A Republican-led House committee will hold the first of several hearings targeting Planned Parenthood next Wednesday, just one day after lawmakers return from August recess.
The House Judiciary Committee’s Sept. 9 hearing will focus on the group’s provision of abortion services and whether its doctors violated the federal ban on partial birth abortion to keep certain fetal organs intact for tissue donations. The series of hearings were prompted by undercover videos highlighting how some Planned Parenthood clinics provide aborted fetal tissue to biomedical companies.
The panel is dubbing the hearing “Planned Parenthood Exposed: Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation’s Largest Abortion Provider.” Members didn’t say whether any Planned Parenthood officials will testify but said only it would include a “panel of experts.”
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to question a panel of experts on this issue in order to ascertain how Planned Parenthood may have violated federal laws in the course of its alleged practices, and the atrocities associated with altering abortions in order to obtain the body parts of fetuses,” said Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said her group is “fully” cooperating with the investigation.
“We have not been told what the focus of this hearing is, beyond its provocative title, and we look forward to learning more about it,” she said. While all of these congressional investigations are based on false claims and videos that have been discredited, we continue to be fully transparent and cooperate fully with all of the committees.”
The committee has requested information from the Department of Justice and Planned Parenthood affiliates about the group’s involvement in fetal tissue collections.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is conducting a separate probe into whether Planned Parenthood illegally profited from supplying aborted fetal tissue. The women’s health and abortion provider has said it has done nothing wrong, but Republicans have seized on the opportunity to scrutinize the organization, which they have long wanted to deprive of federal funding.
