Conservative members of a House panel targeting abortion providers on Thursday released an interim report outlining their allegations thus far, USA Today reports (Collins, USA Today, 7/14).
Panel details
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. According to subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the panel has subpoena powers that it has used 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.
Liberal lawmakers, advocacy groups call for disbandment
Liberal lawmakers in the House have repeatedly criticized the investigation and called for the subcommittee's disbandment (Women's Health Policy Report, 7/12). In addition, liberal lawmakers in the Senate this week sponsored a resolution that would shift the panel's funding to Zika response efforts (Mershon, Roll Call, 7/14).
Separately, 50 reproductive rights and civil liberties groups in a letter on Thursday to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also called for the committee's disbandment ("Letter to Speaker Ryan to Disband SP," 7/14). That notice followed a separate letter issued by multiple advocacy groups that urged Ryan to shut down the subcommittee's investigation (Women's Health Policy Report, 7/12).
Latest report
According to Roll Call, the subcommittee's latest report largely summarizes prior allegations that have already been released (Roll Call, 7/14).
Specifically, the new report claims that some abortion providers altered abortion procedures, and alleges that certain providers and fetal tissue procurement companies stonewalled the investigation by refusing to provide requested documentation or by heavily redacting the documentation (USA Today, 7/14). Conservative members of the subcommittee also claimed that liberal subcommittee members were obstructing the investigation (Roll Call, 7/14).
Blackburn said the panel's investigation remains underway and that it will release a final report by year's end (USA Today, 7/14).
Comments
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), ranking member of the subcommittee, criticized the report and its release, noting that liberal panel members learned of the release via a press advisory (Roll Call, 7/14). "Once again [conservative lawmakers] are making inflammatory claims that they cannot substantiate and relying on manufactured documents and fraudulent videos that have been thoroughly discredited," she said, adding, "Never before have I witnessed such a disconnect between allegations and the facts."
Further, Schakowsky raised concerns about conservative members' regards for "individual privacy and safety." She said, "Despite public promises to 'act responsibly with each and every name' that they are collecting -- [conservative lawmakers] today publicly named names without regard to the consequences" (USA Today, 7/14).
Schakowsky said the subcommittee "needs to be disbanded now, before more lives are put at risk" (Roll Call, 7/14).
