Departing Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said, “that’s simply not true,” regarding an observation that her organization is under investigation by the FBI for illegal profiting from the sale of aborted baby body parts.
Richards appeared in New Jersey to witness new Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy sign into a law a bill that will once again allow New Jersey taxpayers to fund Planned Parenthood. Previous pro-life Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed funding for Planned Parenthood each year.
“Right now, Planned Parenthood is currently under investigation by the FBI for the illegal sale of baby body parts and we have to assume that Gov. Murphy is aware of this,” said New Jersey Right to Life executive director Marie Tasy, reported NJTV News.
“As you probably know, there were congressional investigations that were politically motivated,” Richards said in response to the observation about the FBI probe of her organization. “We’ve been acquitted of everything, so that’s simply not true.”
Breitbart News reached out to Planned Parenthood and asked for documentation that the FBI investigation into the organization had ended in “acquittal” of the abortion business. The organization did not respond to the request.
The announcement the U.S. Department of Justice was launching a federal investigation into Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue transfer practices came in December.
Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd formally requested unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee, reported Fox News. The report noted the letter requesting the documents – sent to committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) – “is a rare confirmation of a federal investigation.”
“The Department of Justice appreciates the offer of assistance in obtaining these materials, and would like to request the Committee provide unredacted copies of records contained in the report, in order to further the Department’s ability to conduct a thorough and comprehensive assessment of that report based on the full range of information available,” Boyd wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News.
“At this point, the records are intended for investigative use only — we understand that a resolution from the Senate may be required if the Department were to use any of the unredacted materials in a formal legal proceeding, such as a grand jury,” he added.
Both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives conducted expansive investigations into Planned Parenthood and its partners in the biomedical procurement industry. The investigations concerned allegations of profiteering from the sale of fetal body parts that arose from an undercover video series exposé by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP).
The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2).
The Senate Judiciary Committee referred Planned Parenthood to both the FBI and the Justice Department for investigation and possible criminal prosecution.
Based on its findings, the Judiciary Committee’s Majority Staff Report concluded that Planned Parenthood’s partners in the biomedical procurement industry paid the abortion chain’s affiliates for the body parts of aborted babies “and then sold the fetal tissue to their respective customers at substantially higher prices than their documented costs.”
Planned Parenthood recently announced a new campaign in all 50 states that will increase abortion access in order to “empower[s] women and their dreams.”
The abortion vendor says it will be going on “offense” as it continues to perform over 320,000 abortions per year.
In its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood shows it took in nearly $544 million in taxpayer funding, as it also boosted its profits by $21 million — or 27 percent — from the prior year.
For the eight years of Christie’s tenure as New Jersey governor, former users of Planned Parenthood’s services went, instead, to federally qualified healthcare centers for their health services.
The reinstatement of Planned Parenthood funding was the first bill Murphy signed as governor.
“New Jersey will once again stand for the right thing, New Jersey will once again stand up for women’s health, New Jersey will once again stand strong in support of Planned Parenthood and for reproductive rights,” he said.
Richards said Murphy is restoring “not only state funding for life-saving care, including cancer screenings, STI testing and more, but he also reinstates the right of folks in New Jersey, no matter who they are, to go to the health care provider of their choice. And for thousands of folks in New Jersey that’s Planned Parenthood.”
“It’s outrageous,” Tasy responded, however, about the claim by Richards and her organization’s supporters that women in New Jersey have been unable to obtain health care with Christie in office. “Women have been getting their health care.”
Tasy added not one woman testified to the state legislature that she had lost her health care due to the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
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