Probe announced of Planned Parenthood in Houston

At the urging of state political leaders, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said Wednesday that she will launch a criminal investigation of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston.

The announcement comes after a secretly shot video surfaced showing an executive at the clinic discussing the cost of providing organs from aborted fetuses for medical research. Texas’ Republican leaders say the video may show that the clinic is illegally selling fetal tissue.

Planned Parenthood officials vehemently denied the accusation.

“It is not clear at this time what, if any, crimes have been committed at the Gulf Coast facility,” Anderson said. “That is why I am initiating this investigation.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked Anderson, a hometown political ally, to pursue the criminal investigation.

An anti-abortion group, the Center for Medical Progress, sent people undercover to make the video. It shows Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, discussing administrative costs of harvesting fetal organs at various stages of gestation. It also shows footage of researchers handling preserved fetal tissue.

Anderson’s announcement is the latest of several investigations in Texas into Planned Parenthood. Attorney General Ken Paxton and Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor are separately investigating the women’s health organization and the practice of fetal tissue donation in Texas, and the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services convened a hearing last week on the practice.

Republicans have accused Planned Parenthood of illegally selling the tissue. Patrick, in his request for a criminal investigation, said the video appeared to show the organization “profiteering from selling body parts from aborted babies.”

The video “doesn’t show Planned Parenthood staff engaged in any wrongdoing or agreeing to violate any legal or medical standards,” Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement Tuesday. The group has said the videos are maliciously edited and misrepresent the group’s work.

With a patient’s permission, Planned Parenthood clinics may sometimes donate fetal tissue for use in stem-cell research, and researchers may reimburse Planned Parenthood for costs associated with those donations, the organization has said.

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Probe announced of Planned Parenthood in Houston."