Rep. Mia Love reveals that she and other GOP members of a congressional panel looking into the sale of fetal tissue have recommended prosecutors investigate one Planned Parenthood affiliate and referred eight more human tissue companies and abortion clinics for criminal or regulatory probes.
Reports the Washington Examiner (see also related Washington Times story):
The special committee formed last year to investigate the supply chain of fetal tissue is recommending criminal prosecution for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, StemExpress, DaVinci Biosciences and Advanced Bioscience Resources, among others, Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, said on the House floor Thursday.
The groups all appeared in highly publicized undercover videos from abortion foe David Daleiden that showed how some Planned Parenthood clinics provide biomedical companies with fetal tissue, which the companies sell to researchers.
Love, who is one of panel eight Republican members, said the referrals “are proof of potential criminal activity.”
“They justify the existence of the panel and its investigations,” Love said. “The work of the panel is not finished and more referrals will come and we need to complete this process.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the leading Democrat on the panel who has called it a partisan “witch hunt,” called the referrals “bogus” and noted that Republicans have not allowed the chief executive of StemExpress to testify despite her offers to do so.
“Bogus referrals do not a conviction make and StemExpress offered many times to come in with its procurement officer and answer all the questions,” Schakowsky said. “They were denied that.”
Republicans discussed their recommendations Thursday during a debate over providing more funding for the panel before it disbands at the end of the year. They said their year-long investigation resulted in evidence of legal breaches by Planned Parenthood and human tissue companies, including violating medical privacy laws.
