Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) announced Tuesday that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would be launching an investigation into “Planned Parenthood’s unconscionable” fetal tissue donation practices.

The letter from HHS on which Paul based his comments makes no such promise.

On Tuesday, the senator released a statement touting a response from HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson agreeing to an earlier request initiated by Paul and 49 other senators for the department to audit “all fetal tissue research support by HHS, specifically examining the Department’s oversight of contractor and grantee compliance with the laws governing fetal tissue research.”

Speaking of what he deemed to be an “HHS investigation of Planned Parenthood tissue practices,” Paul lauded the department for taking up his cause. “I am encouraged to see the Inspector General take action to investigate Planned Parenthood’s unconscionable practices,” the senator claimed, rehashing discredited claims about the organization.

Rehashing discredited claims about the organization, Paul wrote that it “deserves not one penny more of our taxpayer dollars, and I am confident this investigation will give further proof of that.”

However, the actual response from Levinson on behalf of HHS did not promise to investigate Planned Parenthood or its practices specifically, instead affirming that the department would undertake an internal audit of all fetal tissue research supported by the department and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—an agency of HHS—as Paul’s letter had originally requested.

Referring to a past discussion on the topic, Levinson explained that HHS would conduct an internal probe and “interview HHS and National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials” with a “focus on gathering relevant documentation related to policies and procedures for monitoring fetal tissue research activities.” 

“Our goal is to obtain information related to fetal tissue research grants, NIH’s monitoring procedures over third-party certifications and those related to the Department’s internal fetal tissue research, and any known violations of Federal requirements,” Levinson continued.

It appears Paul engaged in a bit of wordplay in his rush to promote HHS’ response, suggesting the investigation would be into Planned Parenthood by repeatedly asserting that the probe was into their “practices” and implying the organization was somehow tied to the review. But in truth, Paul’s initial letter simply asked the department for an internal probe of its fetal tissue policies and a review of whether the third-party entities it works with are in compliance with the law—not an inquiry specifically into Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood, for its part, welcomed HHS’ probe of federal fetal tissue research oversight. “We applaud the HHS for this timely review of practices around fetal tissue donation,” Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said in a statement on the matter. “This work is often critical to lifesaving medical research, and has helped with important breakthroughs, such as the polio vaccine and research into a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.”

The organization’s president, Cecile Richards, also noted the organization would only benefit from the “updated guidance” such a review would grant. “A new review by a blue ribbon panel could help ensure the entire medical community is meeting the highest possible standards for this practice,”  Richards said in a statement, according to the Washington Post. “In addition to Planned Parenthood, other health care providers that make tissue donations could benefit from updated guidance.”

Richards also noted that Planned Parenthood had formally asked NIH to conduct a similar review of their policies in June. Pointing to general public confusion over fetal tissue research in the wake of deceptively edited videos released by the anti-choice front group Center for Medical Progress (CMP), Richard’s letter on behalf of Planned Parenthood asked for a “review of the research and the procedures surrounding it by an independent expert panel.”

HHS has already told congressional Republicans, chomping at the bit to indict Planned Parenthood after the CMP’s video release, that the department has no evidence of any violations of fetal tissue laws.

An August letter from Jim Esquea, assistant secretary for legislation at HHS, to Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) explained that the department knew of no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood in facilitating the donation of fetal tissue for patients who requested it. The senators had earlier co-sponsored a failed bid to defund Planned Parenthood over CMP’s videos.

“Currently, we know of no violation of these laws in connection with the research done at our agencies,” wrote Esquea to Ernst and Blunt, according to Politico. “Furthermore … we have confirmed that HHS researchers working with fetal tissue obtained the tissue from non-profit organizations that provided assurances to us that they are in compliance with all applicable legal requirements.”

As Politico further reported at the time, although HHS is involved with an extremely small share of fetal tissue research, all of it appears to be in accordance with federal law:

HHS has gotten re-affirmations from government researchers and government-funded researchers that their tissue procurement is done in accordance with the tissue laws. And it got assurances from the companies that provide that fetal tissue to researchers at NIH and FDA that they are obtaining the fetal tissue and organs in compliance with federal laws, the letter says.

HHS also said that research with fetal tissue conducted by NIH accounts for less than 0.1 percent of its total research budget. It didn’t provide whole numbers.

Other investigations led by states and Congress into alleged wrongdoing on behalf of Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue donations have consistently turned up no evidence that the reproductive health provider has broken any law.

Paul’s unwillingness to accept mounting evidence that fetal tissue laws are not being broken may be due in part to his relentless campaign to politicize CMP’s videos in order to push his stringently anti-choice agenda ahead of the 2016 presidential elections. In July, Paul vowed to use the discredited videos in order to defund Planned Parenthood, and in September he implied he would oppose any measure to fund the government that also funded Planned Parenthood.

“I don’t know about the rest of Congress, but I plan on taking a stand and saying, ‘Not one penny more for Planned Parenthood,’” Paul said at a September anti-abortion rally. “I have never voted for any funds for Planned Parenthood, and I never will.”

Planned Parenthood provides basic reproductive health services to an estimated 2.7 million people in the United States who may not otherwise have access to care. Despite making up just 10 percent of all publicly supported safety-net family planning centers, the organization provides contraception for 36 percent of all low-income women who seek these services at such centers, according to analysis from the Guttmacher Institute.

Although politicians often point to the presence of other health-care organizations and clinics to fill the gap should Planned Parenthood be defunded, the organization’s absence would be difficult to fill. Investigations conducted by Rewire revealed that many of the health-care centers conservatives claim could make up the difference are actually elementary, middle, and high schools; clinics that provide care for homeless people; nursing homes; and other locations ill-equipped to appropriately handle a sudden influx of patients seeking reproductive health services.