planned Parenthood did anything illegal.
“Our committees are actively pursuing aggressive investigations of Planned Parenthood even though we have seen no credible evidence that the organization has done anything unlawful,” they wrote. “We call on you to halt these one-sided investigations immediately.”
The two members quoted from a letter Planned Parenthood sent to Congress last week, defending itself against GOP charges that it illegally profited from selling fetal tissue and unethically changed the way abortions are performed to keep certain fetal organs intact.
And they pointed to potential legal problems for Daleiden’s group, which may face invasion-of-privacy lawsuits and a federal case claiming conspiracy to defraud. To collect the footage, Daleiden met with various Planned Parenthood officials disguised as a buyer for a human tissue company.
“We request our committees also investigate the actions of David Daleiden … which — in contrast to Planned Parenthood — may have violated numerous state and federal laws in their clandestine effort to roll back the rights of millions of Americans across the country,” they wrote.
A GOP spokesperson indicated the oversight committee won’t expand its investigation to include Daleiden’s group.
“Our investigation will continue to ensure that no federal funds were used in potentially illegal activity involving fetal tissue at any Planned Parenthood facility or affiliate,” the spokesperson said.
