On Tuesday, the chair of a House subcommittee targeting abortion providers sent a letter calling on HHS to investigate a fetal procurement tissue company and multiple abortion clinics, CQ HealthBeat reports (Mershon, CQ HealthBeat, 6/1 [subscription required]).
Background
The subcommittee is the fourth House committee to investigate Planned Parenthood following the release of a series of misleading videos targeting the organization. The subcommittee is allowed to probe, among other topics, federal funding for health care providers who also provide abortion services and providers' practices for abortions later in pregnancy. The resolution (H Res 461) that created the subcommittee gave it the ability to investigate "medical procedures and business practices used by entities involved in fetal tissue procurement" and "any other relevant matters with respect to fetal tissue procurement."
According to subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the panel has subpoena powers that it will use in consultation with the House speaker. The subcommittee could recommend changes to laws and regulations based on its findings.
The subcommittee has issued several subpoenas requesting the names of fetal tissue researchers, spurring criticism from medical groups and liberal lawmakers who are concerned that the subpoenas could put researchers, students and medical professionals at risk of antiabortion-rights violence.
Conservatives allege wrongdoing
In April, conservative members presented a report alleging that an unidentified abortion provider and an unidentified tissue procurement company have violated federal bans on the sale of fetal tissue. During the hearing, the subcommittee also heard testimony from U.S. prosecutors in support of the alleged findings.
Based on the report, conservative lawmakers contend that it was improper for the abortion clinic to seek reimbursement for fetal tissue donation because the process of collecting the tissue and obtaining the woman's consent is done by a technician for the tissue procurement company. In addition, conservative lawmakers claim the tissue procurement company prices tissue at a rate that yielded a profit.
Although authors of the report redacted the procurement company's name, the report contains information that identifies the company as StemExpress. StemExpress was also targeted in the misleading videos released last year by the Center for Medical Progress.
Attorneys for StemExpress said at least one of the screenshots in the report that captures an internal page on the company's website appears to have been obtained illegally. Attorneys for the company stated that some of the documents include "gross inaccuracies," adding, "Several of the proposed exhibits appear to force the majority's views into the record in a way we have never seen in any government investigation in the House, Senate or across dozens of federal and state jurisdictions around the United States."
Liberal lawmakers also criticized the report prior to the hearing, noting that some of the documents do not include sourcing information and lead to "inaccurate and misleading" conclusions (Women's Health Policy Report, 4/21). Further, almost all liberal lawmakers in the House signed a recent letter calling for the disbandment the panel (Women's Health Policy Report, 5/25).
Latest developments
In her letter to HHS' Office of Centralized Case Management, Blackburn claimed that StemExpress broke federal privacy laws.
In addition, Blackburn claimed the company violated rules regarding Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). IRBs supervise research that involves human subjects. Blackburn claimed StemExpress used invalid consent forms and misleadingly conveyed to researchers that it was approved by an IRB.
Comments
In response to Blackburn's claims, StemExpress officials said the organization "is confident there has been no violation of law and appropriate consents were made for every fetal tissue donation." StemExpress officials continued, "We welcome the opportunity to answer any questions from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or any other agency related to Representative Blackburn's continued unfounded accusations. StemExpress will continue to support life-saving research."
Liberal lawmakers on the panel criticized the investigation as well as Blackburn's approach. They said conservative lawmakers on the panel had used unverified materials and noted that the letter calling for an investigation had been sent to the media before it was submitted to HHS.
A spokesperson for the liberal lawmakers stated, "The latest leak from Chair Blackburn's runaway investigation is further evidence that this Panel should be brought to an end."
The spokesperson continued, "StemExpress offered to appear and answer the Panel's questions months ago, but [conservative lawmakers] have refused to take them up on that offer lest they lose their last excuse for continuing this unjustified witch hunt. This latest gambit only adds to the long list of abuses Ranking Member [Jan Schakowsky (D)] exposed in a speech on the House floor last week" (CQ HealthBeat, 6/1).
