The House of Representatives has voted to establish a select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood, splitting along party lines 242-189 with only one Republican opposed and two Democrats supporting the bill.

The move on Wednesday came after months of controversy stemming from a series of hidden camera videos taken by pro-life activists alleging Planned Parenthood was profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. The women’s rights group has repeatedly said the videos have been heavily edited and that the attacks are entirely politically motivated.

Establishment of the committee comes a week after Republicans had sought to block funding to Planned Parenthood, which receives half a billion dollars from the federal government. That attempt failed after Republicans proved unwilling to risk a government shutdown on the issue.

The investigation also comes in the aftermath of controversial comments made about the also politically charged select committee on Benghazi. The House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who is the leading candidate to succeed John Boehner as Speaker, said in a television interview last week that the committee was responsible for causing Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers to drop.

McCarthy came under fire across the political spectrum. Democrats claimed his comments proved the Benghazi committee was a partisan witch-hunt, while Republicans accused him of undermining what they argue is a crucial investigation in the 2012 terrorist attack on the US consulate on Libya.

Democrats said the investigation of Planned Parenthood was another partisan abuse. “It’s all a waste of time,” said Democratic congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee.

“We’re not doing anything to deal with the problems that exist in this country with education, healthcare and jobs.” Instead, he said, “all that seems to be happening is what Kevin McCarthy says is happening: using committees to try to defeat the Democratic frontrunner and get Republican control over all three branches of government”.

The Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio echoed Cohen, arguing: “If there are issues that are related to the federal law, which is already very explicit about the sale of fetal tissue, those should be investigated by the Department of Justice and other authorities, not a politically motivated select committee.” He added that the establishment of a select committee was “a waste of taxpayer money”.

Republicans disagreed. Representative Steve King of Iowa said the select committee was being created as a last resort. “It means that the justice department isn’t doing their job, again. We don’t set up select committees here in the House of Representatives unless the executive branch is failing to do their job.

“We need to look into Planned Parenthood. The videos that I have seen, and I have seen a majority of them, strongly indicate that Planned Parenthood has confessed to violating at least two federal statutes.”

The ardent Iowa conservative added that the Obama administration’s threat to veto any government funding bill that didn’t provide money to Planned Parenthood was “a sign of corruption itself”. He went on to attack the group “as a client of the Democratic party”.

In addition to the select committee, the House judiciary committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Planned Parenthood on Thursday.