Amid a White House vow not to allow any review of funding for Planned Parenthood, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is investigating the allegation raised in an undercover video that America’s biggest abortion provider is harvesting and selling fetal parts.
The Obama administration’s reaction to the scandal has been terse. Presidential spokesman Josh Ernest answered a question about reconsidering the use of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood with a single word, “No.”
But Cruz won’t take his lead from Obama.
In letters to the National Institutes of Health and a California company called StemExpress, he asks about the potential for violations of federal law.
Cruz’s office said the senator’s move was a response to “last week’s revelations that a senior official with Planned Parenthood admitted to working with abortion providers to potentially violate federal and state laws.”
The letter to Francis Collins, director of the NIH, said Cruz wants preserved all documents, records logs, email, calendars, electronic documents, data and anything that references Planned Parenthood, “abortion,” “fetal,” “fetal tissue” or several other terms.
That means “taking any all reasonable steps to prevent the partial or full destruction, alternation, overwriting, formatting, deletion, shredding, incineration, wiping, relocation, migration, theft, revision, or mutation of” those records.
He also is demanding copies of stem-cell research information regarding physicians and programs.
“I would also request that you provide any additional materials that fall into the above categories on a continuing basis but are created, written or otherwise produced after the department’s initial receipt of this request,” he wrote, setting a deadline of Aug. 4 at 9 a.m.
His request to Cate Dyer of StemExpress included a similar list of information needs.
“I write today requesting additional information relating to reports that suggest StemExpress may be engaging in practices that violate federal law,” he told Dyer.
“The recent revelation by Planned Parenthood that it encourages its affiliates to perform abortions in certain ways in order to maximize profit is not only abhorrent, it may also violate federal law,” Cruz said. “Given NIH’s role in dispensing taxpayer dollars for fetal tissue-based research and StemExpress’s procurement of fetal tissue for profit, it is imperative that both followed federal law at every turn.
“I welcome the opportunity to work with Chairman Grassley and my other Senate colleagues to ensure that all appropriate laws are being followed and taxpayer dollars are not being used to fuel the abortion industry.”
Over the weekend, Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association urged a complete defunding of Planned Parenthood.
On his Facebook page, he wrote: “Planned Parenthood should be investigated and prosecuted for selling baby parts. Tell your congressman that you don’t want any more of your money going to fund this evil organization and the promotion of abortions.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also urged federal funding for the abortionists be cut off.
“The recent revelation that this taxpayer-funded organization is selling body parts of the unborn further proves that this agency deserves our scorn, not our tax dollars,” Paul said.
And GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson said the Planned Parenthood apology, which addressed the tone of the conversation, was disturbing.
WND reported last week the undercover video already was having impact.
The U.S. House dropped plans to benefit an organization that contributes heavily to Planned Parenthood each year. And there was a call to develop a more comprehensive review of federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Currently, the organization receives several hundred million dollars a years, totaling nearly $5 billion.
In a commentary posted at Restoring Liberty, run by former U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller, it was noted that several dozen opportunities have been available to “defund Planned Parenthood in relevant budget bills and the GOP controlled House failed to deliver on their promise” to stop federal tax money for the abortionists.
“Congressional Republicans are upset about the sale of dismembered babies’ body parts, yet many of those same members had no problem voting for Continuing Resolutions, omnibuses and other appropriation bills that fully fund the actual dismemberment.”
The commentary said: “Americans are rightfully outraged over the recent video that surfaced this week revealing how Planned Parenthood harvests and traffics the organs of babies after they engage in gruesome killings. The fact that organs are trafficked after the abortion occurs undercuts pro-abortion proponents’ argument that these babies are a ‘mass of tissue.’ How can mass tissue have organs? How can ‘something’ not alive have organs?
“The House Judiciary Committee plans to conduct a hearing investigating the extent of this barbaric cartel of murder and illegal trafficking. However, what good is a hearing if the GOP ultimately funds Planned Parenthood in the upcoming budget bill?” he wrote.
Several other senators have taken their concerns straight to the attorney general, and officials in Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana and Texas have launched their own investigations.
Several petitions also have been launched opposing Planned Parenthood, including a a GoPetition project that already had the support of thousands.
WND reported Nucatola, the head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Medical Services Division, was caught on video describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted unborn children and uses partial-birth abortions to harvest intact parts, statements that have even those who traditionally support the abortion business recoiling.
See the video that exposed the scandal:
[jwplayer 7pzwagZg]
The video, released by the Center for Medical Progress, reveals Nucatola of Planned Parenthood at a business lunch with a man and a woman posing as buyers from a human biologics company.
The full, unedited video, from which the shorter version was taken, is here:
[jwplayer j8qcBNdv]
Related stories:
‘Baby parts’ orders show requests for brains, heads
Famous rabbi: Aborted-fetus face cream ‘not kosher’
Related column:
Pull the plug on Planned Parenthood by Phyllis Schlafly
