Planned Parenthood: Video part of longtime harassment

Letter to panel says fake firm posed as human tissue buyer.

Planned Parenthood told Congress Monday that a secretly recorded video released last week by an anti-abortion group is fraudulent and part of a yearslong pattern of illegal harassment aimed at prohibiting abortion.

In a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Planned Parenthood said it fell victim to a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services that posed as a buyer of human tissues. It was actually created by David Daleiden, an official of the group that released the video, and was engaged in “a campaign of corporate espionage” targeting Planned Parenthood, the letter said.

“A group of extremists who have intimidated women and doctors for years — in their agenda to ban abortion completely — are not ‘documenting’ misdeeds; they are trying to create them, quite unsuccessfully,” Planned Parenthood wrote.

In a show of defiance — at least for now — Planned Parenthood also told the House committee that it has not yet decided whether it will honor lawmakers’ request for a briefing by Dr. Deborah Nucatola, who speaks at length in the video about obtaining fetal tissue for research. Nucatola is the organization’s senior director of medical services.

Planned Parenthood’s letter represents its fullest response so far to that video, which was released last week by the Center for Medical Progress.

Biomax activities included trying to induce Planned Parenthood centers to sell fetal organs for up to $1,600, the letter said, which would likely violate laws banning commercial fetal tissue sales. Those efforts were rejected, according to the letter.

In addition, the letter says Daleiden was involved in secretly recording Planned Parenthood staff and patients at least 65 times over the last eight years. That could yield thousands of hours of recordings that Daleiden could heavily edit to make false charges, the letter said.

Daleiden did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. But in a statement on its website, the center said Planned Parenthood’s initial decision against sending Nucatola to the House committee shows “contempt for the law against selling baby parts.” It said the center “follows all applicable laws” in its investigations and said it plans to release “more clear evidence” that Planned Parenthood profits from selling fetal organs.

The Energy and Commerce Committee is one of three Republican-led congressional panels that has begun looking into the video.