Dems Investigating Planned Parenthood Got 81K From Its PAC

Rachel Stoltzfoos

The six Democrats House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi picked to serve on a new select committee investigating Planned Parenthood have received a combined $81,000 in donations from the non-profit’s PAC.

The special committee will have broad authority to investigate abortion procedures in Planned Parenthood clinics in light of the videos released by The Center for Medical Progress, including the ability to subpoena documents and testimony. Eight Republicans and five Democrats will serve on the committee. (RELATED: 9 Key Points From First Nine Planned Parenthood Videos)

Pelosi named Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Jerrold Nadler, Diana DeGette, Jackie Speier, Suzan DelBene and Bonnie Watson Coleman to the panel. The six of them have together received $81,000 in donations from Planned Parenthood’s PAC since 1998, according to filings first reported by Katie Yoder at Media Research Center.

Here are the individual totals:

• Schakowsy (Illinois): $11,865
• Nadler (New York): $5,535
• DeGette (Colorado): $36,735
• Speier (California): $4,000
• DelBene (Washington): $19,232
• Watson Coleman (New Jersey): $2,500

The committee will build on current investigations by the House oversight and judiciary committees, which have already held several hearings on Planned Parenthood’s abortion procedures and use of taxpayer funds.

CMP released a series of videos exposing its dealings in fetal tissue, in which top Planned Parenthood doctors talk frankly about the practice of dismembering fetuses for the sake of science. Republicans are working to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funds, but Senate Democrats have so far blocked those efforts.

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