WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Orrin Hatch joined a bipartisan group of 49 of his fellow senators Wednesday in a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell following the release of footage by the Center for Medical Progress depicting senior Planned Parenthood Federation of America executives discussing, in gruesome detail, the organization’s role in the harvesting of the organs of unborn babies.
In the letter, the senators draw attention to the legal, ethical and policy issues raised by the footage and call on Burwell to cooperate with ongoing and future investigations into these questions.
“The footage raises a number of questions about the practices of the organization, including whether they are in compliance with federal laws regulating both the use of fetal tissue and partial-birth abortions,” the senators wrote. “In addition to questions about Planned Parenthood’s compliance with applicable federal law and medical ethics, we believe the footage prompts important policy questions surrounding the issue of abortions permitted so late in a pregnancy — sometimes even later than 5 months — that an unborn baby’s organs can be identified and harvested.”
The senators also requested that the secretary confirm the commencement or immediate initiation of “a thorough internal review of the compliance of the Department and Planned Parenthood — one of the Department’s grantees — with all relevant and applicable federal statutes, regulations and other requirements.”
“This should not be allowed to go on,” Hatch said. “I want to know just exactly what HHS is doing. They need to get on top of this really heinous activity.”
The complete list of the 50 senators who signed the letter is as follows:
- Lamar Alexander
- Kelly Ayotte
- John Barrasso
- Roy Blunt
- John Boozman
- Richard Burr
- Shelley Moore Capito
- Bill Cassidy
- Dan Coats
- Thad Cochran
- Bob Corker
- John Cornyn
- Tom Cotton
- Mike Crapo
- Ted Cruz
- Steve Daines
- Mike Enzi
- Joni Ernst
- Deb Fischer
- Jeff Flake
- Cory Gardner
- Lindsey Graham
- Orrin Hatch
- John Hoeven
- Jim Inhofe
- Johnny Isakson
- Ron Johnson
- James Lankford
- Mike Lee
- Joe Manchin
- John McCain
- Mitch McConnell
- Jerry Moran
- Rand Paul
- David Perdue
- Rob Portman
- James Risch
- Pat Roberts
- Mike Rounds
- Marco Rubio
- Ben Sasse
- Tim Scott
- Jeff Sessions
- Richard Shelby
- Dan Sullivan
- John Thune
- Thom Tillis
- Pat Toomey
- David Vitter
- Roger Wicker
Resources
- The full text of the senators’ letter can be found here.
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I watched the video and it was gross. Selling body parts, deciding what part of the baby to crush, so as not to hurt the body parts wanted for harvesting! Planned Parenthood received $540.6 million dollars from our tax dollars in 2012-2013. These illegal activities need to be investigated and punished to the fullest extent of the law. There is no excuse for this, anywhere!
We must take the federal government out of the business of murdering unborn fetuses altogether. Under the present administration, this will be one of the few humane acts we have seen in seven years.
Planned Parenthood was founded in 1916 so I guess it’s Woodrow Wilson’s fault. I think he was as filthy liberal too.That means Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr and JR did nothing to stop their practices. Seems like there is a lot of blame to go around.
Hey what the heck. it’s a living and it pays the bills
wish we could get all the illegals on birth control