In the latest installment of years-long scrutiny pointed at abortion giant Planned Parenthood and its practices relating to fetal tissue, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has called for the organization to be investigated to determine if one of its chapters acted illegally in providing the remains of aborted babies to a university research program.
The Florida Republican made the request weeks after newly revealed public records indicate that Planned Parenthood has worked with the University of California, San Diego for more than a decade, providing human remains to the institution to conduct research. News of the update and the request to investigate was first broken and obtained by The Daily Signal.
The senator sent a letter on March 26 to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Christi Grimm, the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services. He explained his request for an investigation to confirm whether the abortion giant is selling fetal tissue to the university, which is “a flagrant violation of federal law.” The letter also stipulates that the findings of the investigation be available to the public and “any guilty parties” will be held “accountable.”
Recently uncovered evidence revealed that up to $10,000 has been given to Planned Parenthood by the University of California, San Diego in recent years. Rubio called on the Justice Department to investigate and identify the number of babies whose remains were sent to the university, how the tissue was then used, how much money had been transferred by the university to the abortion giant, the total profit gained by Planned Parenthood for its maintained intellectual property rights of the remains and if government health agencies have contributed funding for the research program.
The letter explained that Planned Parenthood and the University of California, San Diego have an ongoing agreement that involves the transfer of fetal tissue from aborted babies in exchange for “valuable consideration,” which is against the law. The abortion giant is said to have requested the rights to the research findings as long as it provided the tissue.
As Rubio pointed out in his letter, the potentially illegal relationship between the university and Planned Parenthood could result in a 10-year prison sentence. He added that this partnership “appears to be much more than a mere contract.”
The senator’s request was prompted by recently revealed documents that became public per records request from the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress and its lead investigator, David Daleiden.
🚨▶️BREAKING:
Planned Parenthood sells "proprietary" aborted baby parts for "valuable consideration"—a violation of federal law—in exchange for ownership of University "intellectual property" made with them, new public records documents reveal.pic.twitter.com/LEAq4cC2iX
— David Daleiden (@daviddaleiden) March 5, 2024
This investigation found that the University of California, San Diego and its local Planned Parenthood have been working together since 2009 and provided evidence that their transactions are actually federal felonies.
The horrific crime allegedly committed by the abortion giant was first exposed in 2015, when Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos in which journalists posed as individuals seeking to buy fetal tissue from aborted babies.
Daleiden remains in a legal battle surrounding whether he had the right to secretly film Planned Parenthood and research officials.
