Two U.S. senators are asking authorities for an update to a previous Judiciary Committee investigation, which issued criminal referrals for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and several affiliates and organizations connected to the sale of the body parts of aborted children. A press release issued by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) this week states that he and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) “sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray following up on Grassley’s 2016 referral of eight organizations for investigation and potential prosecution for the alleged sale of human fetal tissue following a 2016 Grassley-led Committee investigation.” Grassley was the former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman at the time of the hearings and states that in June, the FBI confirmed to the Committee they had received the referrals.
A previous Live Action News report at the time the criminal referrals were issued named the eight organizations as follows:
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- StemExpress, LLC
- Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. (ABR)
- Novogenix Laboratories, LLC
- Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
- Planned Parenthood Los Angeles
- Planned Parenthood Northern California
- Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest
“These eight criminal referrals were based on an investigation by the Committee’s majority staff, which resulted in a report titled ‘Human Fetal Tissue Research: Context and Controversy,'” the letter states.
In November of 2017, according to a report published by The Hill, the FBI asked the Senate for “unredacted documents it obtained from abortion providers, signaling agents may be investigating whether Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers illegally sold fetal tissue and body parts, according to sources familiar with the document request.”
The investigation stemmed from undercover videos published by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) which showed Planned Parenthood staffers haggling over the price of the bodies of the babies they abort. Journalists at CMP also exposed StemExpress, including interviews with a former staffer of the fetal research company.
The undercover CMP footage also revealed, as Live Action News previously reported, what appeared to be a late abortion expansion plan by the abortion corporation. Live Action News has since documented that Planned Parenthood facilities are committing abortions up to 24 weeks in San Diego, CA, and Riverside, CA, among other locations.
READ: Lying to women: First-trimester abortion presentation shows recognizable aborted body parts
The June 18th letter sent to the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation states in part:
The investigation found evidence suggesting that the buying or selling of human fetal tissue may have occurred, as demonstrated in billing records and procurement logs provided by the named organizations to the Committee. Additionally, the investigation uncovered facts that raise a reasonable suspicion that The Planned Parenthood Federation of America may have conspired with its affiliates to violate the fetal tissue law.
Live Action News previously noted that between 2010 and 2015, payments from fetal tissue procurement company Advanced Bioscience Resources to various Planned Parenthood facilities for the body parts of aborted children totaled more than $350,000.
ABR known payments to Planned Parenthood for fetal tissue (Image credit: Congressional report)
A 2019 Operation Rescue (OR) analysis of recently retired Planned Parenthood staffers revealed suspicions that the abortion vendor might be cleaning house of anyone connected to the trafficking and harvesting of aborted baby parts. A review of OR’s partial list of retired Planned Parenthood staffers (seen below) makes a compelling case for OR’s suspicions. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, who served as a founding board member for CMP while the group’s undercover investigations took place, speculated that Planned Parenthood’s staffers were “running from prosecution” and that staff changes may be directly related to this ongoing investigation.
“Preventing the illegal sale of human fetal tissue remains a priority for the Committee,” the Senators emphasized in this week’s letter, which asks that the FBI and DOJ answer the following questions no later than July 2, 2019:
- Has the FBI taken any action on the criminal referrals submitted by then-Chairman Grassley?
- If the FBI has taken action, please provide an update to the Committee.
- If the FBI has not taken action, please explain the justification for not doing so.
- Are there any other investigative updates related to this matter that the FBI can share with the Committee at this time?
Live Action News will continue to follow this investigation and update our readers as new information becomes available.
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