A group of lawmakers joined House Speaker John Boehner in expressing outrage and calling for hearings to investigate the abortion practices of Planned Parenthood following the release of a video that went viral Tuesday.
In addition to congressional scrutiny, the group is calling for FBI and the Justice Department investigations as well.
An anti-abortion group released the heavily edited, controversial video Tuesday showing a top Planned Parenthood official seeming to discuss selling the parts of aborted fetuses.
The group — Center for Medical Progress — says the video proves that Planned Parenthood sells organs and tissues, a practice that it is illegal under federal law.
“The video very much speaks for itself. I hope that everyone in the country watches it,” said Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Missouri, during a Capitol Hill news conference on Wednesday. “It is probably the most horrifying and heartbreaking undercover video I have ever seen.”
Planned Parenthood released a statement on Tuesday dismissing the video and criticizing the group behind it.
“These outrageous claims are flat-out untrue, but that doesn’t matter to politicians with a longstanding political agenda to ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood,” said Eric Ferrero, vice president of communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Women and families who make the decision to donate fetal tissue for lifesaving scientific research should be honored, not attacked and demeaned.”
Planned Parenthood said the video was highly edited and the money discussed on tape had to do with the cost to transport donated tissue. The group also said their participation in the tissue and organ donation program is legal.
But Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania, said just because something is legal, it’s “not necessarily ethical and moral.”
Earlier on the Wednesday, Boehner called for hearings on Planned Parenthood’s abortion practices and asked President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to denounce them.
“When anyone diminishes an unborn child, we are all hurt, irreversibly so. When an organization monetizes an unborn child — and with the cavalier attitude portrayed in this horrific video — we must all act,” he said.
Multiple Republican presidential candidates have spoken out against the video since it was posted Tuesday morning.