WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee and ten other Republican Senators sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell Tuesday, requesting a full investigation of whether Planned Parenthood has violated federal law prohibiting the sale of human fetal tissue for profit.
“Last Tuesday a video was released that appears to show Deborah Nucatola, the Senior Director for Medical Services at Planned Parenthood, discussing the payments received by abortion clinics as compensation for the transfer of fetal tissue from the clinics to scientific researchers and the alteration of abortion procedures to obtain intact organs,” the letter begins.
“The disturbing facts revealed in this video raise the question whether the employees of a federally funded organization have violated federal law by engaging in the transfer of human fetal tissue for profit, and whether the modification of abortion techniques for the purpose of obtaining that tissue violates applicable research guidelines established by federal law,” the letter continues.
Specifically, Nucatola’s statements in the video suggest that sections 498A and 498B of the Public Health Service Act may have been violated.
Section 498A requires doctors to certify that they did not alter the method or timing of an abortion for the purpose of obtaining human fetal tissue when that tissue is used in research conducted or supported by the National Institute of Health.
Section 498B prohibits the sale of human fetal issue.
“The videos released by the Center for Medical Progress raise serious concerns and that is why I have asked the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a full investigation of Planned Parenthood to determine if violations of 498B and 498A, respectively, have occurred,” Lee said.
The ten other senators signing the letter include, Senator David Vitter (R-LA), Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL).
