Two Missouri House committees hope to on Wednesday talk to Planned Parenthood and the pathologist that handles fetal remains after abortions.
Representative Diane Franklin (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
The House committees on Children and Families, and Ways and Means, have been holding joint hearings about allegations that Planned Parenthood was illegally profiting from the sale of fetal tissue.
Children and Families committee chairwoman Diane Franklin (R-Camdenton) said those committees want to know whether the pathologist is accounting for all remains from an abortion, to make sure there is no chance any are being sold.
“‘What is that process to where it finally ends up being incinerated?'” Franklin said is the question.
The committee is continuing its work despite a report by Attorney General Chris Koster that Planned Parenthood is doing nothing illegal in Missouri. Planned Parenthood and its supporters say that report’s findings mean the hearings by the House committees and their Senate counterpart should cease.
Franklin says that report doesn’t confirm that all fetal remains are incinerated.
“If the question is, ‘Is anything diverted,’ it doesn’t answer that question at all,” said Franklin.
She said of the allegations that Planned Parenthood has sold fetal tissue, “We’re really trying to find whether that can happen in Missouri, whether it has happened in Missouri, and looking forward how would we prevent that from happening in Missouri.”
Planned Parenthood and its supporters call the hearings “grandstanding” and a “witch hunt.”
Franklin said the committee is still trying to confirm that the pathologist and representatives of Planned Parenthood will speak to the committees.
“I feel like we’ll have some representation there. How much information we’ll get from that representation, I’m just not sure,” said Franklin.
The committee meets Wednesday at 1. Watch a live stream at Missourinet.com.