A Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and the world of fetal tissue research urged Congress on Wednesday to halt federal payments to the women’s health organization. Democrats said the GOP probe had unearthed no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers’ money in an abusive investigation reminiscent of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
The Republican recommendation was included in the special committee’s final report and was no surprise. The GOP released the 471-page document just 16 days before Donald Trump becomes president, at the start of a year in which many Republicans hope Congress will finally cut off federal funds for the group.
Most GOP lawmakers have long opposed the organization because many of its clinics provide abortions. Their antagonism intensified after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made.
“Planned Parenthood affiliates and clinics have repeatedly neglected their fiduciary duty requiring good stewardship of federal taxpayer dollars,” wrote the panel, which was chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Republicans created the special committee in reaction to the videos.
The report accused the group of violating federal laws by altering abortion procedures to obtain fetal tissue, disclosing patients’ private information to firms that procure the tissue and “a general disinterest in clinical integrity.”
Planned Parenthood has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and did so again Wednesday.
“Today’s Republican staff report once again demonstrates that this exercise was nothing more than a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood and women’s access to safe and legal abortion,” Dana Singiser, Planned Parenthood’s vice president for Public Policy, said in a written statement.
The group has long said that the videos were doctored.
Democrats accused the panel of squandering $1.5 million in taxpayer funds with a probe that endangered the safety of people involved in abortions and fetal tissue work by providing information about them. They said it was evocative of baseless allegations about communist subversives lodged six decades ago by McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican.
“The select panel found no evidence of wrongdoing by health care providers, researchers or tissue procurement companies,” wrote the Democrats, who were led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, R-Ill.
The panel also examined tissue procurement firms including StemExpress and research entities like the University of New Mexico. The report cited 15 instances in which the committee has provided information to U.S. and state authorities for possibly violating federal and state laws.
Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report shows that of more than $1.1 billion in yearly revenue, around half — $554 million — comes from government grants and reimbursements. It provides no breakdown.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Planned Parenthood receives about $450 million annually in federal funds, mostly $390 million in reimbursements from the Medicaid program for low-income people.
By law, federal funds cannot be used for abortions except for a handful of rare exceptions.
The report recommended legislation letting states deny Medicaid and family planning payments to groups that provide abortions. Last month, the Obama administration issued a rule preventing states from blocking family planning funds to such clinics.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Calling this murderous group, “Planned Parenthood”, is like calling Ted Bundy a saint ! A turd by any other name, still looks and smells like shit !
Wow people like you have no idea what Planned Parenthood really does. They don’t just do abortions. But people like you just want to believe what the Rep. tell you. Maybe people like you should do some research.
People like YOU should do some research. There are NO mammogram machines in any of the PP facilities. The SCUM only do abortions and/or teach young girls how to get pregnant and then get abortions. Baby Killers like YOU have no idea what the truth is. WAKE UP!
If it has not been born, it is not a baby.
The typical small blood clot on a napkin
does not even look like a baby.
Tammy do yourself a favor and do a little research. Planned Parenthood was the brainchild of Margarette Sanger as a way to reduce the black populace, that is not opinion that is fact and that is why they are in predominately poor neighborhoods.
Right. They teach young girls how live off the government by having lots of babies. Jus plannin on mo muny is wut da do.
Federal Funded Clinics provide many, many more health benefits, including child vaccinations.
Go to Abbey Johnson’s website: And Then There Were None…she was the clinic manager in Texas, where 40 Days, the prayer group started… an International group by now. She describes how PP counts client visits to cover up abortion services. I thought abortion was bad….selling baby parts for experimenting laboratories to use them…no benefits have ever been demonstrated to have resulted from thes ed experiments. However, baby and adult cells processed a certain way gave had great healong results.
Must be the way the Creator made it happen.
Patricia in St Louis, MO
In my opinion, I don’t believe federal funds should be used for abortion unless it is the mother’s life, rape, or incest. However, if one wishes to have an abortion that is their choice. Too bad we can’t abort the liberals and GOP establishment. OH!! We can.
It is called impeachment.
Killing a child is killing a child. You are in favor of that. It is impossible for me to understand a mentality that would kill a child for any reason whatsoever. Since when is rape and incest the child’s fault? But then I guess if you would sanction the murder of a child, nothing is beyond such a mental abyss.
They are free to have as many abortions as they want. We also are free to not want taxpayers to pay the bill. Too many are using abortion as birth control. They should have to research Margaret Sanger and learn the truth behind planned parenthood.
Linda that would require them to learn something that goes against their programming, and it just might cause them to run to their safe space and pet their therapy dog, while someone holds them and tells them it will be okay.
Right. They teach young girls how live off the government by having lots of babies. Jus plannin on mo muny is wut da do.. Why not demand they get “fixed” before any help is given.
Any organization that slaughters baby humans for profit can’t be trusted to tell the truth.
The federal government needs to get out of the baby murder business. The best way to do this is to stop bankrolling baby slaughterhouses and chop shops like Planned Parenthood. This organization is the closest thing to the Nazi party and concentration camps that we have in America.
The next step needs to be to outlaw the murder of baby humans. Those who perform such practices should earn a spot on death row. After all, if they enjoy ending human life they should have no problem seeing their life ended. Maybe we could even set up a death chamber that would replicate how they slaughter babies–[in the hopes of keeping this post from being censored I have removed my original comment past this point. In a nutshell I suggested the punishment could be delivered to simulate a regular abortion or a partial birth abortion.]
Wow people like you have no idea what Planned Parenthood really does. They don’t just do abortions. But people like you just want to believe what the Rep. tell you. Maybe people like you should do some research.
Tell us what they really do, Tammy.
Tammy,
Wake up and smell the coffee. PP tapes revealed who the people that work for PP truly are. They are people who only care about themselves. One woman said that she wanted to buy a Ferarri and that she needed to make sure that a lot more abortions had to be done before she could afford to buy a Ferarri.
They are people without a soul. They are heartless. Schools should show videos of what happens when an abortion takes place. Despicable! I advise people to watch the videos and perhaps they will find it to be the heinous act that it truly is. Defenseless babies should have adults out there to defend them.
Tammy two words for you Margarette Sanger. Do the research because it is obvious that some of us have a bit more insight than you do, so take your own advice and research it for yourself.
Look up Federally Funded Clinics scattered all over the US. See what they offer. Compare with PP.
Sonce a bay can live outside the womb at 5 months, then late term abortion is murder
Don’t prosecute the woman, prosecute the Dr.
Mark that argument wouldn’t stand in court, the judge would say ignorance of the law is not an excuse, I would prosecute both of them. Abortion was not meant to be a form of contraceptive or a tool for vengeance and spite. Ideally there would be no need for abortion, but due to the health and wellbeing of the mother it was allowed, Roe v Wade allowed them to take it to the next level to abort an unwanted pregnancy, to excuse their reckless behavior. There are a very small percentage that actually need the procedure according to their own numbers. An abortion should be between the parents of the unborn child, not just the mother and the health care provider. Not a baby killing factory.
Planned Parenthood is really mis-named It really is supposed to be called planned baby killers INC.
They help to enable those that won’t take responsibility for their actions, meaning sex, sex and more feel good sex.
To hell with the responsibility for a pregnancy that is viewed as a blob of tissue, Which by the way is still a human being.
So a woman says she can do what she wants with her own body. Well HELLO, Ladies did you call yourself out of the nothingness
That you were, no you were created by a Loving God, and he wants us to love him and others in return. Thou salt NOT KILL!!!!
And rape, or life of mother, or any other excuse, still means that the BABY IS INNOCENT and has been given life the instant sperm
Meets egg. PERIOD! No ifs, ands or Buts. And the MEN that run away after they had their fun with woman that spread her legs for him
Voluntarily or not, is more responsible and because in cases like this ignorance is no excuse ever.
There is a simple solution to this. Let the Liberal / Democrat / Communists support PP by donation. I have no issues with a women’s right to choose. Of course she should have chose to keep her legs together. NO TAXPAYOR $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to kill innocent children and sell their body parts. DRAIN the swamp!!!