OLYMPIA -- A week ago, a group of state senators asked state Attorney General Bob Ferguson to investigate whether Planned Parenthood organizations in Washington had broken any laws in the wake of national reports the organization sold tissue from aborted fetuses.

The attorney general's office said it would study the request and get back to them.

On Wednesday, a day after a group calling itself Center for Medical Progress released a fifth video, the 10 lawmakers asked again, with Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, reminding the attorney general's office of the group's July 29 letter. Ferguson's spokeswoman said they are still studying the request.

"We won't have further public comment until the review is complete," Alison Dempsey-Hall said. 

Planned Parenthood officials say the undercover videos are highly edited and amount to a smear campaign. Abortion opponents have stepped up calls to cut federal funding for the organizaiton, but a vote on that failed in the Senate recently. 

Warnick's press release temporized somewhat on its allegation of wrongdoing. Conversations on the videos "could suggest (Planned Parenthood) may be performing partial birth abortions to provide fetal organs to biomedical companies for research." Comments by a Planned Parenthood official "hint" the organization needs increased scrutiny over partial-birth abortions.

---

---