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WASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – House lawmakers called for an investigation of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Capitol Hill Thursday after last week’s release of a groundbreaking report documenting the abortion giant’s “systemic financial irregularities” and other serious abuses.

“We have got to shine light on this situation and get the facts out to the American people,” said Rep. Renee L. Ellmers (R-NC), who co-sponsored a press conference calling for the investigation with Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.).

The 173-page report, released by the pro-life legal group Americans United for Life, included evidence of a “pattern of misuse” of federal health care and family planning funds, failure to report child sexual abuse, skirting of parental involvement laws, assisting prostitution and sex trafficking, and misuse of the dangerous abortion drug RU-486.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, called the report “a blueprint for action” and a “game changer” in the effort to investigate Planned Parenthood.

“There is no organization in America, perhaps even on earth, that stabs, dismembers, decapitates or chemically poisons more unborn children to death than Planned Parenthood,” said Smith, who had sponsored the “No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act.”

“It should not be a sacrosanct organization or a politically correct organization that evades that kind of scrutiny,” he added.

“The taking of innocent life is not health care,” said Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), according to the Washington Independent. “And yet we see a situation where Planned Parenthood seems to disguise its abortion factory as health care.”  The congressman pointed out that Planned Parenthood committed 332,278 abortions in 2009.  “If that’s not a factory, I don’t know what is,” he said.

“This is absolutely the type of work the American people have sent us here to Washington to do – to ask these kinds of questions,” said Rep. Hultgren, according to the Washington Times.

The press conference was also attended by Reps. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.).

Last week, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Florida), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, had said his committee should review the report and consider holding a hearing.  “Taxpayers deserve accountability, and the report prepared by Americans United for Life demonstrates egregious abuses of taxpayer funds by Planned Parenthood,” he said.

Planned Parenthood, which receives about $363 million in federal funding per year, has been under intense pressure since January.  Though the organization narrowly escaped losing its federal funding earlier this year, it has since been defunded by Indiana, New Jersey, Kansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Texas.