Justice Dept. seeking info on Planned Parenthood's fetal tissue practices

The Department of Justice has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee for materials concerning research into fetal tissue, in an indication the department is moving to investigate Planned Parenthood, according to the Daily Beast. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee released a report in 2016 about Planned Parenthood's contracts with biomedical research corporations, and questioned if the corporations "profited from their disbursement of fetal tissue."

Why it matters: Pro-life activists have long pushed for an investigation into Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood said in a statement, "These accusations are baseless, and a part of a widely discredited attempt to end access to reproductive health care at Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has never, and would never, profit while facilitating its patients' choice to donate fetal tissue for use in important medical research."