Washington, D.C. (November 14, 2017) A recent article by John Solomon in The Hill states the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently requested Senate documents obtained from abortion providers during the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation into the transfer of fetal tissue.

In 2016, the U.S. House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives unearthed ethical and legal violations between University of New Mexico Health Service Center (UNMHSC) and Southwestern Women's Options (SWWO), including the violation of the Spradling Act and SWWO's failure to acquire proper consent by women prior to using their unborn infant tissue for UNM research. The Panel sent two criminal referrals to the New Mexico Attorney General's office, yet no action was taken.

In September 2017, Rep. Pearce sent a letter to the United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions to request an investigation into the wrongdoings between the UNMHSC and SWWO.

FBI seeks Senate documents, signaling possible probe into sale of fetal tissue
By: John Solomon

The FBI has 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 request was made in recent days, the sources said, to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), last December referred Planned Parenthood and several other abortion providers to the FBI for investigation after a lengthy probe into the transfers of fetal tissue.

Grassley said at the time that his committee had uncovered enough evidence in its final investigative report to show abortion providers had transferred tissue and body parts from aborted fetuses to firms for use in research by charging dollar amounts above their actual costs.

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The Senate probe and a similar investigation by the House were prompted by the public release in 2015 of several undercover videos from an anti-abortion group showing abortion providers or fetal tissue firms discussing how they took money for aborted fetuses. The Senate committee conducted interviews and gathered documents on its own as part of an investigation triggered by the videos.

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Lila Rose, a prominent anti-abortion activist, praised the FBI's document request.

"We, of course, applaud any action taken to follow the evidence to where it leads and to hold Planned Parenthood accountable," she said. "The only thing that could hinder this investigation from leading to indictments of Planned Parenthood and the companies involved in the sale of fetal body parts is politics."

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In one example cited by the Senate report, a firm's own records show it paid $60 for an aborted fetus from a Planned Parenthood clinic, then transferred the various parts for $2,275 – including the brain for $325, two eyes for $650, and a part of a liver for $325. The firm also charged additional fees for shipping and disease screening, the report said.

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Read the full article in The Hill here.