The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday to investigate how Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are using taxpayer funding. Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, is expected to testify.
Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, faces allegations that it is trafficking aborted fetal body parts—the result of a series of undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress.
Profiting from the sale of human organs, including fetal human organs, is a felony in the United States.
The hearing will take place on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Planned Parenthood has denied illegal conduct. The organization commissioned a study in an effort to discredit the videos.
“We have been fully transparent and cooperative with all four congressional committees that have launched investigations based on false and discredited claims,” Eric Ferrero, vice president of communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told Politico.
“We look forward to sharing the facts with this committee, which include that fetal tissue donation for medical research is an important but tiny part of Planned Parenthood’s work in just two states, that we’ve had guidance in place for more than a decade in this area that goes well beyond the legal requirements, and that even doctored and discredited videos show no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood.”
During a speech on Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, alleged that Planned Parenthood is engaged in criminal activity.
“It is unconscionable that Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion business in America, that regularly harvests and sells baby parts for profit, is subsidized by $528 million taxpayer dollars every year,” Daleiden said. “It is unconscionable that they continue to hold themselves out as a legitimate, mainstream medical organization when their entire business model is built around destroying and exploiting our unborn brothers and sisters.”
According to Planned Parenthood’s 2013-2014 annual report, the organization receives more than $528 million in taxpayer funds each year.
