Michigan Doctor Mutilated the Genitals of as Many as 100 Girls, Says US Attorney

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A Michigan-based doctor and her associates mutilated the genitals of as many as 100 girls before being caught, a prosecutor told a federal court Wednesday.

The startling allegation occurred during court proceedings involving a case against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who is facing charges for mutilating the genitals of two Minnesota girls.

“Due to the secretive nature of this procedure, we are unlikely to ever know how many children were cut by Dr. (Jumana) Nagarwala,” said U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward, according to the Detroit Free Press. “The Minnesota victims were not the first victims.”

Nagarwala is alleged to have cut the genitals of the girls as part of a religious rite of passage. The two girls are believed to have been told to keep the practice a secret.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman granted bond to Dr. Fakhruddin Attar and his wife, Farida Attar. Dr. Attar is accused of allowing Nagarwala to use his clinic, located just outside Detroit, to engage in the mutilations, while his wife allegedly held the girls’ hands down during the procedure. (Read more from “Michigan Doctor Mutilated the Genitals of as Many as 100 Girls, Says US Attorney” HERE)

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‘Wonder Woman’ Is a Box Office Hit in US, but Its Star Is Controversial in Middle East

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The new Wonder Woman movie has been a smash at the box office, having grossed $129 million in its first five days in U.S. theaters and more than $220 million worldwide.

While many movie fans are anxious to see the new Warner Bros. film, people in Lebanon won’t get the opportunity. That’s because the film was banned last week by the country’s ministry of economy and trade.

The ban was not because of content the country deems offensive but rather because of its lead actress, Gal Gadot. She is an Israeli.

Lebanon bans Israeli products because it is at war with Israel.

Supporters of the boycott say it’s not Gadot’s nationality prompting the boycott, but rather the time she spent in the Israeli military — a requirement for Israeli men and women over 18 — and her public support of the Israeli military in the 2014 Israeli-Gaza conflict in which more than 2,200 people died, many of them civilians. More than 2,000 of those casualties were Palestinians.

In a Facebook post in 2014, Gadot said she was sending prayers for Israeli soldiers “who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas.”

A group called Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel urged the Lebanese government to ban the film.

“The state took the right decision,” Samah Idriss, a member of the boycott campaign, told The Associated Press.

Officials in Jordan are also considering banning the movie in that country.

“We remind the Jordanians of their obligation to boycott the film, and we refuse to be partners to the crimes of the Zionists and to increase their profits from this film. The Arab audience will not be involved in projects that represent Zionism and the Israeli army,” said a statement from one of the Jordanian campaigns against normalization with Israel, according to Ynet, an Israeli website.

Not everyone in Lebanon agrees with the decision to ban the film.

“Resist what?” wrote popular Lebanese blogger Elie Fares of her government’s decision. “A movie about an iconic superhero who’s been part of pop culture for over 70 years. A movie in which the lead actress happens to be Israeli but who’s not portraying ANYTHING related to her ‘country’ in any way whatsoever.”

In Jerusalem, Gadot’s performance and the movie’s success are being hailed.

The Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv displayed electronic billboard messages for Gidot this week that read, “We’re proud of you Gal Gadot” and “Our Wonder Woman,” according to The Jerusalem Post. (For more from the author of “‘Wonder Woman’ Is a Box Office Hit in US, but Its Star Is Controversial in Middle East” please click HERE)

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Memo to Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar

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Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar’s screeching about birth control and rights, Christians and the Taliban has sunk to depths of hysterical dopiness previously uncharted.

Once again, they gathered around their table of gab last week to smear those who don’t want to be forced to pay for someone else’s contraception. They sounded the alarm over the impending calamity about to fall on American women who would be deprived of their God-given right to all manner of contraception at no cost to them. The sky is falling! Women are simply doomed! And it’s all because of mean-spirited, uptight, religious fanatics — such as the Little Sisters of the Poor — who want to impose their beliefs on everyone and force every woman to live by their religious rules.

“How are these people any different than the Taliban?” they asked, for the umpteenth time, with total exasperation.

Well, Whoopi and Joy, let me help you with a few, obvious distinctions.

First, let’s start with your beloved birth control. It’s not medicine, because fertility is not a disease. Fertility isn’t a malfunction of any bodily system, but in fact a healthy and proper function. Medicine treats disease.

I wasn’t aware that diabetics received their insulin free of charge, or that people with heart disease received their medication free of charge, or that cancer patients received their life-saving treatments free of charge. If actual medicine that treats actual diseases and actually keeps people alive is not given out for free, why in the world should the Pill, the patch, or the IUD be thrown at women like confetti? Women do not deserve free contraception just because some want it.

Let’s also remember that the Pill is widely available for about $10 bucks a month, and has been for at least a decade now. Yeah, it’s an outrageous expense! (And if even ten dollars is just too much, I can tell you how to avoid pregnancy for free.)

No one is taking away women’s contraception, or telling any woman she can’t use it if she wants to. The folks doing the imposing here are you. You want to impose the demand of free contraception on every individual and employer, and those who dare to object to your unreasonable demand are branded misogynist, religious fanatics who want to keep women down. (Oh, yawn.)

Now, onto this crazy obsession you have with conflating Christians with the Taliban. I’m Catholic, so I’ll speak for my own Church — especially since I know you have a special contempt for the Catholic Church. Let’s do an easy comparison to start with.

The Catholic Church has been educating girls all over the world for many, many, many centuries now.

When girls and women were condemned to a life of illiteracy and ignorance by the authorities of the time, the Church came in and upheld their dignity and worth and educated them. The Church is still doing that all over the world today.

In contrast, the Taliban forbids girls to be educated. Girls who desire an education risk execution if caught. Perhaps you remember Malala Yousafzai?

The Catholic Church not only does not sanction, but expressly forbids, child marriage, and any manner of forced marriage. No marriage exists unless the man and woman both enter into it with total, free assent.

In contrast, the Taliban has no such concern for age or freedom. Young girls are often forced into marriage.

Women under the Taliban cannot be out in public without a blood relative. They cannot have contact with any males other than their husband or blood relatives. They are covered from head to toe in the burqa.

They cannot speak loudly in public. They must not be visible from the streets, so the windows of their houses must be painted or covered.

There is no Catholic sanction for girls to be mutilated, tortured, shot, burned with acid, sold into slavery, raped under the guise of marriage, held captive in their homes, or regarded as property.

In contrast, a young girl named Bibi Aisha tried to flee a forced marriage, and when she was caught, the Taliban cut off her nose and ears to make an example out of her, lest other young girls get any ideas.

With all of these facts as foundation, you still want to insist that not wanting to be forced to pay for someone else’s birth control is the equivalent of the Taliban? If so, no one should take anything you say seriously.

You preach “tolerance” while practicing intolerance. You chat up rights while wanting to violate the rights of others. You claim, “Just let me do what I need to do and leave me alone” even as you demand that Catholic nuns who spend their lives caring for the poor and outcast fork over the money for your abortion and birth control pills. Worst of all, you loathe any suggestion that one’s sexual activities really are one’s own responsibility.

But here’s the truth: No one owes you or anyone else free contraception. Buy your own Pills and devices if you can’t live without them. (For more from the author of “Memo to Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar” please click HERE)

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7th Circuit Codifies Transgenderism Into the Constitution

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Well, the political elites believe that it is settled science that the weather has permanently changed for the rest of time because of capitalism, but human sexuality is evidently not settled science. In fact, according to the courts, it is settled science for a man to be a woman.

Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals became the latest federal appeals court to codify transgenderism into law and the Constitution.

Although Obama’s executive mandates for transgender bathrooms have gone by the wayside (thanks to Attorney General Jeff Sessions overruling the liberal whims of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos), the courts are engaging in their own social transformation on behalf of the defeated Democrats.

In Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District, a unanimous opinion from the three-judge panel ordered a Wisconsin school district to allow a girl to use the boys’ bathroom in school. Following in the footsteps of the Sixth and Fourth Circuits, this Seventh Circuit panel (which included GOP-appointee Ilana Rovner) ruled that the 1972 Title IX education law and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause cover transgenderism as a protected class.

As the courts redefine our national sovereignty, rewrite election laws and redistricting in favor of Democrats, redefine criminal justice law for mass murderers, and mandate publicly funded abortions, they are using their self-acclaimed status as kings to redefine sexuality retroactive to laws and amendments codified long before the sexual-identity movement was in vogue.

In an emotional screed disguised as law, this opinion uses male pronouns to describe a woman with female parts. In any other era, these judges would have been deemed mentally unstable to serve on a bench.

While refusing to recognize biological sex as immutable — or, even significant — the court contended that there is absolutely no disruption or privacy concerns over opposite sexes using the wrong bathrooms:

A transgender student’s presence in the restroom provides no more of a risk to other students’ privacy rights than the presence of an overly curious student of the same biological sex who decides to sneak glances at his or her classmates performing their bodily functions.

The court then appealed to common sense to disregard any remaining privacy concerns as “conjecture and abstraction”!

Why is it I have a sneaking suspicion that when Title IX was drafted in 1972 (much less when the 14th Amendment was drafted in 1867), they completely understood the privacy concerns but would have never fathomed judges maniacally referring to a Y chromosome as an X chromosome?

Amazingly, the legal liberals are the ones with the hypocritical arguments, even according to their own twisted logic. How could this school district be guilty of violating equal protection and engaging in stereotyping for actually applying science equally, and not going along with the deliberate stereotyping requested by the plaintiff?

There is no greater stereotype than saying that a girl, despite being a girl, should be treated like a boy because she acts out in a “manly” way. The entire sexual-identity movement is built upon the very sex stereotypes they want to codify into law but also protect from discrimination.

This is part of a broader hypocrisy in which the transgender lobby is filing lawsuits to apply disability laws to gender-confused individuals — but, on the other hand, are suing on discrimination grounds for stereotyping and recognizing this “disability” as a disability and not as a natural phenomenon.

Either way, the courts will always reach the legal conclusion that best promotes the socially licentious political outcome .. even when the “jurisprudence” is contradictory.

Last year, the Fourth and Sixth Circuits said that transgenderism being codified into civil rights and the Constitution is “settled law,” demonstrating how irremediably broken the courts are. This is not just the Ninth Circuit; we have yet to find a single circuit willing to understand the most immutable laws of nature. Thus, it’s not surprising that almost every court is creating a right for Somalis to immigrate. If marriage and human sexuality are subjective, so are the borders of a nation.

Although the Supreme Court punted the Fourth Circuit case (Grimm v. Gloucester County) because that one was built upon Obama’s obsolete transgender mandate, it is quite clear that another case will end up before the high court within the next year.

Given Justice Anthony Kennedy’s history on this issue — and his penchant for being influenced by growing momentum in the lower courts and the legal profession — it’s fairly safe to say we will be confronted with the transgender version of Obergefell in the near future.

The transgender case comes just two months after the Seventh Circuit codified sexual orientation into Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This circuit, like many others, is drifting more and more to the far left. A number of the GOP appointees, such as Richard Posner and Ilana Rovner, are among the worst offenders.

There are only two reliable originalists on the court (Michael Kanne and Diane Sykes). This is why it’s so important for Trump to immediately fill the two vacancies on the court with known originalists. Even more importantly, this is yet one more reason to make the courts less consequential by reforming their jurisdiction and scope of power. (For more from the author of “7th Circuit Codifies Transgenderism Into the Constitution” please click HERE)

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Supreme Court Won’t Hear Former Marine’s Religious Liberty Case

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The Supreme Court declined to hear a case Monday involving a former Marine court-martialed in part for refusing to remove a bible verse from her work station. This means the ruling against LCpl Monifa Sterling from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces stands.

The decision not to hear the case “is going to affect the religious freedoms of all of those who serve us in uniform,” warned First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford. “And that really is a shame.”

Shackelford’s nonprofit is defending the former Marine. He called the CAAF decision a “travesty.” “The military court’s outrageous decision means federal judges and military officials can strip our service members of their constitutional rights just because they don’t think someone’s religious beliefs are important enough to be protected. Our service members deserve better.”

United States v. Sterling was appealed to the Supreme Court last December. But the case is not as simple as it appears on first blush.

Sterling’s Court Martial

In 2013 Sterling displayed the phrase “No weapons formed against me shall prosper.” Summarized from Isaiah 54:17, the phrase was taped around her desk. When her supervisor objected, Sterling claimed displaying it was her First Amendment right. Sterling also noted that her coworkers displayed personal items at their desks. Later Sterling’s supervisor tore the phrase down. Sterling replaced the phrase, only to have it removed again.

A court-martial followed. But refusing to remove the phrase wasn’t all Sterling was charged with. As The Stream previously reported, she was also charged with refusing an order, failing to report for duty, and lying about why she didn’t wear the proper uniform. She was convicted and given a bad conduct discharge.

Exercise of Religion?

First Liberty only disputed the conviction regarding the Bible verse. But last August, the CAAF considered the verse in the context of Sterling’s other charges:

This is not the usual case where an individual or group sought an accommodation for an exercise of religion and it was denied. Nor is it a case where the practice at issue was either patently religious, such as the wearing of a hijab … Rather, the claimed exercise of religion at issue in this case involved posting the printed words “[n]o weapon formed against me shall prosper” at a shared workspace in the context of Appellant’s contentious relationship with her superiors.

First Liberty attorney Mike Berry previously told The Stream the CAAF set a dangerous precedent. He claimed it could force service members to prove the importance of their beliefs in order to enjoy Constitutional protection.

People shouldn’t be required to declare intentions “before we engage in religious activity,” he said.

Not Discouraged

Despite the CAAF’s ruling, First Liberty saw an “unusual” number of briefs supporting Sterling. Seven amicus briefs urged the Supreme Court to hear Sterling’s case. Amici included 13 retired military generals, 14 state attorneys general, 36 Congress members, and Dr. Simcha Goldman. Goldman was the plaintiff in a Supreme Court case involving the right to wear a yarmulke while in uniform. Goldman lost 5-4 in 1986.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin was one of the generals who signed onto the amicus brief. Boykin said Monday the Supreme Court’s decision will have the “unfortunate effect of allowing a chill on religious expression in the military to continue.” He says the ruling, “only underscores the need for the Trump administration to root out the anti-religious animus allowed to fester in the military during the Obama administration.”

Meanwhile, Shackelford claims he isn’t “discouraged” by Sterling’s outcome. “In fact it’s going to really cause us to redouble our efforts,” he said in a video. Shackelford noted First Liberty was previously undefeated in its military cases.

“We plan to keep that record going,” he said. “Eventually we will get this taken care of across the country.” (For more from the author of “Supreme Court Won’t Hear Former Marine’s Religious Liberty Case” please click HERE)

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The Latest: Neighbors Say London Attacker Tried to Radicalize Kids

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Neighbors of one of the dead suspects in the London Bridge attacks say he was trying to radicalize young people, and that they reported him to police.

Jibril Palomba said he and his wife worried because the man, whom they knew as Abu Mohammed and recognized in photos of the attack, gave their children candy and preached about Islam. Erica Gasparri said she also saw him and two other men proselytizing outside a school.

Another neighbor, Michael Mimbo, said the van later used to ram pedestrians on the bridge was blocking the road at the suspect’s housing complex on Friday. The next day, Mimbo says that same van sped erratically down the street. (Read more from “The Latest: Neighbors Say London Attacker Tried to Radicalize Kids” HERE)

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Here Come the Drag Queens

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Make no mistake about it. From the moment gay activists came out of the closet in America, their agenda was clear: Society must get over its anti-gay sentiments and embrace everything gay — and I mean everything.

That’s why many of them were so brazen. They chanted, “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”

That’s why gay pride parades were marked by the most offensive elements of the gay community, even if they were not representative of the whole.

That’s why it was drag queens who led the way in the 1969 Stonewall Riots. They were part of the frontline resistance, and they were out, proud and unashamed.

The “Self-Policing Social Code”

To be sure, some gay leaders in the 1980’s realized that this was a self-defeating strategy. If gay activism was to achieve its goals, it would have to put forth a different image, a more family-oriented, less-promiscuous, less-bizarre image.

Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen articulated some of this new strategy in the book After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s (New York: Penguin, 1989, p. 145). They wrote, “The effect of presenting a bigot with an extreme instance of his stereotypic picture/label pair is to augment the strength of the bigotry.”

In other words, we were the bigots, and to present us with the most extreme images of the gay community was to confirm and even heighten our bigotry.

So, Kirk and Madsen called for a “Self-Policing Social Code,” with words of advice like this: “If I’m a Pederast or a Sadomasochist, I’ll Keep It Under Wraps, and Out of Gay Pride Marches.”

They also called for the “conversion of the average American’s emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media” (p. 153).

And what would this propaganda look like?

Rather than exposing “bigots” like us to images of drag queens in their weird outfits or gay men gyrating in their underwear, we’d be bombarded by images of couples like Dan and Don, who’ve been together for 30 years, along with their adopted son Jason, and their pet dog Molly.

Do such gay couples exist? Of course. Are they more common than drag queens? Maybe so.

But statistics weren’t the issue. Image was the issue. And gay strategists fully understood that America would not embrace their goals as long as the most extreme elements of their society were at the forefront.

Transgender activists understood this strategy as well. That’s why they made a clear distinction between themselves and drag queens. “No, we’re not like them, and this has nothing to do with sexual orientation. We’re just normal people trapped in the wrong body, like little Sammy who’s really Sally.”

Americans could embrace that before they could embrace “Little Hot Mess” the drag queen.

But now that so many of the goals of LGBT activism have been realized, there’s no reason to push some of their own to the back of the bus, so to say.

And what does this mean, practically speaking? It means here come the drag queens.

Here Come the Drag Queens

It was drag queens who put pressure on Facebook in 2014 to change one of its fundamental policies, which required that you had to use your real name, not a made-up name. Before this time, drag queen John Doe could not use the name “Big Suzie Q,” which in his mind was his real name. Facebook apologized and changed its policy.

But that was minor compared to what’s happening today.

A concerned parent from Bloomington, Indiana wrote to me, saying, “Our local library always has a summer reading program for children.” Included was a link with this announcement for parents of children ages 2-6: “Learn about someone new! Local drag queens present stories and encourage us all to embrace our uniqueness.” Yes, for children ages 2-6!

This is perverse and outrageous. “Parents, bring your toddlers and little children to the library where local homosexual men who dress up as flamboyant women will read stories to them.” Here come the drag queens!

But it gets even worse. Much worse.

The Gyrating Drag Queen at a Grade School Talent Show

As Todd Starnes reports, “Parents are furious after children as young as 5-years-old were exposed to an erotic drag show performance at what was supposed to be a school district talent show.”

How bad was it? Take a moment to read some excerpts from the article.

“The New York Daily News described the lewd performance as ‘complete with gyrations, tongue gymnastics and a flashed G-string.’” (If this seems vulgar to read – and it is – can you imagine being there with your little kids?)

“The May 25th performance shocked and enraged parents who could not believe the school district would allow a grown man to spread his legs and display his crotch to wide-eyed children.”

One parent “filmed the seven-minute routine on her cell phone and provided me with a copy. It’s jaw-dropping, folks. And when the drag queen dropped to the floor and began writhing in a sexually-suggestive manner, the auditorium erupted.”

Did you get that? This perverse performance was 7 minutes long. In front of 5-year-olds. I’m shocked some parents didn’t walk right up to the stage and shut the whole thing down.

And what happened when this drag queen started writhing on the floor in a sexually-suggestive manor?

“Once he got to that part it was chaos,” parent Raquel Morales said. “People were yelling and leaving. A lot of parents were saying had they known this was going to happen they would have taken their kids out after they had performed.” I would hope so! This is absolute madness.

And how did such a degraded performance take place at all?

“The talent show was emceed by District 4 Superintendent Alexandra Estrella. And the individual who performed in drag was identified as the president of the Public School 96 Parent Association” (my emphasis).

This is sick, and this man needs serious help. (If you’re offended by my saying this, be offended. Truth is sometimes offensive.) The district superintendent needs serious help too. How can these people be trusted with such positions of authority?

The Cat is Out of the Bag

Now, I believe there are gay readers who are also upset as they read this account, saying, “That drag queen does not represent me. What he did is just plain filthy.”

Unfortunately, the cat is now of the bag, and if it’s gay (or trans), it’s got to be good.

That means if a gay couple is monogamish rather than monogamous, we’ve got to embrace it. Gay love is good!

And that means when a boy who identifies as a girl beats the girls at a track meet, we’ve got to celebrate it. You go boy-girl!

And that means when a drag queen wants to read stories to your two-year-old or, better still, gyrate and flash his G-string in front of your 5-year-old, you must show your appreciation.

In other words, our sentiments should be, “You’re here, you’re queer, and we’re used to it. In fact, we love it.”

Count me out of that one, friends. Enough is simply enough. (For more from the author of “Here Come the Drag Queens” please click HERE)

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City: You Can’t Sell Blueberries Unless You Affirm Gay Marriage

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. . .This year city officials told the devout Catholic family [Tennes family] that their blueberries and sweet corn were not welcome at the farmer’s market — and neither were they.

Last year, someone posted a message on Country Mill’s Facebook page inquiring about whether they hosted same-sex weddings at the farm. Tennes told the individual they did not permit same-sex marriages on the farm because of the family’s Catholic belief that marriage is a sacramental union between one man and one woman.

City officials later discovered the Facebook posting and began immediate action to remove Country Mill from the Farmer’s Market — alleging the family had violated the city’s discrimination ordinance.

“It was brought to our attention that The Country Mill’s general business practices do not comply with East Lansing’s Civil Rights ordinances and public policy against discrimination as set forth in Chapter 22 of the City Code and outlined in the 2017 Market Vendor Guidelines, as such, The Country Mill’s presence as a vendor his prohibited by the City’s Farmer’s Market Vendor Guidelines,” read a letter the city sent to the family.

It also did not seem to matter to city leaders that the farm is located 22 miles outside the city limits — and had absolutely nothing to do with the business of selling blueberries at the farmer’s market. (Read more from “City: You Can’t Sell Blueberries Unless You Affirm Gay Marriage” HERE)

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March for Life Wants Justice Department to Investigate Planned Parenthood

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The March for Life, along with over a dozen other organizations, signed a letter released Tuesday asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI acting Director Andrew McCabe to investigate Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the selling of fetal tissue.

“We, the undersigned representing millions of Americans, strongly support an investigation into paid fetal tissue transfers involving Planned Parenthood,” the signers write.

The letter is prompted by the work of David Daleiden, an investigative journalist who founded the Center for Medical Progress, a nonprofit organization of “citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances.”

As part of his work, “Daleiden recorded doctors, executives, and staff-level employees discussing various aspects of the fetal tissue procurement industry,” the signers write.

Daleiden and a contractor hired by Center for Medical Progress, Sandra Merritt, are currently facing criminal charges in California over their undercover video work. Daleiden called the charges “bogus.”

Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, told The Daily Signal in an interview Thursday that pro-life organizations want justice to be served.

“Essentially, we’re asking the administration to take it up in its proper format, so it should have been looked at through the Justice Department in the Obama administration,” Mancini said. “Of course, that never happened, so we’re asking the Trump administration to rightly take up this in the Department of Justice.”

The letter comes days after the May 24 release of a video from the Center for Medical Progress that shows footage from the conventions of the National Abortion Federation in 2014 and 2015.

“An eyeball just fell down into my lap, and that is gross,” Dr. Uta Landy, Planned Parenthood Federation of America Consortium of Abortion Providers founder, said during a panel discussion at a National Abortion Federation convention.

Deb VanDerhei, national director for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America America Consortium of Abortion Providers, directly addressed revenues.

“But the truth is, that some might want to do it for, to increase their revenues,” VanDerhei said. “And we can’t stop them.”

The Center for Medical Progress has released multiple videos taken by undercover journalists showing Planned Parenthood employees discussing the selling of fetal tissue.

A video released in April by the Center for Medical Progress shows Dr. Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood Foundation of America’s Medical Directors’ Council president, speaking about the price of fetal tissue.

“Yeah, $50’s on the low end, $50 [per specimen] was like 12 years ago,” Gatter said.

The last Congress, the letter said, investigated Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the selling of fetal tissue.

“The 114th Congress responded to the videos by holding hearings and initiating investigations that culminated in the House of Representatives creating the Select Panel on Infant Lives to further investigate the matter,” the letter reads.

The letter states that the panel “found evidence of violations of laws protecting human research subjects and patient privacy; laws regulating anatomical gifts for transplantation, therapy, research, and education; laws protecting late-term and born-alive infants; and laws pertaining to public funding for fetal tissue research and abortion providers.”

The panel, according to the letter, “made 15 criminal and regulatory referrals of tissue procurement companies and abortion clinics, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, and investigations are underway around the nation.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which investigated the selling of fetal tissue, made seven criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, according to the letter.

Planned Parenthood did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. Previously the organization has pushed back against Daleiden’s coverage.

“The videos generated by the discredited ‘Center for Medical Progress’ are a fraud aimed at single purpose: to end women’s access to reproductive health care, including medically safe and legal abortion, and to damage Planned Parenthood,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement last year.

The signers of the letter wrote that President Barack Obama’s administration “decided to turn a blind eye to the wrongdoing,” and are asking the Department of Justice to “continue the investigation into the practices surrounding this scandal.”

David Christensen, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council, a conservative policy organization, told The Daily Signal Thursday this request to the Department of Justice should be heeded.

“It was really important to see the Obama administration put its incredible support for Planned Parenthood and abortion rights over and above the law and justice,” Christensen said. “President [Donald] Trump has spoken strongly in favor of life and…we would like to see the Department of Justice follow up by appraising the law.”

This article has been modified since publication. (For more from the author of “March for Life Wants Justice Department to Investigate Planned Parenthood” please click HERE)

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5 Sickening Takeaways From Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report

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Planned Parenthood’s annual report, covering the fiscal year ending in June 30, 2016, is now ready for public consumption, and there are some key takeaways.

More abortions: The nation’s largest abortion provider saw a slight uptick in abortions over the year covered in the report – listing 328,348 procedures. This is an increase of 1.34 percent from the previous year’s numbers, according to a report at the Washington Examiner, and adds up to just over 37 abortions per hour.

A low rate of prenatal care: Earlier this year, LiveAction – a pro-life advocacy organization – went under cover at multiple Planned Parenthood locations, finding that many of them did not actually provide prenatal care. While the report does list prenatal services, those are vastly outpaced by abortion procedures. According to the group’s own admissions, abortions outnumber the approximately 9,000 listed prenatal services on the report by over 35 to one.

More money — a lot more, actually: The era of Trump’s rise has been good to Planned Parenthood from a financial standpoint, at least. The report details that the organization’s total revenue increased by more than $1.35 billion over the previous year, with over $550 million of that coming from government sources and $445.8 million coming from private donations.

A state-supported industry: The current version of the GOP’s health-care bill would defund Planned Parenthood for a year by barring the organization from receiving reimbursement from government funding. The group’s financials show why defunding Planned Parenthood in this manner would be a big problem for the organization, as a 41 percent plurality of the group’s revenue comes from the government, with donations and charges for service coming in second and third.

A year of big wins: Anyone who has ever worked at a nonprofit will tell you that the main goal of an annual report is to show off your accomplishments to your board and your donors. This one is no exception. The report touts victories like the prosecution of citizen journalist, the failures of states to defund the group, and the Supreme Court’s Whole Women’s Health ruling as big pluses for the organization.

The numbers are staggering in some cases and unsurprising in others. What remains to be seen is whether or not they will be enough to spur a GOP-controlled Congress and White House to deliver on one of their biggest promises to the American people: a complete defund. (For more from the author of “5 Sickening Takeaways From Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report” please click HERE)

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