WASHINGTON, D.C., April 27, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has re-referred Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue vendors to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI for investigation and possible prosecution, asking the government to respond by May 8.
In December 2016, the Judiciary Committee referred to the DOJ and FBI several Planned Parenthood affiliates, companies involved in the procurement and transfer of human body parts, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The Judiciary Committee's investigation into Planned Parenthood and the fetal tissue companies with which it partners uncovered numerous violations of laws against selling human body parts – and the lack of enforcement of such laws.
But neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice has contacted the Committee about accessing unredacted documents or other findings that would be relevant to pursuing an investigation.
The Committee's findings must be “given proper consideration,” its letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey said. It noted that because the report was issued during a time of presidential transition, “Justice Department personnel and enforcement priorities were likely in flux.”
The original referral analyzed more than 20,000 pages of documents from the abortion industry. It found that fetal tissue companies had paid Planned Parenthood “to acquire aborted fetuses, and then sold the fetal tissue to their respective customers at substantially higher prices than their documented costs.” The Committee found that when Planned Parenthood Federation of America learned some of its affiliates were selling fetal body parts against company policy, it just cancelled the policy so that the sales could continue.
“Companies have charged thousands of dollars for specimens removed from a single aborted fetus,” the report said.