Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster are calling for an investigation into the abortion provider Planned Parenthood after the release of two videos that have caught national headlines.
One video shows a national Planned Parenthood executive discussing donations of fetal tissue from abortions for medical research. Such donations are legal, with the patient's consent. Selling the tissue is illegal. Critics accuse Planned Parenthood of selling the tissue.
Brownback says he wants to know if Kansas abortion providers are selling tissue from aborted fetuses and that such actions do not "respect the culture of life most Kansans want."
In Missouri, Planned Parenthood officials say the tissue is not donated or sold, but is disposed as medical waste. They contend that state officials, including Koster, know those facts, but are launching the probes solely for political gain.
Planned Parenthood has said the videos are heavily edited and the organization is working within legal and ethical guidelines. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri says they don’t take part in any tissue donation programs and they say the governor’s call for an investigation is “political grandstanding.”
