A Planned Parenthood doctor was caught on hidden camera haggling over baby parts and joking about a Lamborghini.
Eleven years later, 128 Republicans in Congress have asked a federal watchdog to finally follow the money.
And buried in their letter is a request that would hit Planned Parenthood harder than any defunding vote.
Smith and Lankford Push HHS Inspector General to Review Planned Parenthood Taxpayer Funding
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma organized the House-and-Senate letter, addressed to HHS Inspector General T. March Bell.
Smith has fought the abortion industry from his seat in Congress since 1981, and he co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.
They want the inspector general to dig through every grant, contract and sub-award that flows from HHS to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates.
Then comes the part Planned Parenthood should lose sleep over.
If the watchdog finds misconduct, the lawmakers asked it to consider suspension, referrals to other authorities and exclusion from federal health care programs.
Exclusion means no more billing Medicaid or any other federal health program – the taxpayer pipeline that keeps America's largest abortion business running.
"The HHS Inspector General should follow the facts, determine whether federal laws and funding requirements have been violated, and hold accountable anyone who has misused taxpayer dollars," Lankford said.
Smith called a full investigation "long overdue."
Planned Parenthood Failed to Report Child Abuse and a Basketball Coach Stepped In
The letter also raises reports that affiliates kept quiet when they suspected a child was being abused – even though the law required them to speak up.
Denise Fairbanks knows exactly what that looks like.
Her father started abusing her when she was 13.
At 16, after he got her pregnant, he took her to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ohio for an abortion.
She told staff she was being forced to have sex.
Nobody called the authorities.
Planned Parenthood sent her home with the man who had been raping her, and the abuse went on for another year and a half.
It took her basketball coach to finally report it and put her father behind bars.
Fairbanks sued, and Planned Parenthood settled.
Her case helped push Ohio to change its law so minors can sue when abuse-reporting duties are breached.
In 2018, 56 Republicans – Lankford among them – asked HHS to investigate after Live Action documented cases where Planned Parenthood allegedly sent victims as young as 12 back to their abusers.
The coalition demanding answers has more than doubled since then.
HHS-OIG said it had not received the latest letter and would "review it for appropriate action once received."
Loeffler Says Planned Parenthood Never Deserved a Dime of Its $88 Million in PPP Loans
The letter also lands while Kelly Loeffler's Small Business Administration combs through the more than $88 million in pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loans that went to 38 Planned Parenthood affiliates.
The program was built for small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
The affiliates claimed to be independent, even though they carry the national brand, the national logo and the national playbook.
The Biden administration forgave 34 of those loans anyway.
"Planned Parenthood Federation of America was never eligible to receive a dime in pandemic-era relief from taxpayers," Loeffler said.
In May, she told The Daily Signal that money like this is far harder to claw back than to stop before it ever goes out the door.
Sen. Bill Cassidy has warned that fraudulent loan applications carry civil and criminal penalties.
Planned Parenthood Billed Texas Medicaid 144,411 Times After Getting Kicked Out
The trouble started when David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt caught Planned Parenthood officials on tape talking about harvesting the hearts, lungs, livers and brains of aborted babies.
Texas booted the affiliates from its Medicaid program, and Louisiana did the same.
Planned Parenthood kept sending the bills anyway – about $17 million worth while it fought in court to get back in.
Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled the affiliates had an obligation to return those overpayments, with Planned Parenthood itself warning the case could cost it $1.8 billion.
A Fifth Circuit appeals panel threw out that ruling in February 2025.
Planned Parenthood walked.
Exclusion Would Defund Planned Parenthood Without a Single Vote in Congress
It doesn't need a lawsuit, and it doesn't need a jury.
An inspector general can cut an organization off from federal health programs through an administrative process.
Every dollar Planned Parenthood bills taxpayers frees up another dollar for the next abortion.
And every one of those dollars flows to an organization that, by Denise Fairbanks' account, couldn't be bothered to make one phone call to save a 16-year-old girl.
A basketball coach made that call.
Now 128 signatures sit on the desk of an inspector general appointed by President Trump, not Joe Biden.
The Lamborghini can wait.
Sources:
- Steven Ertelt, "128 Republicans Want Investigation of Planned Parenthood Fraud," LifeNews, October 2, 2026.
- U.S. Small Business Administration, "SBA Opens Review of Over $88 Million in Planned Parenthood Paycheck Protection Program Loans," U.S. Small Business Administration, January 22, 2026.
- Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, "Top Trump Official Gives Update on Recovery of Emergency Loans to Abortion Providers," The Daily Signal, May 23, 2026.
- Rachel del Guidice, "Exclusive: 56 Lawmakers Ask HHS Probe of Planned Parenthood's Response to Child Sexual Abuse," The Daily Signal, June 7, 2018.
- Carole Novielli, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Planned Parenthood Sends Pre-Teen Victims Back to Sexual Abusers," Live Action News, June 1, 2018.
- Jordan Hooker, "Ohio Planned Parenthood Sexual Abuse Report Case Settlement," Live Action News, September 22, 2012.
- Lawrence Richard, "Planned Parenthood Must Face $1.8B Trial Over Medicaid Fraud Claims, Federal Judge Says," Fox Business, October 24, 2023.
