The FBI has asked the Senate for unredacted documents obtained from abortion facilities related to Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of fetal body parts, signaling a move towards a potential investigation.
The Hill reports that the FBI’s request was made recently to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who referred Planned Parenthood and abortion facilities to the FBI for criminal investigation.
Live Action President Lila Rose praised the move. In an interview with The Hill, Rose said:
“We, of course, applaud any action taken to follow the evidence to where it leads and to hold Planned Parenthood accountable,” she said. “The only thing that could hinder this investigation from leading to indictments of Planned Parenthood and the companies involved in the sale of fetal body parts is politics.”
In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress unleashed a massive, nationwide controversy when it released an undercover video, the first of many, revealing a practice taking place at Planned Parenthood: the trafficking of the body parts of babies they aborted. Video after horrifying video was released, showing how Planned Parenthood, along with other abortion facilities across the country, were profiting from the sales of aborted babies’ body parts.
The backlash was swift. Multiple state and congressional investigations were launched; Planned Parenthood was defunded in several states, as well. The Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives both launched investigations into Planned Parenthood, fetal tissue procurement organizations, and other abortion facilities. These resulted in criminal referrals to both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI.
Despite overwhelming evidence that called for an increased investigation, the Obama administration refused to take action. This evidence consists of an extensive list of referrals, on suspicion of breaking multiple federal laws — laws that ban the buying or selling of human fetal tissue (42 U.S.C. § 289g-2), HIPAA privacy laws, and alleged violations of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 and the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002. It appeared that babies were born alive and then killed by abortionists. In addition to these charges, multiple other letters were sent to both state and federal officials, requesting criminal charges for various abortion industry staffers and agencies.
Earlier this year, Grassley wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and James Comey (who was serving as director of the FBI at the time), demanding answers as to why the referrals had not been answered. He listed the organizations referred — Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, Planned Parenthood Northern California, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, StemExpress, LLC, Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc., and Novogenix Laboratories, LLC — and noted that the list was based on information “described in a Majority Staff Report to the Committee.”
“That report was the result of a review of: more than 20,000 pages of internal documents provided directly to the Committee from the organizations involved; information provided by government agencies; and the legislative history of laws that impose the ban on buying or selling fetal tissue,” he wrote. “Importantly, the report included descriptions and analyses of individual paid transfers from particular aborted fetuses, as detailed in the billing records and procurement logs provided by the organizations.”
Grassley also noted the failure of the Department of Justice to enforce the law banning the buying or selling of fetal tissue. He requested a response by May, but did not receive one until July, when Assistant Director for the Office of Congressional Affairs Gregory Brower responded, saying, “We can confirm the Criminal Investigative Division (CID) of FBI Headquarters received your referrals and sent them to the relevant FBI field offices for review and whatever action is deemed appropriate.”
It is sad that it has taken over two years for the FBI to take action against this gross epidemic of criminal behavior among America’s abortion industry — but it is good that, at last, an investigation is going to begin. Justice is owed to the preborn babies who have been killed and had their bodies exploited by Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, and justice is owed to the women who were unaware that their children’s bodies were being sold for profit after they were killed. It cannot, and should not, wait any longer.
