Planned Parenthood called Thursday for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan to disband the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, citing the Texas indictment against pro-life investigators behind a series of hidden-camera videos.
“It’s time for Speaker Ryan to throw in the towel on his losing campaign to attack Planned Parenthood,” said Planned Parenthood Action Fund Vice President Dawn Laguens.
“Instead, Ryan should take a hard look at the criminals who he’s letting dictate his party’s political agenda,” she said. “If Speaker Ryan is serious about getting to the business of this country, he’ll disband this purely political committee immediately.”
The select committee was formed in October in reaction to an undercover investigation by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress into Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the sale of fetal tissue from abortions, but Republicans have since said that the probe would look beyond Planned Parenthood.
The panel’s mission is “to gather information and get the facts about medical practices of abortion service providers and the business practices of the procurement organizations who sell baby body parts,” according to the website.
Center for Medical Progress investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were indicted Monday by a Harris County grand jury on one felony count each of tampering with governmental records by creating fake driver’s licenses as part of the nearly three-year investigation.
Mr. Daleiden was also indicted on a misdemeanor charge of soliciting human organs. He released a statement defending the center, saying it “follows all applicable laws” and that “buying fetal tissue requires a seller as well.”
The center’s supporters have decried the indictments as politically motivated. Fox News host Sean Hannity, on his Thursday radio show, blasted the grand jury’s actions as “a huge travesty of justice.”
Planned Parenthood said in its statement that the investigators “broke the law in order to spread lies and false information about the nonprofit health care provider.”
“The American people don’t want a wasteful witch hunt — especially when essential health care for millions is at stake,” said Ms. Laguens.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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