The Department of Justice is investigating abortion provider Planned Parenthood over accusations it illegally profited from selling tissue and body parts from aborted fetuses.
On Thursday it demanded to see documents in a Senate Judiciary Committee report on its congressional probe into the pro-abortion organization.
The probe last year was sparked by anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress which released videos claiming to show Planned Parenthood selling tissue in 2015.
The Department of Justice is investigating abortion provider Planned Parenthood. Pictured: A clinic in Minnesota
The activist group said the videos showed Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for fetal tissues collected from abortions.
But Planned Parenthood called the videos heavily edited and misleading and said 13 states that investigated the group’s claims cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing.
In his report in December 2016, Charles Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on the Department of Justice to investigate and possibly prosecute Planned Parenthood and companies involved in fetal tissue transfers.
Grassley wrote: ‘The report documents the failure of the Department of Justice, across multiple administrations, to enforce the law that bans the buying and selling of human fetal tissue.’
‘It also documents substantial evidence suggesting that the specific entities involved in the recent controversy, and/or individuals employed by those entities, may have violated that law.’
In a letter sent on Thursday which confirmed a federal investigation was under way, a Department of Justice assistant attorney general asked Senators Grassley and Dianne Feinstein for unredacted documents held by the Senate committee.
In his report in December 2016, Charles Grassley (pictured), the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on the Department of Justice to investigate
Stephen Boyd wrote: ‘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.
He added: ‘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.’
In the US legal system, a grand jury may be convened to determine if criminal charges should be filed in a case.
The letter does not mention Planned Parenthood by name.
A representative for Planned Parenthood declined to comment on the letter, but she cited a statement in which an official with the organization said in November that Planned Parenthood never profited from facilitating its patients’ choice to donate fetal tissue for use in medical research.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions opposed abortion when he was a Republican senator, but has pledged to follow the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, in his role now as head of the Department of Justice.
A representative for the Department of Justice declined to comment.
A representative for Planned Parenthood declined to comment on the letter