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House Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood, and that effort began today with the first in a series of hearings. This was all prompted by sting videos that sought to implicate the women's health group in various crimes related to the collection of fetal tissue for research. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that much of today's discussion focused on the morality of abortion itself. (Ludden, 9/9)

A congressional hearing on Planned Parenthood’s tissue-donation program Wednesday devolved into an ideological clash over abortion rights as lawmakers sparred over the definition of “baby” and the appropriateness of certain abortion techniques. Planned Parenthood officials were not invited to testify at the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, nor were activists with the Center for Medical Progress, an antiabortion group whose undercover videos targeting the women’s health organization triggered the hearing. (Somashekhar, 9/9)

Opening long-awaited congressional hearings, a top Republican said Wednesday an investigation of Planned Parenthood was intended to protect taxpayers from the kind of “horrors” suggested by secretly recorded videos of group officials discussing the sale of tissue from aborted fetuses. In a session highlighted by partisan clashes, Democrats said the investigation by the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee was just the latest in a decades-long effort to curtail abortion rights and was based on deceptively edited videos that show no evidence of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. (Fram, 9/9)

As conservatives redouble efforts to end Planned Parenthood’s government funding, House Republicans on Wednesday fueled an already emotional and partisan debate by hearing testimony from two women who were born during botched abortions in the 1970s. “If abortion is about women’s rights, then what were mine?” asked Gianna Jessen, who was left with cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen during her mother’s attempt to terminate the pregnancy. (Howard, 9/9)

The same day the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to "expose" Planned Parenthood's "horrific abortion practices," members of another House committee announced that their federal investigation into the family planning provider has so far turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. (Bassett, 9/9)

The anti-abortion group behind the Planned Parenthood sting videos didn’t testify at the first congressional hearing into the controversy — but it is already making abortion a 2016 campaign issue. And Republicans and Democrats alike are convinced they can use it to their own advantage. (Haberkorn, 9/9)

Around 500 people, including activists, state legislators and religious leaders rallied at Gov. Mark Dayton's residence Wednesday to demand an investigation into Planned Parenthood. Protesters allege that Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota works with Advanced BioScience Resources for fetal tissue donation. (Feshir, 9/9)