Planned Parenthood says video part of decadelong harassment

WASHINGTON — Planned Parenthood told Congress Monday that a secretly recorded video released last week by an antiabortion group is fraudulent and part of a yearslong pattern of illegal harassment aimed at prohibiting abortion.

In a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Planned Parenthood said it fell victim to a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services that posed as a buyer of human tissues. It was created by David Daleiden, an official of the group that released the video, the Center for Medical Progress, and was engaged in "a campaign of corporate espionage" targeting Planned Parenthood, the letter said.

"A group of extremists who have intimidated women and doctors for years — in their agenda to ban abortion completely — are not 'documenting' misdeeds; they are trying to create them, quite unsuccessfully," Planned Parenthood wrote.

Daleiden did not respond to an email request for comment.

Planned Parenthood also told the committee that it has not decided whether it will honor lawmakers' request for a briefing by Dr. Deborah Nucatola, who speaks in the video about obtaining fetal tissue for research. Nucatola is the organization's senior director of medical services.

Since the video was released last week, antiabortion groups, lawmakers and some Republican presidential hopefuls have used it to assail Planned Parenthood.