© 2024 KMUW
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Kansas Governor Calls For Investigation Into Planned Parenthood

Stephen Koranda
/
KPR/File photo

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is calling for an investigation into the abortion provider Planned Parenthood after the release of two videos that have caught national headlines. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, Brownback wants to know if Kansas abortion providers are selling tissue from aborted fetuses.

National abortion opponents have released two secretly recorded videos. They don’t include any Kansas Planned Parenthood workers. The videos allegedly show Planned Parenthood officials talking about harvesting or selling organs from fetuses for medical research. Brownback says that does not “respect the culture of life most Kansans want.”

Planned Parenthood has said the videos are heavily edited and the organization is working within legal and ethical guidelines.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri says they don’t take part in any tissue donation programs, and they say the governor’s call for an investigation is “political grandstanding.”

Political action committee Trust Women released a statement in response to Brownback's call for inspections, saying:

“This was a dishonest tactic used by anti-choice folks to discredit abortion providers. Unfortunately, anti-choice people seem to know no bounds. It appears that Governor Brownback has become embroiled in their strategy to limit access to reproductive health care.”

Stephen Koranda is the managing editor of the Kansas News Service, based at KCUR. He has nearly 20 years of experience in public media as a reporter and editor.