Update, 7/27 4:30 p.m: Planned Parenthood has informed federal authorities about the attack on their servers. Executive vice president Dawn Laguens issued this statement:

"Today Planned Parenthood has notified the Department of Justice and separately the FBI that extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood's mission and services have launched an attack on our information systems, and have called on the world's most sophisticated hackers to assist them in breaching our systems and threatening the privacy and safety of our staff members.  We are working with top leaders in this field to manage these attacks. We treat matters of safety and security with the utmost importance, and are taking every measure possible to mitigate these criminal efforts to undermine our mission and services.



"Planned Parenthood is the most trusted women's health care provider in this country, and anti-abortion extremists are willing to do anything to stop women from accessing the reproductive health care they are seeking.  Extremists have broken laws, harassed our doctors and patients, produced hack videos, and now are claiming to have committed a gross invasion of privacy
—one that, if true, could potentially put our staff members at risk."   


Original post, 7/27, 10:30 a.m: It's only been a few weeks since activists posted an edited video of a Planned Parenthood exec discussing the donation of fetal tissue to medical researchers. The video caused a giant controversy, and the organization isn't in the clear yet. 

The Daily Dot reports that anti-abortion activists claim to have hacked Planned Parenthood's database, stealing names and e-mail addresses of workers across the country. The hackers, who call themselves 3301, are threatening to decrypt and release internal e-mails.

The data breach was definitely motivated by political issues, according to the report. "Trying to mold an atrocious monstrosity into socially acceptable behaviors is repulsive," one hacker going by the pseudonym "E" told The Daily Dot. "Obviously what [Planned Parenthood] does is a very ominous practice. It'll be interesting to see what surfaces when [Planned Parenthood] is stripped naked and exposed to the public." The group tried to post anti-abortion messages on Planned Parenthood's website and Twitter feed, but have failed so far.

Planned Parenthood's Chief Information Officer told the website that he was previously unaware of a security breach, and was looking into the matter. The organization's executive vice president, Dawn Laguens, released the following statement: 

"We've seen the claims around attempts to access our systems. We take security very seriously and are investigating. It's unsurprising that those opposed to safe and legal abortion are participating in this campaign of harassment against us and our patients, and claiming to stoop to this new low."