Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is asking for a federal investigation into Planned Parenthood, specifically whether or not the organization illegally provided human fetal tissue to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) for research.
Recent documents show Planned Parenthood may be illegally providing @UCSanDiego with fetal tissue from abortions.
Sent a letter to @HHSGov and @TheJusticeDept to get to the bottom of this. https://t.co/6BzIJIGJ2o pic.twitter.com/xMxFFgWsSB
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) March 26, 2024
Rubio penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm asking for the investigation based on recently released public documents.
“I write with regard to the stunning report that Planned Parenthood is providing aborted fetal body parts to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) while maintaining intellectual property rights over the fetal tissue and in exchange for ‘valuable consideration,’” the letter states.
“If confirmed, this relationship represents a flagrant violation of federal law, which explicitly prohibits the transfer of fetal tissue for any compensation,” the letter continues. “I request that both of you open an investigation into the matter, publish your findings for the American people to see, and hold any guilty parties accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to the documents, UCSD and Planned Parenthood entered into a contract in 2009 in which Planned Parenthood provided “fetal and placental tissue” to the university for research.
In the exchange, Planned Parenthood would “retain right, title, and interest in and to the Material, including but not limited to all right, title, and interest in patents and patent applications and other intellectual property rights relating to the Material.”
Rubio stated that Planned Parenthood was giving the tissue to UCSB for “valuable consideration.” Federal law forbids “acquiring, receiving, or transferring human fetal tissue for ‘valuable consideration.’”
According to Newsmax, in 2021, President Joe Biden’s administration lifted restrictions on the use of fetal tissue for medical research, undoing rules imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2019.
The new rules enacted by Biden “allow scientists to use tissue derived from elective abortions to study and develop treatments for diseases including diabetes, cancer, AIDS, and COVID-19.”
Rubio wrote, “The relationship between Planned Parenthood and UCSD appears to be much more than a mere contract.”
“Not only was Planned Parenthood providing the aborted fetal tissue in exchange for ‘valuable consideration,’ emails between the groups show that Planned Parenthood and UCSD actively collaborated and met at regular intervals to discuss the progress of the research,” he added.
