A leading Democrat wants to know if anti-abortion activists broke any federal or state laws when filming a series of undercover videos of Planned Parenthood.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., asked the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress in a letter Thursday whether it used donations in its undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood. Cummings also wants to know if lawmakers were aware of any potential illegal activities surrounding the years-long investigation into Planned Parenthood.
The letter serves as a counterweight to calls for an investigation into Planned Parenthood from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which Cummings serves as ranking member.
“Any legitimate and balanced congressional investigation must also address your group’s role in these activities,” Cummings wrote to the center.
He added that if the committee holds hearings on this issue, testimony from the center could be needed.
The six undercover videos detail Planned Parenthood’s acquisition and sale of aborted fetal body parts. It is illegal to sell such fetal parts for profit, but the women’s health and abortion provider have said they didn’t break any laws.
The center posed as a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services for the undercover campaign.
Cummings doesn’t detail what laws exactly the center may have broken.
He asked the center on whether it used any donations for its investigation. Cummings said that it had been soliciting donations since 2013 as a nonprofit dedicated to informing the public about the latest advances in regenerative medicine.
But now the center calls itself as a group of citizen journalists, according to the letter.
Cummings’ letter represents how Democrats have largely been responding to the Planned Parenthood controversy.
While Republicans have largely unanimously called for defunding the organization and investigate whether Planned Parenthood broke laws selling fetal parts for profit, Democrats have queried whether the videos were created illegally.
