Thursday, July 23, 2015

Senators Stabenow and Peters should support Planned Parenthood investigation

Right to Life of Michigan calls on U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters to support an investigation into Planned Parenthood Federation of America's fetal organ harvesting programs.

On July 22, a bipartisan group of 50 U.S. Senators sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell asking for full cooperation with congressional investigations. Neither Senator Stabenow nor Senator Peters signed the letter.

Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing said, "Michigan citizens deserve to have their elected officials advocating for them. They must make sure federal laws are being followed and citizens' hard-earned tax dollars are not supporting organizations that violate the law."

Two recent undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress show statements from Planned Parenthood staff discussing the sales of fetal organs following abortions, and the changing of abortion procedures to accommodate organ harvesting. Selling human fetal tissue for valuable consideration and altering abortion procedures in order to obtain fetal tissue are violations of federal law.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates received $528.4 million in tax dollars in 2013-2014, according to their annual report. They performed 327,653 abortions in 2013.

Listing said, "People are uncomfortable with this callous disregard for the value of human life, whether or not they support abortion. Their voices must be heard."

A full investigation is needed to determine the truth, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America should comply with all congressional requests for information and statements from their staff.