Congressional Panel Issues More Subpoenas in Ongoing Planned Parenthood Investigation
A House panel issued subpoenas to two organizations in an effort to access information related to the purchase and sale of aborted baby body parts.
The House of Representatives Select Investigative Panel issued subpoenas on April 29 to Scinto Group, LLP and Five Star Bancorp to get accounting and bank records of StemExpress, a biomedical tissue procurement company that used to work with Planned Parenthood. StemExpress has reportedly failed to turn over all documents to Congress after the Select Investigative Panel subpoenaed the company.
“In light of the advice we received from witnesses at our hearing last month, these subpoenas are necessary in order for the Select Investigative Panel to complete a full review of StemExpress’ accounting records,” Panel Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a prepared statement. “Documents uncovered by our investigation so far point to the very troubling possibility that StemExpress may have violated federal law by profiting from the sale of baby body parts. We have learned that not only is this investigation warranted, but further examination of accounting records is needed to get the complete facts about what was actually going on.”
On April 20, the panel, which is part of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, held a hearing on the pricing of fetal tissue. House Democrats have attacked the ongoing investigation efforts into Planned Parenthood.
After the hearing, StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer said her company has cooperated with Congress.
“Contrary to her [Blackburn’s] assertions, StemExpress has provided thousands of pages of documents to the Select Panel and other Senate and House Committees, including documents illustrating that we do not profit from the provision of fetal tissue to researchers,” Dyer said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Select Panel continues to ignore the evidence, instead misstating facts and citing to documents that appear to have been stolen from StemExpress.”
The subpoenas demand Scinto Group, a financial service business, to produce requested documents by May 11 and Five Star Bancorp, the bank holding company of Five Star Bank, by May 17.
Requested documents include items such as monthly account statements, credit card transaction receipts, and paperwork related to fetal tissue transactions.
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