Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday that his office would investigate Planned Parenthood
in light of a video showing a top official discussing the sale of aborted fetal body parts.
Paxton, a Republican who took office in January, said the video detailed "the organization's calculated slaughter of human babies to maximize the available body parts they plan to sell."
"The video offers a glimpse into an organization that knowingly and deliberately destroys human life to further its bottom line," Paxton said.
House Speaker John Boehner
demanded a congressional hearing into whether Planned Parenthood engaged in the ghoulish practice.
"Nothing is more precious than life, especially an unborn child," the speaker said. "When anyone diminishes an unborn child, we are all hurt, irreversibly so."
"When an organization monetizes an unborn child — and with the cavalier attitude portrayed in this horrific video — we must all act," Boehner added.
He also called on President Barack Obama and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to denounce "these gruesome practices."
Shortly after Boehner's demand, the House Energy and Commerce Committee said it would investigate the issue and "get to the bottom of this appalling situation." The House Judiciary Committee also plans a review.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a judiciary committee member, also called for investigations by the panel, the Justice Department, and local authorities.
"There are at least three federal laws potentially violated: one, selling parts of unborn children for profits and for any transfer of tissue there has to be written consent," he told Megyn Kelly on Fox News. "You cannot change the method of abortion if you are trying to get tissue.
"In that tape, you see they are discussing different methods to capture," Cruz added. "I'm calling on the U.S. Department of justice to investigate if a federal law is violated and calling on state officials in any location where Planned Parenthood exists for state district attorneys to investigate criminal conduct."
In addition, Tennessee GOP Rep. Diane Black introduced legislation Wednesday to immediately strip Planned Parenthood of all its federal funding in light of the video.
"Planned Parenthood's disregard for innocent human life is even worse than we imagined," said Black, a nurse for more than 40 years who chairs the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. "This latest discovery has taken us beyond the pro-life versus pro-abortion debate."
"This is about basic decency and humanity," she continued. "Anyone who can watch this video and continue to justify taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood is simply defending the indefensible."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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