Calif. to Investigate Group Behind Planned Parenthood Videos

California’s attorney general said Friday that she will review an anti-abortion group’s undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood to determine if the activist group has breached nonprofit registration or reporting requirements or other state laws, the Associated Press reports. Kamala Harris announced the investigation in a letter to four congressional Democrats who had requested a probe of the Center for Medical Progress.

The center has released two videos showing California Planned Parenthood officials discussing procedures for providing tissue from aborted fetuses to medical researchers, sparking congressional and state-level investigations of the women’s health nonprofit. Ms. Harris said her office will examine “allegations that individuals impersonated corporate officials from a fake biologics company, resulting in the release of secretly filmed videos of Planned Parenthood physicians without their consent.”

The Center for Medical Progress claims Planned Parenthood is illegally selling fetal body parts. Planned Parenthood says it donates fetal tissue only with the consent of women who undergo abortions and receives payment to cover its own costs, which is legal. The center’s David Daleiden, who characterizes his work as investigative journalism, said of the California probe that Planned Parenthood is “trying to use the power of their political cronies to shut down free speech.”