Colo. legislators respond to state agency's delay in considering investigation of Planned Parenthood

DENVER – Alliance Defending Freedom, on behalf of 33 Colorado legislators, responded Friday to a state agency that said it could not proceed with considering the lawmakers’ request for an investigation of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood because the agency doesn’t have raw footage of an undercover video released by the Center for Medical Progress. As the ADF letter on behalf of the legislators explains and as has been widely known, the raw footage of the video has been available publicly for weeks.

The letter to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment nonetheless offers to provide the raw footage and a transcript so that the departments can proceed with consideration of an investigation in the wake of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood’s apparent involvement in the trafficking of aborted baby parts for profit.

“No organization that traffics in the hearts, lungs, heads, and livers of unborn babies is entitled to taxpayer dollars. The only thing it’s entitled to is an investigation,” said ADF Senior Counsel and former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Norton. “The response that the Department of Public Health and Environment offered to these legislators was absurd, but we are happy to assist them and to provide the departments with what they think they need, even though the footage they want has been publicly available on the Internet for quite some time. Colorado officials should not further delay an investigation of this scandal-plagued enterprise, especially in light of the legitimate request of these representatives of concerned Coloradans.”

“I am quite sure you will conclude, after you review the transcript and ‘full, unedited, and raw footage’ of the CMP video, that further action is indeed warranted,” the letter states. “This further action should include a serious investigation of Planned Parenthood’s abhorrent practices of trafficking in body parts of unborn babies and the immediate suspension of all payments of State taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood.” (#DefundPP)

“On behalf of these members of the Colorado General Assembly who are signatories to this letter and Colorado Family Action, we respectfully request that you inform us specifically of which Colorado State agency, if any, is responsible for the enforcement of these statutes” the ADF letter states. “We also respectfully request that you advise us just what evidence or other allegations are required by this State agency to initiate an investigation as has been requested.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.