By Stephen Green
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, says he still hasn't heard from the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast center after requesting information almost a month ago.
Brady requested data on the center's abortion services and their federal funding.
"We have not heard from them," Brady said Monday afternoon. "The deadline is coming up right after Labor Day. I will likely make a second request of the Gulf Coast facility, including more than asking for the last three years of data because I suspect they have been at this practice for some time before the last three years as well."
He guesses Planned Parenthood will "continue to stonewall this request as there are investigations in Congress that are going on right now."
Planned Parenthood refused to attend a Texas Legislature hearing on the issue, citing that it wouldn't participate in what it viewed as a partisan witch hunt.
Eight videos have recently been released showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing abortion procedures and the collection of fetal organs and tissue for medical research. Critics say the methods in which the organization performs the procedures could break federal laws, although no investigations thus far have condemned the agency.
Furthermore, critics decry the use of federal funds to perform both services. However, Planned Parenthood argues that the federal dollars go toward other women's health programs.
"Whether Americans are pro-choice or strongly pro-life as I am, we've always found common ground that federal tax dollars should not be used on the controversial procedure of abortion," Brady says. "Secondly, the law is very clear that harvesting organs and tissues for profit or compensation is unlawful, not to mention unethical. The public deserves to know the extent that Planned Parenthood uses tax dollars for abortions and these hiring procedures."
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast wasn't able to be reached to comment on Brady's information request by press time, but organization leaders have spoken out against the videos as a "fraudulent smear campaign."
"It's been clear all along that these videos are unreliable and deceptive, and now even the extremist group releasing them has acknowledged that their latest video includes false information," said Eric Ferrero, Vice President for Communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America in a press release after the seventh video was released. "These videos are a fraud, intended to deceive the public in order to advance an extreme political agenda. This is just one of many deceptive edits and false claims in these discredited videos."
Brady says his end goal is to reroute federal dollars from Planned Parenthood and toward alternative women's health programs in the state.
"The good news is that the American public is changing its attitude toward abortion," Brady said. "In Washington, we've had very strong public support or success in ending partial-birth abortions, (and) for our efforts to end gender abortions, which are choosing the sex of the baby, efforts to stop taking minors across state lines for abortions, and most recently to end abortions when the baby is capable of living outside the mother."
Since the 1970s, public views on abortion have remained relatively unchanged. Gallup polling shows those that believe abortions should be provided under any circumstances has gone from 21 percent in 1975 to 29 percent in 2015; those for abortions only in certain circumstances has gone from 54 percent to 51 percent in the same timeframe; and those who believe it should be illegal in all circumstances has remained the same at 19 percent.