Sen. Rand Paul has threatened to seek "legislative action" next week to defund Planned Parenthood.

The Kentucky Republican and GOP presidential candidate didn't clarify his exact plans, but the legislative action he referred to could involve an attempt to attach a defunding bill to highway-funding legislation the Senate is trying to pass before a July 31 deadline.

Paul said Planned Parenthood has "absolutely zero respect for the sanctity of human life," referring to an undercover video released by an anti-abortion group this week showing one of Planned Parenthood's top directors discussing fetal organ donations.

He also called the group's participation in organ donations "potentially criminal."

"Not one more taxpayer dollar should go to Planned Parenthood, and I intend to make that goal a reality," Paul said in a statement released Friday by his congressional office.

The footage, which shows Planned Parenthood Director of Medical Services Deborah Nucatola describing how doctors obtain fetal organs during abortions to donate them for medical research, has prompted House Republicans to start an investigation into the group.

It's not illegal to donate the tissue of aborted fetuses for medical research. But the video's makers say Planned Parenthood is performing illegal partial-birth abortions to obtain the organs and is profiting from their sale. Planned Parenthood has denied any wrongdoing and has apologized for the seemingly crude way Nucatola discussed the sensitive topic.