Gov. Sam Brownback says he has no plans to apologize to Planned Parenthood after the indictment of videographers who purported to show the group negotiating the sale of human organs.
Brownback had referenced the videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress during his State of the State address earlier this month when he called for the state to cut off Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood.
“Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of baby body parts is antithetical to our belief in human dignity,” Brownback said then.
Tuesday, a Texas grand jury decided against indicting Planned Parenthood and instead indicted two of the videographers on charges of tampering with a government record, a felony that can carry 20 years in prison. The lead videographer also faces a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs.
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Brownback said he did not think the indictments meant the videos had been discredited.
“The charges were about the government ID, I think, and buying baby body parts. Not discrediting the videos,” he said Wednesday.
Asked whether he owed Planned Parenthood an apology, the governor responded, “No, I think they need to stop trafficking in baby body parts.”
Elise Higgins, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, said in a statement Wednesday that “Planned Parenthood of Kansas Mid-Missouri has been cleared three times in the last 8 months by KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) and BOHA (Board of Healing Arts). It’s unconscionable that Governor Brownback refuses to listen to his own state agencies in order to further his extreme political agenda, which cuts low-income Kansans off from their source of family planning and preventive health care.”
Laura McQuade, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas Mid-Missouri, earlier accused the governor of knowingly making false statements regarding Planned Parenthood in his State of the State address.
The Associated Press reported later that week that the Kansas Board of Healing Arts had sent a letter to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri telling the organization that it had concluded an investigation into whether illegal tissue sales were taking place in Kansas and found no wrongdoing.
This letter was sent to Planned Parenthood before the governor delivered his speech, according to the AP.
Bryan Lowry: 785-296-3006, @BryanLowry3
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