House creates special panel to investigate Planned Parenthood

Erin Kelly | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The House voted Wednesday to create a special panel to investigate the handling of fetal tissue by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

House members voted 242-184 Wednesday to approve a resolution by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., to establish the panel as part of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

There now will be at least two House investigations of Planned Parenthood going on at once — one by the new "select investigative panel" and a second by the Judiciary Committee.

Republican leaders pushed for the latest investigation after they were unable to win passage last month of legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. Senate Democrats blocked GOP efforts to strip funding for the group, which uses federal taxpayer money to provide women's health and birth control services. It is barred by federal law from using taxpayer money for abortion services.

Planned Parenthood officials said the new panel is the fifth congressional committee to investigate the group. They also said it is the sixth consecutive legislative week that lawmakers have focused on the issue.

"Republican leadership has apparently become obsessed with Planned Parenthood, to the detriment of almost any other legislation," said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "It’s time for Congress to give up this obsession, and get back to work."

The furor over Planned Parenthood began last summer when anti-abortion activists released undercover videos allegedly showing employees of the nation's largest abortion provider discussing selling tissue and organs from aborted fetuses for profit. Planned Parenthood vehemently denies the allegation, saying that the videos were heavily edited and misleading. Women who undergo abortions are asked if they want to donate fetal tissue for medical research, the group's officials say.

"We must get to the bottom of this," said Foxx, adding that the group's practices "are frankly barbaric."

The 14-member panel will be appointed by the speaker of the House and will be made up of eight Republicans and six Democrats. The chairman must be a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which had started a Planned Parenthood investigation that will now be taken over by the select panel.

The panel is charged with investigating and releasing a report that includes: medical procedures and business practices of groups involved in fetal tissue procurement, federal funding and support for abortion providers, and medical procedures for the care of a child born alive during an attempted abortion.

The report will include possible recommendations to change existing laws or regulations governing abortion practices. The panel must disband 30 days after its final report is issued.

Meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee will focus on whether current federal laws regarding late-term abortions are sufficient, the history of the laws' enforcement, and what congressional action might be needed to strengthen the laws. The committee has scheduled its second hearing on Planned Parenthood for Thursday. It will focus on the group's abortion procedures and medical ethics.

"Thursday's hearing will be another opportunity for members of the House Judiciary Committee and the American public to understand the horrific details involved in late-term abortions and what is required in order to harvest baby body parts," said a statement by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and civil justice subcommittee Chairman Trent Franks, R-Ariz.

Planned Parenthood officials said they were not invited to testify at Thursday's hearing or a previous one.

"Instead of listening to the American people, who have been clear they have no interest in Congress continuing to pursue this wrongheaded agenda, the Judiciary Committee will hold yet another political hearing," Laguens said.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee also has looked into Planned Parenthood's practices, but the committee has no more hearings scheduled on the matter at this time, the press office said.

Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CNN after a hearing on Planned Parenthood last week that, "I'm not suggesting they broke the law."